Mediterranean tart [vegan!]

Sneak peak: a recipe for an incredibly easy vegan puff pastry tart with tomatoes, olives, capers, basil, and vegan mozzarella

This recipe tastes of summer. For that reason, it's perfect for eating during summertime and it's also perfect for eating on days when it is so grim and dreich outside that you want to forget about it all and transport yourself to sunnier climes through the medium of food. Mum makes this all the time but somehow (somewhy?) I've never made it myself - until now. And now I shall be making it all the time. It's adapted from this BBC Good Food recipe and is SO TASTY. Felix gave it 11 out of 10.

Mediterranean tart
vegan, serves four
5 mins prep, 20-25 mins cooking

Ingredients
1 packet ready-rolled puff pastry (Jus Rol is vegan! as long as you don't get the 'all butter' version)
3 tbsp grainy mustard
3 tbsp pesto of choice
100g vegan mozzarella (I used the violife mozzarella flavour block)
8 cherry tomatoes, halved
12 slow roasted/sun blushed tomato halves
3 tbsp capers
20 olives, halved (I used green olives stuffed with pimento peppers)
handful fresh basil (if you remember to buy it when you do the ingredients shopping... oops)
salt and pepper

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 200C, or 180C fan.
2. Unroll the pastry onto a baking sheet. This is easier if it's at room temperature rather than fridge temperature, but if it does crack you can just mush it back together with your fingers. If, like me, you don't actually have a baking sheet (a large baking tray with no sides) then you can be equally ingenious and turn a normal baking tray upside down. Tadaaa, no sides! Using a sharp knife, score a line about 2cm in from the edge on all sides (you're drawing a slightly smaller rectangle inside the pastry with a 2cm border around the edge). Lightly prick the inner rectangle all over with a fork. This will cause the border bit to puff up and the inside bit to stay flat.
3. Spread the mustard evenly all over the inner rectangle, then do the same with the pesto. Use whatever kind you like - basil for a classic flavour, sundried tomato for even more of a tomato hit, or mix it up if you're feeling crazy; I used a smoky aubergine one which was so good. Then break up the mozzarella and scatter it over. Vegan mozzarella doesn't break in the same way as dairy, so I cut the block into slices about half a centimetre thick, then broke the slices into about 1cm pieces and scattered them evenly over the inner rectangle.
4. Pop it in the oven for five minutes to give the cheese a head start on melting. Once five mins is up, take it out and scatter over the rest of the toppings except the basil, then put back in the oven for another 15-20 minutes.
5. Once the pastry is puffed up and golden, and the cheese looks suitably melty, tear some fresh basil over the top, cut into quarters (pizza cutter works well here) and serve alongside a salad (or just some leaves with a drizzle of balsamic for ease).

I absolutely love this tart and is so unbelievably easy. It's great for prepping in advance, as a nice cosy meal for two, and since it's so easy and such a crowd-pleaser it would be very easy for large-scale entertaining too (hello dinner party). It would work well as party food if you cut it into lil teeny bitesize pieces - the possibilities are endless!

I really hope you enjoy it and would love to see photos of your recreations. Tag me on instagram @imogenfin!

*All photos in this post are mine. If you wish to use any, please ask my permission and credit me.*

nothing to do with the recipe but I was testing the lighting settings on my camera and LOOK how pretty my Valentine's Day flowers are aw I'm so LUCKY aw aw awww (sorry if the cheese here made you barf)