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7 Quick and Easy Tarts

If you don't have time to make pastry but still like the idea of home-made tarts, quiches and pies, make things quick and easy with ready-made pastry. Even the most basic store-cupboard ingredients can transform a sheet of pastry into a quick starter, lunch or dessert.

There's a wide range of good quality pastries available, both fresh and frozen, and some even come ready-rolled. You'll find shortcrust, sweet shortcrust (often called dessert pastry) and puff pastry in the chilled or freezer sections of most supermarkets. They can be used for both sweet and savoury recipes. It's best to buy the pastry in the fresh chilled section so that you can freeze any leftover pastry for next time. However, if you do buy frozen, just make sure you defrost it completely before using or it may crack.

Shortcrust is the best known pastry and the basis for most tarts and pies, both sweet and savoury. It's rolled thinly to line tins or pie dishes and can also form a 'lid' on top. Puff pastry is that lovely French invention that rises or puffs (hence the name) in flaky layers. It's light, crisp and airy in texture.

If you can't find the ready-rolled pastry that comes in 375g packets, use the one that comes in a 500g block and roll it out yourself. Save and freeze the leftovers for another time. A tip for using the ready-rolled version of shortcrust: let it come up to room temperature before unrolling - if it's too cold it can crack.

RECIPES

• Asparagus Puff Pastry Tart with Balsamic Vinegar
• Tomato and Tapenade Galettes
• Spinach and Pine Nut Squares with Feta Cheese
• Smoked Ham and Crispy Onion Quiche
• Cherry Cinnamon Cobbler
• Plum Pie
• Peach Tartlettes with Honeyed Yoghurt

Asparagus Puff Pastry Tart with Balsamic Vinegar
Serves 4 as a starter or light lunch
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 15 minutes

This is such a simple way to use fresh seasonal asparagus, and you don't even have to cook it first. Make sure you use small spears, avoiding any woody stems so they cook easily with the pastry. This would be perfect (and colourful) with a vine-ripened tomato salad.

250g/9oz asparagus tips, about 9cm/3 1/2 in long
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
salt and black pepper
375g/13oz ready-rolled puff pastry
flour for dusting
oil for greasing
1 egg, beaten, for glazing
1 tbsp chopped fresh chives
100g tub soft goat's cheese

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6. Place the asparagus tips, oil, vinegar, salt and pepper in a shallow dish and mix so the spears are well coated.

Unroll the pastry on a lightly floured surface, then place it on a lightly oiled, large baking sheet so the long side is closest to you (it will be a rectangle shape). Using a small, sharp knife, make a slight cut about 1cm/1/2in away from the edge of the pastry, making a sort of inner 'frame' but not cutting all the way through. Brush the edge with the beaten egg. Make more cuts in the pastry vertically, from top to bottom, inside the 'frame', about 1cm/1/2in apart, again taking care not to cut all the way through. This helps the pastry rise around the asparagus.

Now lay the asparagus side-by-side in 2 rows, one along the bottom and the other along the top of the pastry with the flowered tips meeting in the middle. Bake on the top shelf for 15 minutes, or until the pastry is risen and golden brown.

While the tart is baking, mix the chives into the goat's cheese and season with salt and pepper. Serve the tart warm with the goat's cheese on the side.

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