Ingredients
Serves 6-8
450g/1lb of courgettes, sliced into exceptionally fine discus
6 large organic eggs
140g/5oz carnaroli rice
290ml/10fl oz extra virgin olive oil
9 tbp Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
zest from 1 organic lemon and the juice of half
a bunch of fresh basil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
225g/8-9oz filo pastry
Method
Lightly beat the eggs and put them into a bowl with the courgettes, rice, 200ml/7fl.oz of the oil, two teaspoons of salt, plently of black pepper and Parmesan. Add the grated lemon zest and juice. Add the basil that you have stripped from its stalks and torn into smallish pieces, then mix everything together with your hands. Set the bowl aside for 3-4 hours, the longer the better, mixing everything around every so often to keep it lubricated.
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4. Oil a 25cm/10in springform tin, then pour the rest of the oil into a small bowl. Carefully unfold the filo pastry - it tears easily and remove one leaf at a time, keeping the rest under a damp tea towel so it doesn't dry out. Lay one leaf over the tin and work it down into the bottom to the base, allowing the extra to hang over one side. Don't worry if it tears a little. Brush it gently all over with a little olive oil. Lay the next leaf of filo just overlapping the first, and covering a further bit of the tin, and oil in the same way. Do the same with another two leaves of filo, then tip the filling into the tin and spread it out to flatten the top. Fold the overhanging pieces of filo over the mixture into the middle of the tin and brush with oil. If you don't have enough, add another four leaves to cover brushed in the same way. Cut them with scissors to fit inside the tin and fold the overlap over so that it makes a little ridge around the outside of the tin. Bake for 45-50 minutes on a preheated baking tray. Let the pie cool out of the oven for 10 minutes, then unclip and remove the tin and turn the torte upside down on to the baking tray, putting it back into the oven for a further 5-10 minutes to crisp up. Cool until it is just warm before eating.
Reproduced by kind permission of Tamasin Day Lewis from her book 'Tarts With Tops On' is published by Weidenfeld &Nicholson; ISBN: 0 297 84327 3
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