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Spain, Europe · Pisto manchego

Pisto Puff Tartlets with Honey Ricotta

Café-style bites: crisp puff pastry spread with lemony ricotta, topped with thick pisto, baked golden and finished with a drizzle of honey.

ServingsServes 2
Total cooking time38 min
DifficultyEasy

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 200 °C and keep the thawed pastry in the fridge. Cut the vegetables into small 7 mm dice and mince the garlic. Heat the olive oil in a 20 cm frying pan over medium heat and cook the red onion, garlic and pepper for .

    Add in this stepOlive oil 1½ tbspRed onion ½Garlic cloves 1Red bell pepper ½

    medium heat

  2. Add the courgette, tomato paste, thyme and salt and cook for more, until there is no liquid at all in the pan; a wet filling makes a soggy base. Spread on a plate to cool.

    Add in this stepCourgette (zucchini) ½Tomato paste 2 tspDried thyme ½ tspSalt ½ tsp

  3. Put the ricotta in a bowl, finely grate in only the yellow part of the lemon zest, season with pepper and stir until smooth.

    Add in this stepRicotta 120 gLemon (for zest) ½Black pepper to taste

  4. Lay the pastry squares, spaced apart, on a baking tray lined with baking paper. With a knife, score a border 1 cm in from the edge without cutting through, and prick the centre several times with a fork. Beat the egg and brush it on the border only.

    Add in this stepPuff pastry squares (12 cm, thawed) 4Egg (for egg wash) 1

  5. Spread the ricotta inside the border and top with the cooled pisto. Bake in the oven at 200 °C for , until the borders have puffed high, are deep golden and the bases are crisp. If you use two trays, swap them halfway.

    oven

  6. Let them cool for 5 minutes, then drizzle thinly with honey and add basil leaves. They're best warm.

    Add in this stepHoney 1 tbspFresh basil leaves to taste

Cook's tip

Always cool the pisto first: hot filling melts the butter in the pastry and it won't puff. Leftover pisto works perfectly. You can freeze them unbaked and bake from frozen, adding 3 to 4 minutes. Balsamic glaze is a good swap for the honey.

Cooking it at camp

Puff pastry is hard to keep cold at a campsite, so make it an open toast instead: crisp tortillas in a cast-iron pan, add the ricotta and pisto and cover with a lid to warm through. At home, bake them in the oven as above.