Goats cheese and courgette open tart

I'd like to think of myself as quite an experienced little chef. Little both literally and metaphorically. So the other night I casually whipped up a little tart for dinner, full of fun flavours and cooking techniques to keep myself entertained. I used puff pastry (the easy stuff from the supermarket), covered the base with caramelised red onion, next came the balsamic courgette peelings and peppers, then topped off with a generous helping of goat's cheese and fresh tomatoes. 

The toppings of the tart need to be cool before putting onto the pastry, as it will start to cook, so be prepared for a little bit of pre cooking. All together the tart will need about 15-20 minutes in the oven at 200.C. 

Ingredients 

jusrol puff pastry sheet 

2 red onions, sliced

sprinkling of demerara sugar 

dash of maple syrup 

knob of butter

2 courgettes 

1 pepper (colour of your choice) 

splash of balsamic vinegar 

a handful of cherry tomatoes (7-9) 

small log of goat's cheese 

I have kept these ingredients vague as this is a kind of meal that really depends on what you want, I'm a huge cheese fan so really love to cover it, but you might be different so don't feel pressured into totally covering it. 

Method

Roll out the pastry slightly and put onto a dish. Slice the red onion thinly and fry in a hot pan with olive oil. The onion wants to be nice and soft, so turn the heat down and let it cook for a good 4-5 minutes, making sure it doesn't burn. The onion will be soft and look a little like tangled medusa hair for lack of a better description. Add a nice spoonful of the brown sugar and a knob of butter to get the onion coated. Once this has melted and been stirred around it all, add another spoonful of sugar, and a little dash of maple syrup for variation of taste. Taste the onion (it'll be really hot so careful!), depending on what you think add more sugar or remove from pan to cool. Don't worry if you think it is too sweet, the flavour is very subtle under the balsamic and goats cheese. Maybe even make it sweeter!! 

Use a handy peeler (every chef's best friend) to very thinly slice the courgette. Slice the pepper with a good sharp knife. Fry these together until soft, if they look as though they're frying and becoming crispy rather than soft, add some salt which draws out the moisture in vegetables and will make them more moist. When these are cooked, after about 4 minutes, add a dash of balsamic vinegar, it should want about 2 or three generous shakes. (about 2 tsp in the real world) and give them a stir. 

While you're waiting for your delicious toppings to cool, half your tomatoes and crumble your goat's cheese in your hands. 

Treat the tart almost like a pizza, so you're putting on your different toppings. Start with the onion and spread it evenly, then do your veg and then finally the cheese and tomatoes, and season with salt and pepper. 

I like to score my pastry to make it look a bit prettier, and give it an egg wash to make it puff up nicely. (if you're in the awkward situation that you have no eggs, like I was last night, then milk will work just the same!)

Take out of the oven when it is puffy, the cheese has melted nicely and your kitchen smells like you want to eat it, enjoy!!