What could be easier than rolling out a sheet of supermarket puff pastry and topping it with vegetables, meats, greens or cheese (and please don’t say ‘Deliveroo’)? Savoury tarts are a marvellous dinner solution, especially made with good quality, all-butter puff pastry (watch out, supermarkets have taken to displaying the vegan option as default and it’s just awful, unless you’re vegan).
If you want to make a bit more effort and be inspired by Greek, Turkish and Middle Eastern cuisines, you can use filo – and it’s not half as daunting to work with as it might be perceived, either. Just keep the stack covered and brush each sheet with lots of oil or melted butter.
The next challenge is shortcrust, arguably the classic pastry for savoury tarts, and it’s inarguably best homemade. But obviously, cut it short with shop bought if necessary, but again, make sure it's made with butter.
Here’s a collection of a dozen delicious tarts on all three above kinds of pastry, plus a surprising use of a pizza dough ball from the freezer.
Pear and bacon tart on puff pastry base spread with soft blue cheese is made with just four ingredients and assembled in five minutes. Quick, easy and delicious lunch, starter or snack. Feel free to swap pears for apples or nectarines.
Another easy puff one, asparagus tart on puff pastry, modestly cheesy but superiorly easy to make. It’s a delightful springtime brunch or lunch dish, making the most of the short British asparagus season while it lasts.
Caramelised, jammy figs on puff pastry are fantastically lovely. Here paired with slivers of prosciutto, the classic combination, they are arranged over a puff pastry slab. The tart takes about five minutes to prepare and twenty to bake. A divine lunch or starter dish, best made with gorgeous Bursa figs.
Fig and prosciutto tart
RECIPE
Empanada is traditionally a handmade dough pocket, deep fried. My recipe is a shortcut in many ways: with spinach and cheese filling wrapped in filo pastry and baked in the oven, with honey and pine nut topping. As good in filo as in handmade dough!
Filo lends itself better to a pie of sorts rather than a completely open tart. But all it means is draping overhanging pastry ends over the filling. This chorizo and sweetcorn pie with a cheesy layer of ricotta and cheddar mix is a delicious weekend family brunch dish or even a dinner party centrepiece since it’s perfectly good to prepare ahead.
Chorizo and sweetcorn filo pie
RECIPE
Similar to the above recipe, this one is an Ottolenghi inspired fondue filo pie, with mushrooms. It’s a combo of Savoyarde raclette experience and a Greek or Middle Eastern filo pastry, and it’s excellent.
Mushroom and fondue filo pie
RECIPE
And now for something really special: tarte Tatin with ripe and fleshy plum tomatoes. It looks and tastes like summer! You can use puff pastry here, but it will be much lovelier with homemade shortcrust thyme pastry for the base/top.
This one is a tomato tart as well: crostata (aka galette) is a sweet or savoury, open, rustic pie. Vibrant tomato slices with a honey and thyme drizzle bake on the base of flaky pastry made from scratch, with a sneaky cheese addition.
Leeks and Cheddar are a wonderful combination. Caramelised leeks and grated, melting Cheddar on shortcrust pastry, homemade or shop bought, make a fabulous, easy dish, as good to serve warm as it is cold.
Swiss cheese tart, käsewähe, can also be served hot or cold and is equally delicious. Swiss street and marketplace food, savoury cheesecake, has a shortcrust base and cheesy but light filling. Cut it into slices – who needs pizza?
That one pizza dough ball that didn’t get used at the last pizza event? Of course you don’t want the palaver of the sauce, the mozzarella, the toppings for just one pizza! Turn that dough ball into a cheesy sweetcorn tart on a crusty base. It's vegetarian and gorgeous, as a snack, for lunch or dinner. Use leftover homemade dough or a shop bought dough portion or base.
Pizza dough again, with the topping of beetroot leaves, inspired by Ossetian pies filled with beetroot greens. Don’t throw them away, especially new season beetroot leaves. Those greens are nutritious and delicious, and smaller ones can be used raw in salads.