Recipe: Rustic Feta Basil Tart

Hubby and I have decided to become (/slowly sliding into) flexitarianism. I am trying to cut down on red meat because of its proven carcinogenic qualities when cooked. Matt watched a doco about chickens, where they give them hormones, fatten them up and they can't even walk before they are killed... I won't go into it more as I don't wanna put you off your food. Suffice to say, we want to eat more veges.


As most of my recipe knowledge calls for meat, I have needed to scour the internets for new food ideas (so I don't repeat the same 3 vegetarian meals every week.) I found this one, and it was delicious! And pretty easy. So I thought I'd share the recipe.

Feta-Basil Tart: (serves 2)

Tart dough:

§                     3/4 cup of whole wheat flour

§                     1.5 tbsp butter

§                     pinch of salt

§                     1.5 tbsp yogurt

§                     enough water to make a smooth dough

Directions:

1.                  Crumb the butter into the flour and salt.

2.                  Add the yogurt and then enough water to make a smooth dough.

3.                  Chill for 30 minutes to 1 hour, or 10 minutes in the freezer.

Feta Basil Filling:

§                     2/3 cup of crumbled feta (or if you are doing it in a food processor, like me, you can use hard feta.)

§                     3/4-1 cup of chopped basil (packed)

§                     1/4-1/2 cup chopped parsley

§                     1 small onion, chopped

§                     1-2 eggs

§                     pinch of salt

§                     pepper

            I added spinach too

Directions:

1.                  Mix all ingredients together (beating eggs well). (You can do this in a food processor.)

2.                  Roll tart dough into two thin rounds.

3.                  Put filling in the middle of the dough and pinch the dough up around the edges to make little containers for the filling.

4.                  Bake at 220 for 15 minutes.

5.                  Reduce heat to 180 and bake until done (~20 minutes)

6.         Let cool. Serve.

I got the recipe from here

Feta and Basil are not the cheapest ingredients, but the amount you need for this meal will cost less than the equivalent amount of meat you would need for a main meal.

I served it with warm potato/kumara salad (chop up kumara and potatoes (with skins on), boil till cooked. Chop up red onion, avocado, nuts, boiled eggs - anything!  to put in salad. And serve with dressing, 1/4 cup mayo, 1/8th cup plain yogurt/sour cream and 1 tsp mustard mixed together.). As you can see we went a little dressing crazy, so I have given you the recipe for half the amount of dressing, which should be enough. Serves 2.

We also had dessert

Red velvet cupcake, recipe here