This surprising little dish makes the most of the last of this year’s tomatoes. Serve it as a light lunch or dinner with a side salad.

serves 4-6
300g of cherry tomatoes
250g of ricotta cheese
A few sprigs of thyme
A small handful of oregano, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon of olive oil
Sea salt and ground black pepper

For the pastry:
250g plain flour
170g very cold, butter (cut into small cubes)
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 egg
1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
30ml ice cold water

Place the flour and butter in a bowl and using a butter knife, cut the butter into the flour until you have a rough pebble mixture.

Whisk together the egg with the balsamic vinegar and sea salt. Add this to the butter and flour and using two forks gently toss through until the dough begins to come together.

Add a little cold water to bring the dough to a rough ball. Turn the pastry out on to parchment paper or cling film, parcel up and place in the fridge to rest for 30 minutes.

While the pastry is resting preheat the oven the 190˚C.

Slice the tomatoes in half and place in a bowl. Toss with a little olive oil, thyme, oregano and season with sea salt and ground black pepper.

When the pastry has rested, roll out on a clean well floured work surface using a rolling pin, until you have a large round which will fit a 23cm tart tin with a removable base and is about 5mm in thickness.

Transfer the pastry to the tart tin and cut off any loose edges. Prick the base surface with a fork and then spread with ricotta cheese.

Place the tomatoes on top and bake in the oven for about 35-40 minutes until the tomatoes have reduced in size by half, slightly charred and the pastry has turned a nutty brown.

Remove and allow to cool slightly before serving with a side salad.

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