Tarts for a party

One of my best friends turned 40 over the weekend. We’re  all there now, partied out and coming to terms with being middle aged by dancing the night away and drinking slightly better quality wines with the odd cocktail thrown in to ensure the worst possible hangover.

My friend wanted me to do some food for her. That was fine, apart from the fact I had just returned from holiday and the kitchen had just been painted so the house was in total chaos! So, the food was going to have to be good, obviously, but more to the point, EASY. I only had a day in which to shop and prepare as the kitchen had to be put to rights before even attempting to create party nosh for about 50 people.

That’s when I remembered my fail safe party tarts. I have been using some very good pre-cooked pastry cases for some big cooking jobs that I ave been catering for recently. They come delivered to your door  from “pastry post”. If you ever are caught short for ideas, I recommend trying this company. They provide every type of pastry case, in such a brilliant array of shapes and sizes, that you may never feel the need to bake pastry ever again.

How lucky I was to discover that I had nearly a whole boxful left over from a recent party, sitting there under the stairs. A breathed a sigh of relief. All they require is filling and an egg  and cream mix. That was good news. What I love about these tart cases is you can use them for so mny things. Great for a starter, picnic, lunchbox or quick dinner. You simply have to choose what to fill them with.

My friend is a vegetarian, so we chose roasted vegeble, basil and cheese. The list for other options is endless, but I shall list a few ideas which would work very well……

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Tarts for a party

Tasty savoury tart ideas perfect for parties and events

Course Appetizer

Cuisine British

Keyword tarts for a party

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Servings 12

Author Laura Scott

Ingredients

• Pre-baked pastry tart cases

For the roasted veggies:)

• 1 aubergine chopped into small cubes
• 1 courgette chopped into small cubes
• 1 red pepper chopped into small cubes
• 1 yellow pepper chopped into small cubes
• 1 red onion chopped into small cubes
• 2 cloves garlic finely chopped
• 1 tsp fresh rosemary finely chopped
• 300 ml double cream
• 1 packet fresh basil chopped
• 1 small block mature Cheddar grated

Instructions

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees
2. Line  1 large or 2 smaller baking trays with baking parchment
3. Chop all the veg into small cubes
4. Place in a bowl with the chopped garlic and fresh rosemary if using

5. Season with salt and pepper

6. Coat  generously in olive oil then place onto the baking try and roast for 30 minutes until vegetables are beginning to turn golden brown on the edges
7. When the vegetables are cooked and cooled  place into the tart cases and top with some torn basil and greated cheese of your choice
8. Whisk up the eggs, adding seasoning.

9. Whatever volume of eggs you have, add the same amount of double cream., ie:, 100ml of eggs will require 100ml of cream

10. Bake in the pre heated oven for 25 mins or until the egg mixture has turned golden and is beginning to soufflé up nicely