Tart Tomato c’est magnificent.

I’ve all but run out of summer tomatoes, but had just enough for this.

For three, as it turned out, though two could very easily knock this off and four wouldn’t complain.

• 1 goodsized sheet of puff pastry (if you are a smarty pants, maybe you make your own)
• several FANTASTIC large tomatoes cut into a dozen or so thick slices, or something that will do instead
• chopped shallots
• olive tapenade – about a small jar. There is a vast difference between tapenades….get a good one.
• shaved parmesan
• olive oil.

If you don’t know what a good tomato is, don’t even bother with this one. Juicy, squishy, none of the pallid-coloured-hard-flesh-surrounded-by-water that looks nothing like its namesake, but masquerades as tomato in many places.

Preheat oven, place the sheet of pastry – defrosted – on overproof paper, cook on its own for ten minutes or so according to packet directions. I did mine at 230C or so, but it burnt, so I guess I overdid it. Luckily the top of puff pastry is – well, it’s a puff, so it was very easy to scrape off the burnt bits before proceeding.

Roughly spread the tapendade over the pastry and sprinkle with shallots. Add tomatoes, salt and pepper and a liberal splashing of olive oil.

Put back in oven, I turned mine down to about 180C. After 10 minutes or so, the tomatoes were beautifully collapsed, I scattered the parmesan here and there, back in the oven for a few minutes to melt the cheese et voila, suddenly I was speaking the French with the fluency. C’est encroyable.

Perfect for a summer picnic, since you really want it at room temperature or warm. NOT hot out of the oven, which never does tomatoes any favours.

This looked gorgeous. Just imagine it.