These delicious savoury tarts made with puff pastry dough and filled with pesto, soft cheese, caramelised onions and cherry tomatoes will make for a delicious dinner option or a great starter!
Serve these with Mediterranean Farro Salad with Zucchini for a delicious vegetarian dinner.
Life’s become a bit busier than I would’ve liked. I am back to teaching, still blogging and oh yeah…I’ve got a family! Sometimes things fall through the cracks, house is left untidied and groceries in the fridge get unused. Like this puff pastry I bought a few days a ago to make Steak and Ale Pie.
Savoury Tarts
I never got around to making that pie, but since I had to use up the puff pastry I made these savoury tarts that took just a fraction of the time the pie required.
Bonus. They tasted heavenly! Considering I came up with the idea on the fly and threw them together in 30 minutes I count them a complete and utter success!
How to make savoury tarts
They are so easy to make since the hardest part – pastry – is already done for you. All you have to take care of is topping the tarts and putting them in the oven.
The result is 8 individual crispy tarts filled with basil pesto, caramelised red onions, dabs of Boursin cheese and cherry tomatoes.
If you love those things on their own, just imagine how insanely delicious they would taste on top of a crispy tart. Heavenly, that’s how!
Making the tarts
Let’s start. Preheat your oven to 400F/200C. Roll out your puff pastry on a floured surface about ¼″ thick and cut tarts with anything round you can find in your kitchen. As you can see I used a pot lid because it was about the right size!
Spread 1- 1 ½ tbsp of prepared basil pesto on each of the tarts. Cut your cherry tomatoes in half. Place tart bases on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
Spread 2 tablespoons of caramelised onions on each tart and top with some cherry tomatoes and dabs of Boursin cheese. Bake in the preheated oven for 8-10 minutes.
Recipe Tips and Notes
- I suppose the “trickiest” part of making these tarts is caramelising onions. In order to do that well, slice red onions and cook them in 2 tbsp. of olive oil over LOW heat for 15 minutes.
- In the end, they should come out soft and subtly sweet, thus the term “caramelised”, and loads of amazing flavour. If you are not a fan of Boursin cheese, feel free to substitute with any cheese you love.
- The puff pastry will make a big difference to the tarts. Choose the best pastry you can afford, and especially look for all butter puff pastry. If made with all butter, the tarts will be especially flaky and delicious.
Serving Suggestions
A couple of these tarts and a salad will make for the most delicious dinner or lunch depending on your appetite. You could also serve a tart as a beautiful starter for a fancy dinner.
Favourite Puff Pastry Recipes
- Puff Pastry Pizza Margherita
- Ham and Cheese Puffs with Asparagus
- Mushroom Wellington
- Salmon en Croute
Pesto, Caramelized Onions and Boursin Tarts
Ingredients
- 500g/16oz puff pastry
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 red onions large
- 8-10 tbsp basil pesto
- 16-20 cherry tomatoes
- 75g/8-10tbsp tbsp/ 75 gr- Boursin cheese or any other cheese
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400F/200C.
- Roll out your puff pastry on a floured surface about ¼″ thick and cut tarts with anything round you can find in your kitchen. Mine were 6″ in dimeter.
- Slice red onions and cook them in 2 tbsp. of olive oil over LOW heat, stirring occasionally for 15 minutes until soft and but not browned. Set aside and cool slightly.
- Cut your cherry tomatoes in half. Place tart bases on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and prick them with a fork all over so they don't rise too much while cooking.
- Spread 1- 1 ½ tbsp of prepared basil pesto on each of the tarts. Top each tart with 2 tbsp. of caramelized onions, some cherry tomatoes and dabs of Boursin cheese.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 8-10 minutes until the bottoms of puff pastry shells are golden.
Nutrition
Laura (Tutti Dolci) says
I love savory tarts, these are absolutely delicious!