Onion, fennel and thyme pasty (with a bit of Jerusalem artichoke for good measure)

This was our Sunday tea this evening. It’s not actually a pasty at all but a tart really, however the cynics in my house couldn’t get past the poshness of a tart (my cooking is anything but posh) so we adopted pasty as a not-too-threatening name.

It’d be nice without the fennel too if you can’t get it, but when roasted it adds a real depth of flavour to the tart and is a little bit more interesting. I really liked the Jerusalem artichoke added – it’s got a lovely nuttiness to it. I roasted it then chopped it into smaller bits when it was really soft and caramelised.

You could also make individual tarts, use shortcrust pastry instead of puff (I’d like to try it with a wholemeal shortcrust), perhaps add some tapenade or sundried tomato paste, use a different kind of cheese (maybe try blue cheese – this would really work with the nuts and fennel, or perhaps feta if you want something a bit lighter and zingier) or even no cheese at all. This made 3 big portions (enough for two hungry people for dinner and some for lunch the next day).

Half a pack of puff pastry
2 onions (I used red, could use a combination of different kinds)
a bulb of fennel
about 3-4 knobs of jerusalem artichoke
olive oil
thyme (fresh or dried – I only had dried)
a handful of walnuts, broken into pieces
soft creamy goats cheese (or alternative as above) – as much as you like

Once you’ve roasted the veggies this is just an assembly job. I roasted the onions, fennel (both sliced fairly thickly) and artichoke (whole knobs, peeled) with some thyme, seasoning and olive oil for just under an hour at about 160 degrees.

Once that’s done, just roll out the pastry and draw a box around the outside with a knife (this is so the sides puff up nicely) and arrange the veggies (chop the artichoke into smaller pieces first, making sure you eat plenty of it while you’re doing so), nuts and cheese within the border. Then it just needs a little drizzle of olive oil and a twist of pepper and a hot oven for about 25-30 mins (my fan oven was about 185 degrees).