Pesto Mediterranean Tarte

An easy weeknight meal that simply needs assembly on the night. I put a little spin on it for my daughter, calling it Pesto Pizza. Chop all your toppings in advance and store in a tub or sealed freezer bag. I chose peppers, tomatoes, mushroom, chorizo and mozarella, but you really could put on anything you fancied...grilled aubergine, seared asparagus?

Unroll the sheet of puff pastry (I've always believed life is too short to make your own puff!) and score a light border around the edge. Spread your pesto over the base, top with toppings, making sure the wetter ones, such as tomatoes, are on top so they don't make the pastry soggy, and top with cheese. Bake in a hot oven until the base is crispy underneath - you may need to cover the top with foil to ensure it doesn't burn. Serve with a crispy green salad.

Prep Ahead Weekly Meal Planning - February

This week's menu might be a little more 'prep on the night', but I don't think anything took longer than 15 mins, so still fairly quick. In fact, only the duck and the tarte needed this for the assembly and the greens respectively. 

Menu:

Monday: Mediterranean pesto tarte with salad

Tuesday: bangers, mash and spinach

Wednesday: crispy duck, steamed buns, jiggy jiggy greens

Thursday: slow cooked chilli

Friday: peri peri chicken pot

I haven't planned for the weekend as the other half is away so me and F will grab what we fancy when we fancy it. Click on the duck for the recipe as this is something we had a couple of weeks ago. F declared she didn't like duck, then proceeded to eat two full buns of the stuff, so this week I bought four legs rather than two! The batch of buns I'd made stored well in the freezer, tho I had a panic when I got them out that they'd be very heavy. But, again, I was proved wrong and, when simply resteamed, they puffed up perfectly again! 

This week, I also used the new meat grinder attachment for the KitchenAid to homemake sausages and beef mince for the chilli. It worked well, although making from scratch took me an extra 45 minutes of prep. Worth it though to know what's gone into your food. If you don't have one, simply throw the meat into the food processor, or ask your butcher to grind your chosen cut of meat. He'll do it for free. 

The shopping list is here.

Hope you enjoy the ideas this week...please comment under the posts to let me know how you got on!