Easy Lunchtime Tartlets

Getting bored of soup and sandwiches for lunch? Yeah me too, so I'm experimenting with easy to assemble finger food, or more substantial bites which can be made the night before. These quick and easy tartlets can be made with any filling of your choice and take minutes to prepare!

Start with a packet of shortcrust pastry (why not make your own if you have the time?) and decide what filling you fancy on the inside. I opted for red onion and goats cheese and jazzed these tasty bites up by caramelising the red onion in a raspberry balsamic and sugar reduction, this took about 8 - 10 minutes and I would advice the same if stir frying vegetables before adding them to the pastry too.

Whilst your 'base' is frying off, roll out the pastry and use cookie cutters to trim out your lunchtime biscuits. A 500g pack will give you around 15-20 snack sized tarts. Once the pastry was cut, I laid them onto a lined baking tray and 'prodded' them (it's a technical term!) with my finger to create a sort of well for my remaining ingredients.

All that's left to do now is place your fillings of choice onto the pastry base and cook at 180 for around 10 minutes. If you wanted to, you could cut the pastry into larger pieces and seal the fillings in 'bridie-stylie'.

I packed 3 of these small tartlets in for lunch at work today, added to a side salad dressed with lemon juice. It was fresh, filling but smoothly comforting also. A winner for me.

Happy experimenting x