Roasted Mediterranean Veg Tart: £0.44 per serve

Hello wonderful spongaloids,

I’m back in Edinburgh and that means I’m cooking on a budget again, having spent the last month cooking the most deliciously rich and gorgeous foods on the Bessie Ellen. Ah well, back to reality – to lentils rather than lobster…

I’ve got some mates staying and we’re saving money by going to free shows at the Fringe and eating food at the flat rather than spending £8 on a burger each time. Yowcher. Anyhoo, I cooked this yesterday and it got rave reviews: look how delighted Charlie looks to be eating it! Mitch looks apprehensive but his plate is empty.

Anyway, less about the funny tart and more about the yummy tart.

This is essentially a jazzed up bit of puff pastry – easy af but looks proper fancy. It’s awesomely quick to do too – hands on time around 10 minutes, then a 25 minute escapade into a hot oven. Can be eaten hot, warm, warmish, lukewarm, cold, frozen or inside out.

To serve 5-6, you will need:

• 340g Puff Pastry Block – £0.59
• Half a tub of cream cheese – £0.25
• A couple of spoonfuls of pesto – £0.30
• Few cloves of garlic, chopped £0.10
• Half a courgette, chopped into small chunks – £0.15
• Half a red pepper, chopped roughly – £0.17
• 12 cherry tomatoes, cut into quarters £0.30
• 1/4 of a block of feta £0.33 (completely optional)
• Freshly chopped parsley £0.25
• a few basil leaves – £0.10
• salt, pepper, olive oil £0.10

Put the oven on to about 190.

K so what you do is you roll out your puff pastry sheet till it’s the thickness of  £1 coin, mibbe slightly less. Put it on a baking tray that’s roughly 30x20cm and trim the edges.

Spread ur cream cheese over the pastry base and swirl on some pesto, propper cheffy like. Sprinkle over your minced garlic and then scatter your veg haphazardly over the top. Save the herbs for later but season well and drizzle some olive oil on for good mediterranean luck.

Bake it in the oven for 25-30 minutes, or until the tops of the veg are charring slightly and the pastry is puffed up and brown.

To serve, sprinkle over the feta and the herbs and a bit more olive oil. Present it to the table to a chorus of “is that a pizza or what?”

Btw this is totally customisable – might to caramelized onions next time…