Thin Crust Sicilian Tart

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius. Spray a pie dish with olive oil.

To make the pastry, mix the dry ingredients, seeds and nuts in a bowl. Rub in olive oil and vincotto. Add orange juice. Knead a few minutes then place in the fridge to rest for five minutes.

Flour your work surface. Roll pastry into a ball then into a thin 3mm thick disk, a bit larger than your pie dish. Transfer to the pie dish and press pastry onto the bottom and up the sides. Neaten the edges. Prick over with a fork.

Bake for five minutes in the oven and set aside.

To make the filling, fry the shallot in the oil until soft, then add the garlic. Add the capsicum and fennel. Cook with a lid on the pan for 10 minutes until the vegetables are soft.

Remove the pan from the heat. Add the olives, herbs and orange peel.

Mix the corn starch in a cup with the orange juice and water. Add the hummus and stir until smooth. Stir into pan ingredients.

Scatter the bottom of the pie dish with the couscous. Spoon the filling on top and level the surface.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes until the pie feels firm in the middle. Remove from the oven and rest the pie for five minutes. Invert with an upturned plate, then again with a serving platter.

Recipe courtesy of Laurinda Erasmus.

Ingredients:

Pastry

• 1/2 C wholemeal spelt flour
• 4 Tbsp oat bran
• 1/2 tsp herbal salt
• 1 Tbsp fennel seeds, dry fried in a pan, ground
• 2 Tbsp pine nuts, toasted in the oven, ground
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp vincotto (1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar + 1/2 tsp rice syrup)
• 5 Tbsp orange juice
• olive oil spray
• 2 tsp dry couscous

Filling

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 shallot, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 capsicums, chopped into chunks
• 1/2 fennel bulb, chopped
• 3/4 C olives, pipped
• Handful basil leaves, chopped roughly
• 1 Tbsp freshly grated orange peel
• 1 Tbsp cornstarch
• 4 Tbsp orange juice
• 2 tsp water
• 1/2 C hummus