Anne says: This tart makes a brilliant vegetarian option and is always requested by my vegetarian friends when they are invited over for dinner. Its good enough to satisfy even the most committed meat eater.
Ingredients
- 3 red chillies, or to taste, cut lenghtways and deseeded
- 8 cloves of garlic, peeled
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- 28 semi sun-dried tomatoes
- 6 ripe beef tomatoes, cored
- 6 large waxy potatoes, thinly sliced
- 600ml (approx. 1pt) full fat milk
- 1 pastry case, blind baked
- 4 tablespoons of crème fraiche
- 2 tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese
- 1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
- A small bunch of basil
Method
Preheat the oven to 200C/ 180C fan oven/ gas mark 6.
Chop the beef tomatoes into 6 or 8 pieces, depending on size. Place the pieces into a roasting tray and back in the preheated oven for about 40 minutes. Drain off the liquid (which is good for soup). This process intensifies the flavour and reduces the moisture content.
Toss the chillies and the 6 cloves of garlic in olive oil, place on a roasting tray and roast for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and put them into a liquidiser with 20 of the semi sun-dried tomatoes. Blitz the ingredients briefly to give a rough puree.
Reduce the oven setting to 170C/150C fan-oven/ Gas mark 3.
Cook the sliced potatoes in the milk with the 2 remaining cloves of garlic until just tender. Discard the milk or use as a base to make soup.
Spread the chilli mixture over the pastry base, cover with the well drained beef tomatoes and season well. Layer the sliced potatoes on top seasoning as you go, leaving a 6cm gap at the edge.
Spoon the crème fraiche over the potatoes, sprinkle over with the grated Parmesan and return to the oven for 20 minutes.
Remove and dust with the paprika. Allow to cool for about 15 minutes and then decorate with the remaining semi sun-dried tomatoes and basil leaves. The basil can be brushed with olive oil which gives the leaves a shiny, bright appearance.
Enjoy!
