Crustless Courgette and Goats Cheese Tart

I love entertaining… and my father always says that if you can feed 4 people, you can feed 14 people. It really isn’t that difficult to increase the quantities of food and still keep the flavour and of course – there are some things that perfectly translate to feed 10-12 people… i.e. a quiche sliced into 12 for a starter!

So when I saw this recipe in the BBC Good Food Magazine (June 2009 Issue) – it looked so tantalising and yummy…. that I knew that it was going to be a winner!

I do, however, have to make a confession…. The recipe calls for a pack of shortcrust pastry which is blind baked before adding the quiche filling. I had a brainwave of making individual quiche tarts for everyone and cut the pastry into circles, placed into a muffin tray and popped into the oven… THIS is when I realised that I had bought PUFF pastry and not shortcrust… so now I had little pastry puffs instead of shell cases…. GMPFff…

So this recipe became a *CRUSTLESS* quiche due to time constraints – but you know what??? IT still works BEAUTIFULLY!!

(P.S. courgettes = baby marrows = zucchinni :))

Courgette & Goats Cheese Tart

1 fat pinch of saffron threads

500g courgette, all but one coarsely grated

knob of butte

4 eggs

284ml pot whipping cream

140g soft goats cheese (I used hard goats cheese)

1. Place saffron in a cup with 1 Tablespoon of hot water, then leave to infuse
2. Mix grated courgettes with a teaspoon of salt and place in a colander
3. Slice the last courgette very thinly lengthways into long ribbons (use a vegetable peeler)
4. Sprinkle with salt and place on top of grated courgettes
5. 
6. Place colander over a bowl and leave to drain for at least 30minutes
7. Tip into the middle of a clean tea towel over the sink, twist and squeeze the tea towel getting every last drop of green liquid out.
8. melt the butter in a frying pan
9. keep courgette ribbons to one side – add the grated courgette to the pan
10. Cook, stirring, for 3minutes
11. Tip the cooked courgettes into a bowl
12. Lightly beat eggs and add to courgettes
13. 
14. Pour in the cream
15. 
16. Pour in the saffron and soaking water and mix well
17. 
18. Season generously with pepper and salt (if needed)
19. Pour into an oven-proof dish, top with the courgette ribbons and goats cheese
20. 
21. Bake for 40minutes at 180C until just set
22. 
23. Cool and serve at room temperature
24.