We have had an absolute abundance of tomatoes this year! I know this is primarily luck, as when you grow them outside as we do, tomatoes are very dependent on the weather.

We’ve made tomato soup, tomato passata, tomato chutney, tomato ketchup – in fact it’s not a meal if we’re not eating tomatoes!

They are coming to an end now though. We’ve pulled the plants up and are just ripening off a few green ones on trays. 

So now is a great time to make the most of these last Borghese and Merrygold tomatoes to make Tomato and Pistachio tart. This is absolutely delicious and always goes down well with our friends and family, particularly the vegans.

It’s a recipe I cut out a few years ago from the Guardian food magazine and is by Meera Sodha. I’ve made a very few minor alterations, like leaving out the saffron, but other than that it is pretty much as written.

Method for making Tomato and Pistachio Tart

Ingredients:

Olive oil

2 onions, thinly slices

3 teasp tamarind paste

100g pistachio kernels

50g ground almonds

1 largeish garlic clove

1 1/2 teasp ground cumin

1 1/2 teasp ground coriander

1/2 teasp ground cinnamon

200ml top of tinned coconut milk (must be full-fat, not low-fat)

320g puff pastry (good luck if you make your own, but these days I must admit I normally buy it ready to unroll)

600g mixed coloured small tomatoes, cut in half

Heat the oven to 185C fan.

Cook the onions in the oil for about 15 mins, so they are really soft and caramelised. Stir in the tamarind paste and leave to cool.

While the onions are frying, add all the nuts, garlic, spices and quarter teaspoon of salt to a small food processor and whizz together to make a paste. Make sure you don’t shake up the tin of coconut milk. Scrape off the thickened top 200ml of coconut cream, add to the nutty paste and whizz up again.

Roll out the puff pastry onto a large baking tray. Score a line around the pastry, 1cm from the edge (this part will rise up and be lovely and crispy).

Spread the nutty paste onto the pastry within the 1cm border. Gently put the onions on top. Place the tomatoes, cut side up on top of the onions. Put them as close together as you can, as they shrink a bit when cooked.

Bake for 25 mins, turning it around after about 15 mins. The tomatoes will be slightly blackened at the edges and the pastry will be nice and brown, puffy and crispy.

Would I make Tomato and Pistachio Tart again?

100%!  I have already made this more times than I can count and I will definitely be making it again, as I think there would be complaints otherwise!