Tarts with hearts: Enjoy a slice of summer with these deliciously light, golden treats

Anything baked in a crisp pastry base makes perfect summer snacking material, and it doesn't have to be stodgy, either; the classic French tarte fine aux pommes is incredibly light. Every part of the world has a form of tart of their own – the Moroccan b'stilla is eaten at banquets, the traditional Cephalonian pies of Greece are made with meat, cheese or wild greens, and in Russia there is the kulebyaka made with puff pastry and salmon. The poor old quiche hit its peak in the 1960s and 1970s and was an obligatory part of any wedding buffet, but it was often disastrous. I reckon it's time to give the tart a bit of a revival.

Tomato, red pepper and feta tart

Serves 4

The French are the masters of tart making, and you often see tarts like this in French cookbooks. You could also incorporate different coloured peppers, or even replace the feta with goat's cheese. You can eat this tart hot or at room temperature. If you're having a family get-together, make it as one large tart and divide it up; or make smaller ones for a dinner party.

250g puff pastry, rolled to about 1/3cm
1 egg yolk
5 ripe tomatoes
6 thick skinned red peppers
140g sunblush or semi-dried tomatoes, drained and coarsely blended in a food processor
12-14 black olives stoned
200g good quality feta
2-3tbsp extra virgin olive oil
A few sprigs of bush basil or ordinary basil

Pre-heat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Cut the pastry into a circle about 25-30cms diameter or into a rectangular shape and place on a baking tray. Score a line with the tip of a knife about 1cm from the edge all the way around and prick the inner pastry all over with a fork. Cut a piece of cardboard the same size as the interior pastry, wrap it in foil and place it on the pastry, leaving the pastry's edge exposed. Brush the edge with the egg yolk; bake for 12-15 minutes until the edge is golden.

Meanwhile, quarter the peppers, remove the seeds and place on a baking tray with the skin side up. Place under a hot grill for 8-10 minutes or until the skins are black, then place in a bowl and cover with clingfilm; this allows the skins to be removed easily. Bring a pan of water to the boil large enough for the tomatoes. Cut a criss-cross on the top of each tomato and remove the eye with the point of a knife. Have a bowl of cold water ready: plunge the tomatoes in the boiling water for 10-12 seconds, then remove with a slotted spoon and plunge into the cold water. The skin should easily peel away now, if not then give them a few more seconds in the boiling water. Quarter the tomatoes and squeeze out the seeds. Remove the skin from the peppers and cut each piece in half.

Remove the cardboard and spread the tomato paste over the centre of the pastry. Arrange the tomatoes and peppers up to the edge of the tart, then scatter over the olives. Season lightly and drizzle with the olive oil. Bake the tart for 8-10 minutes, then remove from the oven and place nuggets of the feta on the tart and drizzle with more olive oil and scatter with the basil.

Crayfish and watercress tart

Serves 6-8

Once again I'm trying my hardest to get you lot to eat more of our adopted signal crayfish, which are tasty vermin doing a lot of damage in our rivers, instead of buying crayfish sandwiches using imported Chinese varieties.

250g short-crust pastry, rolled to 1/4cm
20-30 live crayfish
250-300g watercress
6 spring onions
A good knob of butter
3 eggs
3 egg yolks
300-350ml double cream
Salt and freshly ground white pepper

Bring a pan of boiling, well-salted water to the boil, plunge in the crayfish, bring back to the boil and simmer for 2 minutes. Drain and refresh in cold water, then remove the tails by crushing them slightly between your thumb and forefinger. Remove the shell and put the meat to one side. Some crayfish have large claws and these are worth cracking to remove the meat.

Break the leafy watercress away from the stalks and chop the stalks finely with the spring onions, then gently cook in the butter for 3-4 minutes, stirring every so often until soft. Stir in the leaves and cook for another minute. Transfer to a colander to allow liquid to drain.

Pre-heat the oven to 180C/gas mark 5. Line a 25cm x 3cm deep tart tin, preferably with a removable base, with the pastry. Line with greaseproof paper and baking beans and leave to rest for 45 minutes. Bake blind for 30 minutes or until the pastry is just beginning to colour. Remove the beans and paper and cook for another 5 minutes, then remove from the oven. Spread the watercress mixture on the base of the tart, then scatter over the crayfish.

Bring the cream to the boil, whisk the yolks and whole eggs together, then pour on the cream, mix and season to taste. Pour the mixture into the tart and bake for about 20-30 minutes. Leave to cool a little before serving or serve cold with a green salad.

Salmon, potato and samphire pie

Serves 4-6

This pie/tart has Russian and Greek overtones. My Russian friend reminded me that dill is essential in this kind of dish – and then I remembered that I had some dill pollen in my cupboard, which I added at the end of cooking.

4 spring onions, finely chopped
150g waxy new potatoes, peeled, cooked and halved or quartered if large
150g samphire, trimmed of any woody stalks
300g wild salmon fillet, cut into rough 1cm cubes
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 sheets of filo pastry
90g butter, melted
1tsp poppy seeds or fennel or dill pollen

Pre-heat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Bring a pan of unsalted water to the boil and blanch the samphire for 1 minute, then drain and refresh under cold water. Mix the spring onions, potatoes, salmon and samphire together with half of the melted butter, then season.

Trim the 4 sheets of filo into approximately 30cm squares. Brush each sheet lightly with butter, then lay them into either a straight-sided 20cm flan ring or shallow cake tin to form a round shape. Pack the filling inside and fold over the edges, then invert it on to a lightly greased baking tray. Brush with more butter and scatter with the poppy seeds (if you're using dill pollen, scatter it over at the end of baking). Bake for about 30 minutes. Serve hot or cold with a salad and mayonnaise.

Cherry Bakewell pudding

Makes one 20cm pudding

We initiated a little Friday lunch club at the Rivington in Greenwich a few weeks back and one of our regulars, William Meakin, let on that his family had a cherry orchard near Gravesend in Kent. William's Hertford cherries are as local and seasonal as you can get – and they're so good that we are decided to serve them in the restaurant. Since my unsuccessful visit to Bakewell a couple of years ago in search of the famous pudding, I just thought that these delicious cherries would give a nice little twist to a traditional Bakewell pie.

150g puff pastry
250g butter, melted
1 egg, beaten, plus 7 extra egg yolks
200g caster sugar
2tbsp ground almonds
20-25 ripe dark cherries, stoned
3 tbsp raspberry or cherry jam

Pre-heat the oven to 180C/gas 4. Roll the pastry out to a thickness of about 1/3cm and prick it all over with a fork to prevent it rising, then use it to line a 25 x 3cm deep, preferably sloping-sided, tart tin (I use an ovenproof non-stick frying pan). Leave to rest for 1 hour in the fridge. Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, mix the butter, egg and extra yolks with the sugar and almonds, and stir over a pan of simmering water for 3-4 minutes until it reaches a honey-like consistency. Pour the filling into the pastry case then scatter the cherries on to the filling. Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until the top is golden and the filling just set. If it's browning too much, turn the oven down halfway through. Serve warm or at room temperature, with or without cream.