Julia's Roasted Vegetable Tart

Julia always comes up with cracking recipes, whenever you dine there, you can rely on something thoughtful and delicious and of course you can expect generosity. My latest experience was a tart of roasted vegetables with feta cheese, less custard than you'd expect in a quiche, and in my opinion better for it. This is my version of Julia's tart, using the vegetables that are coming out of the garden and green house these days. The addition of sumac and ground fennel seeds adds a bright note to the roasted vegetables.

Guatemala brings the count to 106! Welcome.

Country number 107, Côte d'Ivoire, welcome.

For this recipe you will need;
250g of shortcrust pastry, I use paté brisée
3 or 4 courgettes
3 small red onions
2 red or yellow peppers
1 large head of brocolli
200g of feta cheese
300ml of double cream
2 eggs
Lemon thyme, as much as you fancy
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1/2 teaspoon of sumac powder
1/2 teaspoon of fennel seeds, ground in a pestle & mortar
1/2 teaspoon of coarsely ground black pepper
Pinch of cayenne
1 teaspoon of salt flakes
1 teaspoon of Bouillon Powder

Begin by cutting up the vegetables, typically a red onion peeled and cut into quarters and the other veg cut into similar size pieces. Place in a shallow ovenproof dish, toss in the olive oil (having used a little to rub onto the peppers), salt and spices. Place the dish in a hot 200C oven for 20 to 30 minutes, removing every 5 to 7 minutes to turn the vegetables over. Prepare the peppers by rubbing with a little oil and roasting in the oven in a separate pan. After 20 minutes the skins should be a little blistered, remove from the oven cover with a cloth and allow to cool before skinning and de-seeding. Cut the prepared peppers into strips. The roasted vegetables for this tart are now ready.

Line a 25cm loose based tart tin with the pastry, rest the lined tin for 30 minutes in the fridge before baking blind. Place a piece of parchment paper on top of the pastry case, add baking beans and bake in a hot oven 200C for 14 minutes, remove the baking beans and continue baking for a further 7 minutes. Whisk the eggs, cream and bouillon powder together.

Assembling the tart; distribute the roasted vegetables in the cooled pastry tart case, crumble over medium sized pieces of feta cheese and the leaves from the sprigs of lemon thyme. Pour on the egg mix and bake the tart in a moderate 180C oven for 35 to 45 minutes, reduce the heat to 140 and cook for a further 15 to 20 minutes until the centre is cooked.

Notes:
My official tasters, Sue & Dick have given this a big thumbs up.
This tart is best served warm or at room temperature, it can be kept in the fridge for a day or two, but if so, do place it in a low 140C oven for 15 minutes to warm through before serving.
The roasted vegetables and the pastry case can also be made in advance.