Abigail’s interest in the kitchen has really picked up over the last while. At 8 years of age her attention to detail is something else. Recently on a rainy Saturday afternoon she wanted to help make a dinner. So we went to the fridge and larder to see what we had in stock. It is so important to have the basics of a decent recipe at home. Keep an eye out for our ” Essentials for your Larder ” post in the future. Abigail picked out everything she wanted to add. I kept trying to help by suggesting we add a tin of sardines or some truffle oil. I was politely told not to over complicate the dish. And she was so right. Her confidence around knives the gas hob is unreal. She has the skills all right. We couldn’t be more proud as parents seeing our eldest express herself in the best possible way. After dinner there wasn’t a crust left on the tray. We asked the kids what they thought of the recipe and collectively they all said it was in Roald Dahls words a Terrific Tomato Tart.

The Ingredients:

1 red onion

1 white onion

2 cloves garlic

3 streaky bacon

6 tomatoes

100g Cheddar cheese grated

100g Parmigiana cheese grated

Salt

Pepper

100g Unsalted butter

Packet puff pastry

1 egg beaten

3 sprigs of rosemary

The Make:

Finely chop onions and garlic and fry them off with 50g of butter. Once soft set aside. Chop up bacon and fry it in same pan as the onions with the other 50g of butter. When the bacon has browned mix back in the onions and garlic. Slice the tomatoes and arrange them on top of bacon and onion mix. Cover pan and allow the tomatoes to steam. Pre heat oven to 160C. Roll out pastry and cut to fit an oven tray. Score a 1 inch border on the pastry. Carefully remove the steamed tomatoes from the pan with a spatula to keep their shape and set aside. Now spread the bacon and onion mix onto the pastry within the border. Neatly arrange the steamed tomato slices on top. Egg wash the pastry border. Evenly sprinkle the grated cheeses on top. Season with salt and pepper. Place the sprigs of rosemary on the top. This will give some nice aromatics. Place the tart into the oven and cook 30 minutes. Cook until the base is crisp. Remove rosemary before serving.

Enjoy.