Effortless Caprese Tarts

Spontaneity can be an attractive trait. Or not. Well it depends on the circumstances, I suppose.

Sponteneous baking a batch of cookies, good.

Sponteneous turning up to a friend’s house at almost dinner time, not so good (maybe borderline rude).

Major big disclaimer – It was not our intention to stay for dinner after rocking up to a friend’s house during dinner time. However, he was making pizzas using puff pastry as pizza base and leftover curry as toppings (minus the gravy, obviously). We were like “gtg” (got to go) but he insisted us to stay for dinner. Speaking of being  a hospitable host eh? Anyway, that dinner was the reason why I was craving for puff pastry. Plus I have some leftover frozen puff pastry from the last time I made the bite-sized quiches.

Since I’ve featured caprese salad on my blog, I thought I’d change it up a bit with a tart version and put my leftover puff pastry into good use. It sounds like a good plan right?

Effortless Caprese Tart

Serves 2 people as a light meal (or 4 portions as a starter)

What you’ll need:-

• 1 sheet of frozen puff pastry, thawed (used Pampas’ 25% reduced fat puff pastry) – see Note 1
• 1 medium tomato, seeds removed and diced
• 250g/9 ounces buffalo mozzarella (used Geoff Janz marinated mozzarella from Woolworths) – see Note 2
• Freshly grind black pepper
• A small handful of fresh basil leaves, sliced
• A small drizzle of olive oil to finish *optional*

Note 1 – measurement is 24 cm (9.5 inches) x 24 cm (9.5 inches)

Note 2 – In hindsight I should have eaten the marinated mozzarella straight with salad (like what I did here) as it is pretty tasty on its own. I felt that I could get away with the normal mozzarella (less expensive) for this tart.

(1) Preheat oven to 200 degrees C / 356 degrees F – see Note 3. Slice the sheet into half  and then form 1cm/ 0.4 inches edge by folding inward. (2) Remove the seeds of a tomato and dice into small pieces. (3) Since I’ve used a marinated mozzarella ball, I removed it from the oil and pat dry with a paper towel. (4) Tear the mozzarella ball with your fingers and distributed between the 2 tart shells. Then sprinkle with the diced tomato. Bake for 20 minutes until the cheese is melted and the puff pastry is golden brown – see Note 4. Serve immediate with freshly grind black pepper, sliced basil and a small drizzle of olive oil to finish. (Shhh….Tobasco sauce is a fiery addition too!)

See note 3 – if you use a fan forced oven, reduce the temperature by 20 degrees C/68 degrees F.

See note 4 – Do not freak out when you see a tiny pool of liquid (oozed from the tomato) filled the tart shell. Stop peeking through the oven window and walk away. Only check the tart when the time is up as you will be delighted to see the cheese is bubbling and tomato is slightly charred….and where’s the pool of liquid, you say?