As regular readers will know, from time to time I make rustic tarts, or galette – see for example here and here. Hitherto I’ve used commercial puff pastry because (a) I’m lazy and (b) I’ve never considered myself a good pastry cook. My typical pastry method has been my mother’s wartime approach of throwing flour, butter and water (or milk) together and rolling it out. While this is not good, I’ve always felt using commercial pastry is a bit of a cheat, and I should be better at making my own (although I draw the line at the faff of puff pastry).

So a few weeks ago I came upon a Nigel Slater recipe for a rustic tomato & shallot tart, and discovered he has been experimenting with pastry. It’s worth reading his recipe before we proceed. I’ll wait …

So now you know what we’re trying to do. I had never considered polenta in a pastry recipe before, let alone baking powder! So of course I had to try it. I had no polenta, so tried without. It was OK, but a bit bland; the pastry needed a flavour lift, like more salt. Polenta isn’t going to do that, but I needed to get some anyway. So I had a think. Ah-ha! That old stand-by Parmesan will give a flavour lift as well as some additional saltiness. So in true fashion I set out to “augment” the recipe.

And at the same time I thought there must be a way to do a sweet version for a fruit tart. And there is, as you will see. But first this is how I did a Tomato & Onion Tart.

That was good; it worked well and the parmesan provide the necessary lift. I’m not sure the parmesan flakes are quite right; something like cheddar might work better; or possibly even better dot the top with bite-size pieces of brie. Of course you can easily make this vegan by leaving out the cheese.

So now, here is how I did the fruit version. It’s essentially the same, just fruity.

I actually used some raspberries and a few home-grown blackberries. And I used icing sugar (‘cos I happened to have some open). It worked well, although it was quite juicy when just out of the oven, but firmed up in an hour or so.

I also found this sweet pastry was much easier to roll. I guess that’s the difference between olive oil and butter; so I think I might try the savoury version with butter next time. But both pastries were much nicer to work with than what I’d done in the past.

So yes, I will be doing this again.

(Sorry no pictures as they got eaten too eagerly!)

Last evening I did yet another variation on my quick pasta recipe. I keep tweaking this recipe (usually as the mood takes me) and it keeps getting better! This time I used some frozen mixed seafood.

Serves: 2 (if greedy/hungry) or 4 (as a normal main course)
Preparation: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes

You will want:

• Pasta (variety of your choice, I used some dried shapes)
• 400g mixed seafood (I used Waitrose frozen raw Fruits de Mer containing king prawns, squid, mussels and scallops)
• 100g button mushrooms, halved
• 12 cherry tomatoes
• 1 or 2 medium red onions, not too finely chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, chopped small or crushed
• 12 olives, stoned and halved (optional)
• Juice and zest of 2 limes (or 1 lemon)
• a small chilli, chopped fine, seeds removed if very hot (optional)
• a big bunch parsley, stems removed but not chopped
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 tbsp thick double cream (optional)
• Black pepper
• Olive oil and/or butter

And this is what you do:

1. Have everything prepared and ready, and get the pasta on to cook.
2. While the pasta cooks, sauté the onion, garlic, olives & chilli in a tablespoon of olive oil and a good knob of butter until translucent (about 5 minutes).
3. Add the seafood to the pan, put on a lid, and allow to cook for 10 minutes. (If you’re using ready cooked seafood, then start this only once the pasta is done, and cook for only 2-3 minutes.)
4. Remove the lid and add the mushrooms, lime (or lemon), and a good grind of black pepper; cook for a further minute or two. (Don’t worry if this looks too wet; we want some sauce. If too dry add a splash of white wine or dry vermouth.)
5. Now add the tomatoes, and keep cooking for another minute or two to get the tomatoes hot through but not disintegrating.
6. Now add the parsley and tomato paste; adjust the amount of tomato paste to thicken the sauce to your preference.
7. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the cream.
8. Return to a very gentle heat and add the cooked and drained pasta. Coat the pasta in the sauce.
9. Serve immediately in warmed pasta dishes. Garnish with a bit more parsley and/or grated parmesan if desired. And of course a glass of chilled white or rosé wine on the side.

Enjoy! We did!