We’re bang in the middle of tomato season, and what better way to make the most of them than in a Summer Tomato Tart. Local residents and enthusiastic foodies Emily and Sophie Cook from the Cooks Cook website have kindly shared this great recipe – they popped down to the West Hampstead Farmers’ market on Saturday to get a fantastic selection of fresh tomatoes from the organic fruit and veg stall, before preparing this delicious dish.
Over to Sophie for the recipe!
The tomatoes really speak for themselves in this tart, and are just divine against the caramelised onion and the pastry case. If time is short, simply use a pre-rolled sheet instead of making your own – this way it becomes super easy to prepare. Otherwise follow our recipe below. I’ve used wholemeal flour which I find doesn’t “puff” as much as plain flour but I don’t find that matters for this. Plus it’s healthier and tastes great against the sweet filling.
Ingredients
Puff pastry:
1 puff pastry sheet OR the below if you are making your own:
300g wholemeal flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
250g butter, softened
150ml ice cold water
Tart filling:
2 tbsp butter
5 tbsp water
2 tbsp sugar
2 red onions, sliced
1 pound tomatoes, cherry, grape or vine
Large handful fresh basil leaves
Salad flowers for garnish, optional
Method
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees
2. Make the puff pastry. (If you are using a pre-made roll, skip to step 5). Whisk together 200g flour with 1 tsp salt, slowly adding and whisking in 100ml of water followed by 100g of butter. If too sticky, add more flour, too dry, more water.
3. On a floured surface, knead the dough for about 5 minutes. It should become more elastic and smoother in appearance. Bring back to a ball and slice through the top with a sharp knife. Cover with cling film and leave in the fridge for 20 minutes. Next is the second step to the pastry.
4. Whisk together the remaining pastry ingredients then knead until a smooth-ish ball is formed. Cover with cling film and leave in the fridge for 20 minutes. Now you can get on with the rest of the tart.
5. Heat 1 tbsp butter over a medium heat. Add onions, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tbsp water and stir occasionally until the onions have caramelised. This could take up to 15 minutes. Once you get there, transfer them to a bowl.
6. In an oven-proof frying pan heat the remaining sugar and water until it starts to turn brown. Now add the tomatoes, scattering the cooked onions around. Season with salt and pepper and remove from the heat.
7. By now the pastry should be ready to construct (if using a pre-rolled sheet, skip this step). Take the pastry with the slit down the middle and roll until flat. Place the buttery dough ball in the middle and completely wrap up with the pastry sheet. With a rolling pin, batter the pastry until flat, then roll out to a flat rectangle. Fold the pastry from each side into the centre and roll out again – repeating this step a few times.
8. Roll the pastry to about half a cm in thickness, then cut a circle as big as the largest width of your frying pan. Place this over the tart filling, ensuing the pastry edges are tucked in and completely cover everything. Slit the top several times with a knife.
9. Transfer to the oven and cook for about 30 minutes. The top should become golden in colour.
10. To remove the tart, simply turn the pan upside down over a serving dish. Now wedge the basil leaves between the tomatoes, scatter with the edible flowers if using, and you are ready to serve.
A pile of cans close to the Finchley Road end of the path[/caption]
At yesterday’s Safer Neighbourhoods meeting, he raised the issue with local police, who confirmed it is a problematic area to patrol, and often used as an escape route by criminals.
There seem to be a few options to make Billy Fury Way a safer, more salubrious footpath: the first is improving it with better lighting, a thorough clean-up, and more police patrols. Philip Rosenberg points out that this would require investment which, after the last round of police and council funding cuts, may be better spent elsewhere especially if the path is not well-used by locals. This is why he wants to understand locals' thoughts on a second option of permanently closing the path altogether. This would probably mean closing the middle section from the path at the back of the Blackburn Road student accommodation to the path into the Lithos estate. This would still provides access at either end but cut off any getaway route.
Over to the residents of West Hampstead: Is Billy Fury Way a convenient cut-through, or a crime hotspot? Do you use it at present, and would you be more inclined to walk down it in the daytime or nighttime if the lighting was better or if it felt safer somehow? Let us know in the comments below, or tweet Cllr Rosenberg 
View of the railway bridge section of path, looking towards West Hampstead[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_14015" align="aligncenter" width="700"]
The even less salubrious Finchley Road end of the path[/caption]
