Aubergine and mozzarella tart

Serves 4

Those lovely pale-skinned Italian aubergines have an interesting, irregular shape and are nice and thick around the middle - perfect for this simple-to-make tart. If you can't find them then just use any large fat aubergines. A good quality light and buttery puff pastry really makes the difference to a tart like this.

350-400g good quality puff pastry, rolled to about ^1/2cm
4 slices of aubergine about 2cm thick
1-2tbsp olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2tbsp pesto
5-6 pieces of semi-dried tomatoes, chopped
150g good quality mozzarella
A few basil leaves to decorate

Heat some of the olive oil in a heavy frying pan and cook all the aubergine slices for a couple of minutes on each side until lightly coloured. Remove from the pan and drain them on kitchen paper.

Pre-heat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Cut the puff pastry into circles about 2cm larger than the aubergine slices and place on to a baking tray.

Mix the pesto (I gave the recipe for this a few weeks ago) with the chopped tomatoes and spread in the centre of the pastry, about 3cm from the edge, then place the slice of cooked aubergine on top and season.

Score the pastry around the aubergine once you have placed it on the pesto mix. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the pastry has risen up around the aubergine and is golden.

Slice the mozzarella into 1cm slices and place one on top of each aubergine. Season and return to the oven for 3-4 minutes. Drizzle with olive oil, add garnish and serve.