Courgette Tart with Roasted Tomato Coulis

Final exams and my dissertation totally took over my life for the last few months, but since they all finished last Thursday I've suddenly had a lot of time on my hands. After a couple of days filled with cinema trips, shopping and celebratory cocktails with my best friend, I escaped the city and retreated back to Cheshire to see my parents and indulge in some much needed relaxation in the countryside.

One of the first things I did after unpacking my case was to pull my favourite cook books off my shelf and go through them with a pack of post-it notes picking the recipes I simply had to attempt. I've not made many things from Paul Hollywood's How to Bake, but while looking through it this week his Courgette Tart with Roasted Tomato Coulis really stood out and it shot to the top of my list of recipes to try this week. I'm loving courgettes at the moment and wanted to try something savoury so thought this was the perfect recipe to try out first.

It worked really, really well! After a bit of faffing getting used to my parents' kitchen again and trying to find everything it was a simple recipe to follow and yielded excellent results: the spiral of courgettes gave the tart a stunning finish, and the tomato coulis was bursting with flavours. I had a few issues with the recipe - particularly the order of the steps and a few of the quantities for the ingredients - so I've edited it slightly and put it below, but the original can be found in Paul Hollywood's book, which can be bought here.

Ingredients:
250g puff pastry (I was really naughty and used shop-bought pastry, but if you fancy faffing and making it from scratch then Paul Hollywood has a recipe on his website here.)

For the topping:
Olive oil for cooking and sprinkling
2 large red onions, peeled and thinly sliced
Caster sugar for sprinkling
2 large courgettes, thinly sliced
1 egg, beaten
Squeeze of lemon juice
Freshly grated Parmesan (optional)

For the roasted tomato coulis:
Roughly 600g large, ripe tomatoes
3 garlic cloves (unpeeled)
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Olive oil for drizzling
1 tsp caster sugar
Sea salt and coarse black pepper
Handful of fresh basil leaves

Method:

First, start to make the coulis. Heat the oven to 220°c. Half the tomatoes and place cut side up in a roasting tin. Add the garlic and trickle over the balsamic vinegar. Generously drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with the sugar and season lightly with salt and coarse pepper.

Roast for 20-30 minutes or until very soft and juicy, and slightly coloured on the top (but make sure they don't burn). Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, for the topping, heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a frying pan and gently fry the onion until softened. Add a sprinkling of sugar and cook for another couple of minutes until the sugar is dissolved.

Leave to one side. For some utterly bizarre reason - and if someone could explain why I'd be very grateful! - my onions turned a weird bluish-green colour after frying. They returned to normal in the oven at the end, but I was really freaked out at this stage in the recipe! If it happens to you it'll sort itself out in the end, but I'm just confused as to why it happened!

Next blanche the courgette slices for a minute or two (plunge them into boiling water).

Drain them, pat them dry and leave to cool.

Line a baking tray/sheet with baking parchment or silicone paper. Roll out your puff pastry on a lightly floured surface to a thickness of around 2mm. Using a large dinner plate as a guide, cut out a round roughly 26cm in diameter.

Transfer to the baking tray. Prick all over with a fork and using the tip of a knife lightly mark a 2cm border all round the edge. Chill for 30 minutes.

By this stage the tomatoes for the coulis should have cooled. Peel the garlic and put the cloves, along with with tomatoes and any juices from the tin into a blender. Add a few basil leaves and a little more olive oil.

Blitz thoroughly and then pass through a sieve into a bowl to make a smooth sauce. Season, cover and chill in the fridge until needed.

Heat the oven to 200°c. Spoon the red onion over the pastry but make sure to stay within the border. The original recipe only called for 1 onion which really wasn't enough. I had to spread the onion around the outsides near the border and leave the centre empty which was less than ideal. 2 onions should ensure the entire middle of the pastry is covered too.

Arrange the courgette slices in a spiral shape over the top, making sure to overlap them tightly. Sprinkle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Brush the pastry border with beaten egg.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until the pastry is puffed and golden brown.

To serve, Paul Hollywood recommends leaving it to cool, then squeeze over some lemon juice and finish with a fine grating of Parmesan (I left this out as I'm allergic to cheese, but it might help add a little more flavour for the non-lactose intolerant amongst you!).

Serve with a light summer salad and a spoonful of the tomato coulis. Personally, although it was fine cold it tasted a lot better warm so might be better served with roasted peppers instead of the salad.

Overall I loved this recipe and will definitely be making it again. My only main issue was with the coulis - it was really watery so I think it'd be better before sieving. The tart itself though worked really well, and given that there was no soggy bottom I'd declare it a resounding success!

Let me know in the comments below if you give it a go or drop me a tweet - I'd love to know how you get on with it! I'm going to be baking a lot more often from now on as well, so if there's a particular recipe/book you think I should try then get in touch - I'd love to branch out and challenge myself more!