Courgette and Chorizo Tarts

I found a reason to use these cute cast iron pans today.

They provided the perfect home for these savoury tarts that we had for lunch.

The pastry is a rich parmesan and thyme shortcrust. The filling is made of eggs, fresh from the hen-house, mixed with Philadelphia, plus a handful of lightly sautéed spring onions, courgettes and chorizo.

Extra flavour came from fresh thyme leaves and parmesan.

I am always keen on us all eating the same thing, (I don’t agree with a ‘kids meal’ option) but today I bowed to George’s request for no chorizo, so his tart had pieces of sun-dried tomato instead. Not too much of a compromise really as I could barely tell which was which as they came out of the oven, all puffed up and golden.

Although it might look pretty fancy, this is something conjured from what I could find in the fridge, plus the last herbs and vegetables from the garden, it would work just as well with other leftovers.

I made enough pastry for 6 tarts, so we have 3 more cases waiting in the freezer for lunch another day. I am already plotting a filling for them.

The Pastry

This makes enough for 6 small tarts or 1 in a 23cm flan tin.

• 190g plain flour
• 40g parmesan
• 70g butter
• 30g lard
• a pinch of salt
• 1 egg beaten with a splash of milk
• fresh thyme leaves

Rub the butter and lard into the flour, stir in the salt, parmesan and thyme leaves, then mix in the egg and milk until the dough forms a ball. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for an hour or so.

Roll out on a floured surface and cut out circles. Press them gently into your chosen, greased tin. (I lined mine with a little greaseproof paper…just in case)

Place the tins in the freezer to chill and firm up whilst you prepare the filling. I leave half int he freezer to make for another day.

The Filling

This makes more than enough for 3-4 tarts (double this to fill all 6. To make 1 large 23cm tart add an extra courgette and a chopped onion)

• 3 eggs
• 100g light Philadelphia
• 1 chopped courgette
• 3 chopped spring onions
• some thyme leaves
• some chopped chorizo or sun-dried tomatoes…or pancetta
• salt and pepper
• grated parmesan

Whisk the eggs and cream cheese and season with salt, pepper and thyme leaves. If you want a softer set you can add a little milk or cream.

Gently fry off the spring onions, then add the courgettes, tip them into a bowl then fry off the chorizo.

Assembly

Fill your almost frozen pie cases with some parchment and baking beans and blind bake for 10 minutes. Remove the paper and baking beans and cook for 3 minutes more. (You can probably skip this bit but I am afeared of missing out a blind bake)

Divide the fried filling between the partly baked tart cases then top up with the egg/philly mix.

Sprinkle with grated parmesan and bake for 20 minutes at 180 degrees C (30 mins for a large tart)

Leave to cool or eat, warm from the oven, with a green salad.