A delicious yet simple way to use up the mountain of homegrown tomatoes around at this time of year. Great as a main with a salad or served on it's own as a fancy starter.

Step 1: Ingredients

Um... Well... Some tomatoes - enough to fill the base of a round 15cm baking tray
1 onion finely chopped and fried with the addition of some balsamic vinegar
Cheese - I used a couple of slices of Emmenthal though you can use whatever you fancy/have available
A block of shortcrust pastry (make your own if you have the time but shop bought is equally ok (there is no shame in using it.))
Flour for dusting
Milk for glazing
Fresh basil torn into pieces
Olive oil - I used some that I had flavoured with chilli, garlic, bay leaves and rosemary
Salt and pepper to taste

Step 2: Preparing Ingredients

Remove your pastry from the fridge and set to one side about 10 to 15 minutes before you need it.

Select the tomatoes you want to and cram them into the baking tray that you have greased using the olive oil. The tomatoes want to be packed in really tightly and you want to give them a bit of a squish so that some of them split open just very slightly. Season with a little salt and pepper.

Pop some olive oil into a frying pan and gently fry the onions until they are golden. Add in tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and simmer off the liquid. Season the onions with salt and pepper to taste.

Take some flour and likely dust a surface and a rolling pin (or glass bottle if you don't have a rolling pin). Roll out your pastry until it is roughly 3 centimetres greater in diameter than your baking tray.

Step 3: Assembling the Deliciousness

Take your balsamic onions and spread them over the surface of your squished tomatoes.

Tear up or grate your cheese and distributed evenly over the surface of your onions.

Take the pastry and place carefully over your tomatoes making sure that you press the pastry to conform tightly to the surface of the tomatoes. Trim off any excess pastry and fold the rest neatly into your baking tray.

Brush the surface of the pastry with some milk to glaze.

Place into a hot oven at 180 degrees for about 15 to 20 minutes. Check after about 10 minutes. You want the pastry to have cooked through and be nicely browned on top.

I used the rest of my pastry to make a raspberry turnover. I rolled out the pastry to form a circle and then placed some fresh raspberries from my garden along with some white currant jam (made with currants from my garden) and sealed it shut with a fork. As before I glazed with milk and sprinkle over some brown sugar. I baked this in the oven in a greased dish for approximately 10 to 15 minutes.

Step 4: Serving Up

When cooked through remove the dish from the oven. Place a plate over the top and using oven gloves flip the dish over. You need to do this over a sink and take care because the dish will contain hot liquid. I tipped away a lot of the liquid to prevent the pastry from getting soggy.

Take the basil and sprinkle over the top of the tomatoes. I also drizzled over some of the seasoned olive oil. If i had some I would also grate some parmesan over the top for extra cheesy goodness.

You can serve warm or allow the tart to cool and then clingfilm and place in the fridge to be served later.

Bon appetit!