The scent and taste of summer in a puff pastry tart

This tomato tart has all of the flavours of a Caprese salad, but with a crispy puffed base and some creamy burrata. It makes the most of those summer tomatoes and is such a pretty dish. I recently brought this to a barbecue as a vegetarian option, and it was devoured by everyone. It is such a simple concept with minimal ingredients. I love a good tarte Tatin and have been making them a lot recently.

First I made one with rum-glazed pineapple with a dash of maple syrup and some black pepper. I highly recommend this as an easy dessert option. Then I used the leftover pastry to make a courgette tarte Tatin. It’s so seasonal and I always buy the small little yellow and green courgettes grown locally when I see them. I simply spread some spicy peanut rayu at the base of a lined tin, topped it with slices of courgette and then I tucked them all in with a blanket of puff pastry. Once it was cooked and turned out, I scattered sliced spring onions over the top.

Burrata is one of my favourite foods. I bought mine in Iago in Cork. Burrata is similar to mozzarella but much softer and creamier. It’s an Italian cow or buffalo milk cheese that’s made of mozzarella and cream. The outer casing is solid cheese made of stretched mozzarella but then the inside is filled with the scraps from the mozzarella-making process, also called stracciatella, and fresh cream. The top of the cheese pouch is then twisted to form a little brioche-like top knot.

It’s an absolute delight, best consumed fresh, so eat it soon after purchase. It’s amazing served with grilled broccoli, in salads, with summer tomatoes or used to garnish a pizza that’s hot from the oven. It is best served at room temperature so you can fully taste the flavour, so remove it from the fridge 30 minutes before serving. If you can’t find burrata, use a really good mozzarella and tear it into bite-size pieces to scatter over the tart just before serving. Not much else is needed here, but I like to serve this with a big green salad and some steamed new-season baby potatoes.