"Budget Beater Bourgeois Tart" or just Caramelised Onion & Courgette Tart

If you live in JHB, you had to have experienced the torrential rains this past weekend which probably also means that you were also stuck in doors.  I for one LOVE the rain. I love its cleansing nature and the fresh sandy smell that follows the downpour! The only time I will ever sing 'rain, rain, go away come again another day' is when I plan on being out 'on the streets (cue RJ Benjamin :)) Okay corny I know I know  :)

Because T and I opted to stay indoors, I chose to make a tart that I've been meaning to make for sometime now but the idea of rolling out pastry just seemed so damn daunting. Fear not: that is not the case with this recipe. Store bought pastry that need not be rolled out (WHOO HOO) and is done in about couple of minutes (enough for you to cuddle while it rains outside :))

Ingredients

1 Roll Puff Pastry (left out to defrost naturally and cut into 4 squares)

2 tablespoons butter (salted or unsalted doesn't matter really)

5/6 courgettes thinly sliced

2 large (or 4 small) brown onions

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons brown sugar

Salt and Pepper

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

½  cup grated mozzarella

fresh Thyme

¼ cup of milk

Rocket for serving

Ingredients

1 Roll Puff Pastry (left out to defrost naturally and cut into 4 squares)

2 tablespoons butter (salted or unsalted doesn't matter really)

5/6 courgettes thinly sliced

2 large (or 4 small) brown onions

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons brown sugar

Salt and Pepper

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

½  cup grated mozzarella

fresh Thyme

¼ cup of milk

Rocket for serving

Method

Melt butter in a pan

Add sliced onions and cook for 20 mins or until caramelised (cook on a low setting to avoid them burning)

Add sugar and balsamic vinegar. Cook for 3 mins

Season (with salt and pepper) and set aside

Toss baby marrows in olive oil

Roll out (not using a rolling pin just unroll it) pastry and score a 2cm border around each pastry square. Place pastry squares on greased baking tray (I lined mine with tin foil and sprayed it with spray and cook)

Top with cheese, onions and courgette

Brush pastry edges with milk

Bake for 15-20 minsor until cooked through.

Top with rocket. Or alternatively serve with pesto and a side salad.

This meal is enough to feed four people or 8 people who choose to eat more salad than pastry :)

Expensive – not at all!!

Time to make – not long :)

I'll definitely serve this tart again...and with all this rainy weather that's predicted for JHB, it's a good enough reason to get all TARTY! :)

Johazardousburg

 

I made these last week...I should have written JOHAZARDOUSBURG after the break in we had earlier this week!

Ohhh well...right now I have a love hate relationship with my city

I will love you again ...... sometime soon ;)

Tomorrow, I shall have you in my heart.

Vegetable Tagine with olive and parsley couscous

Last week I was guilty of gluttony. A certain pizza establishment based in the Hyde Park shopping centre had this great special on(they still do if you're interested) – a small pizza for 29 bucs. The special – you could choose ANY pizza (yes even if it had expensive things like seafood on it) and you would only pay R29..anyway I took fulll advantage of this and ate 3 pizzas in a space of 5 days..they were good pizzas but certainly not good for my waistline..

So this week I have vowed to eat healthily hoping that my body would forgive me! Visited fruit and veg and stocked up on all the 'love-my-body- goodies I could get...

Dinner last night would make any vegetarian proud. Here's the recipe.

Vegetable Tagine with olive and parsley couscous

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 med red onion thinly sliced

2 cloves of garlic

1 tsp dried chilli flakes            } I combined these two and used the chilli and garlic mix and just                                                      added 2 tsps.

1tsp ground coriander

1tsp cumin seeds

½ tsp tumeric powder

500g pumpkin  - I used roasted butternut

2 med potatoes chopped coarsely

2 ½ cups veg stock

1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained

½ cup coarsely chopped coriander

- Heat oil and cook onion (till soft) and garlic and chilli mix

- Add spices and seeds: cook, stirring until fragrant (such a great smell u'll know when its fragrant)

- Add the potatoe (As mentioned above I used roasted butternut which I didn't add to the tagine but instead placed alongside the meal). If you don't want to do that then at this stage add the butternut to the potatoe and spice mix.

- Stir in stock, bring to the boil. Reduce heat and let simmer uncovered until veggies are tender.

- Add can of chickpeas.

- Cook (simmer uncovered) for about 10 minutes (sauce will thicken slightly by now). The veggies should be 'tender' at this point,,,which means its READY!:)

Olive and Parsely Couscous

Cook couscous according to packet instructions, I made 2 cups of couscous

spoon of butter

1 1/3 cups black pitted olives

½ cup coarsely chopped flat leaf parsely

Couscous: Add olives and chopped flat leaf parsely to couscous and mix all together. I added another spoon of butter to this mix ;)

Side Note: If you want, you can cook the couscous with 1.5 cup of veg stock instead of plain old water.

It's ready to be served. As you can see in the pics I took, this time I chose to put the butternut alongside the tagine instead of mixed in with the tagine...both ways work just as well! I felt full and welllll nourished after this meal! :)

Hope you enjoy. Oh if you want to make it a day ahead, you can...just store the tagine and couscous separately in the fridge!