Roast Peppers & Goat Cheese Tartlets

It will be my daughter’s 21st birthday soon and we are preparing for the big event.  I am experimenting with a few foodie ideas that will be suitable for the party.   I am planning to serve finger food on the night to 150 friends and family.  This recipe for Roast Peppers and Goat Cheese tartlets and tart will be for all who love eating vegetarian dishes.

A few friends will be visiting over the weekend and it will give me a perfect opportunity to make something that I could easily convert into finger food.  The Roast Peppers and Goat Cheese is suitable for one large tart or a substantial number of mini (bite size) tartlets.

Ingredients
200 grams Goat Cheese (small cubes) or (100 grams of goat cheese for the mini tartlets) 
1 Yellow Capsicum (char grilled)
1 Red Capsicum (char grilled)
3 egg yolks
1 egg
300ml thickened cream
3 sheets of Shortcrust Pastry or (1 pastry sheet for the large tart)
2 small spring onions (finely sliced)
20 grams butter (melted for greasing the tin)
couple of pinches ground nutmeg
salt & freshly ground pepper

Preparation Time:      30 minutes (approximately)
Cooking Time:      10-15 minutes (large tart approximately 20-30 minutes)
Makes:     48 Mini Tart-lets or 1 Large Tart

Pre-heat the oven to 180° C for 15 minutes.

Grease 1 large flan dish (25cm) or 2 x 24 mini muffin tins.

To char grill the capsicum, wash and pat dry the peppers and place them under the grill on high heat.  Turn regularly once the skin has started to blacken and blister.   Remove from the grill and immediately place in a plastic bag twisting the top around a few times to seal in the heat.  Allow to cool down.  When cooled, peel the skin, remove the ends, seeds and place aside.  Cut into large strips for the large tart and into small pieces for the tartlets.

Cut the goat cheese into small cubes for the large tart, smaller pieces for the tartlets and place aside.  Finely slice the spring onions.  Cut the pastry with a 6 cm cookie cutter.  Once cut, they fit perfectly into the mini muffin tin to create bite size cases.  Place the pastry cases into the muffin tins.

In a large bowl place the egg yolks, egg, thickened cream, nutmeg, salt and pepper.  Beat well to combine with whisk and  place aside.

Put the cubes of goat cheese into all the cases, add the small pieces of peppers, a little spring onion and with a tea spoon ladle the egg mixture into the cases.  When you have finished filling all the cases, place in the oven to bake.  Keep and eye on the tartlets while they are baking and turn the tin if necessary to ensure even browning.  They will rise a little however, once cooled they will form a flat surface.

For the large tart, place the pastry sheet in the dish and trim the ends. Once trimmed  use them to cover any exposed areas around the dish moulding them into the pastry.  Using a fork, prick around the bottom of the flan dish making small holes and also around the sides.  Blind bake the pastry for approximately 15 minutes.    Remove from the oven, allow to stand for a few minutes and then neatly  arrange the goat cheese, 1/2 the capsicum strips, spring onions around the flan dish.   Pour the egg mixture on top and arrange the remainder of the capsicum strips on top of the mixture.  Place in the oven and bake for approximately 20-30 minutes or until golden and firm in the centre.

Cook’s Tips

For this recipe I used frozen Shortcrust pastry.

The larger tart will take a little longer to cook.  Blind baking the pastry ensures that it is thoroughly cooked through and browned at the base.

The tartlets are bite size, do not over crowd them or over fill them with the goat cheese, peppers, spring onion and egg mixture.  They will ooze out whilst baking.  Small pieces are the way to go and when using the tea spoon gradually pour the egg mixture into the cases.

Enjoy!