MEAT-FREE MASTERCLASS

These superb vegetarian meals wow your whole family, in our final extract from Prue Leith and her niece Peta's fun new cookbook

SLOW-ROASTED TOMATO & GOAT’S CURD GALETTE

I can’t get enough of slow-roasting tomatoes: tossed with garlic, olive oil, salt and black pepper, even the most average tomato becomes sweet and intensely flavoured. If you can’t find goat’s curd, a soft goat’s cheese would work just as well, as indeed would any soft creamy one, even blue.

Serves 4 • 400g (14oz) cherry tomatoes or baby plum tomatoes • 3 garlic cloves, finely

chopped • 4 sprigs of oregano,

leaves picked • 3tbsp olive oil • Salt and freshly

ground black pepper • 250g (9oz) goat’s curd (available online) or very soft goat’s cheese

For the pastry • 140g (5oz) cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes • 225g (8oz) plain flour,

plus extra for dusting • A pinch of salt • 90-100ml (3¼-3½fl

oz) iced water

Heat the oven to 160°C/ fan 140°C/gas 3. Line a baking tray with baking parchment. Cut the tomatoes in half and toss them in a bowl with the chopped garlic, oregano leaves and olive oil, and season with salt and black pepper. Spread them out on the lined baking tray and arrange them all so they are cut side up.

Bake in the middle of the oven for 2 hours, by which point they should be softened and slightly shrunken. Remove from the oven and set aside.

To make the pastry, put the butter, flour and salt in a large mixing bowl and rub the butter into the flour lightly using your fingertips. Stop when there are still pea-sized pieces of butter visible. Add the water and use a butter knife to mix it to a very shaggy dough – do not knead it at all. Simply push it together into a disc, and wrap it in cling film. Put it in the fridge to chill for 1 hour, or until it is firm.

Increase the oven temperature to 210°C/fan 190°C/gas 6. Line another baking sheet with baking parchment. Unwrap the pastry and roll it out on a floured surface into a round, about 2-3mm thick. Spread the goat’s curd (or cheese) evenly over the pastry, leaving a border of 5cm all around it. Arrange the tomatoes, cut side up, on the goat’s curd, packed in tightly so the goat’s curd is all covered. Lift the pastry up around the edges and fold it over the top to create a crust that will hold the tomatoes in place. Season with salt and black pepper, then bake in the middle of the oven for 3540 minutes, covering it with foil after 20 minutes to prevent it over-browning. Serve while still warm and crisp.