Instructions: Preheat the oven to gas mark 7/42 5/220C.

Make the pastry (qv) and chill for 30 minutes in the fridge.

Skin the tomatoes so pour boiling water over them and leave for exactly 1 minute before draining and slipping off the skins (protect your hands with a cloth if they are too hot). On a lightly floured surface roll out the pastry very thinly to 3mm cut out six 15cm discs and place these on the baking sheets.

Now scatter the large basil leaves over the pastry tearing them first if theyre very large. Thinly slice the tomatoes and arrange them in circles overlapping each other on top of the basil.

Peel the goats cheese and crumble it over the tomatoes then pour some olive oil on to a saucer and dip the reserved basil leaves in it placing one on each tart.

Season well and drizzle each one with a little extra olive oil.

Bake the galettes in the oven one tray on a high shelf the other on the next one down for 10 to 12 minutes or until the tomatoes are tinged brown and the cheese is bubbling swapping the baking sheets over halfway through.

Serve warm straight from the oven or theyre still excellent cold cooled on a wire tray.

Galettes are very thin disc of pastry which unlike conventional tarts have no sides. The concept is a good one because the pastry is barely there yet it gives a light very crop background to all kinds of toppings both savoury and sweet. Theres no limit to what you can put on top of them the combinations are endless and you can serve them for a light lunch as a first course on a picnic or for a dessert. What I often do is freeze the pastry circles raw interleaved with foil or greaseproof paper so you can just whip some out for an impromptu meal any old time at all. If you dont have the right sized cutter just cut around a saucer of the same size.

This recipe for galettes calls for lovely ripe red tomatoes for colour and the preferred cheese in our house is Crottin de Chavignol but any firm goats cheese will do.

Serves 3 as a light lunch or 6 as a first course

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