Goat cheese & tomato vegetarian dinner recipe

This is so very tasty and it takes just a few minutes to put together.

I much prefer recipes that are quick and easy and this is probably the quickest of all - it's almost 'instant dinner'. So quick.

Despite this, it's delicious and can also be very elegant served with a simple salad. It's good cold too as a snack or an addition to a lovely buffet.

Tomatoes and goat cheese are sandwiched into biscuits with fresh herbs and the mushrooms are quickly prepared in garlic butter. Mmm...

As I often do, I cheated by using biscuits that are ready-to-cook. If you're a dedicated cook, this would probably be even more tasty if you used your own home made biscuits. If you like to cheat even more than I do, buy the biscuits ready-made!

Baking them takes a little time - about 12 minutes, but once they're in the oven, I'm free to do other things. The pack of biscuits I used contained ten - I thought that might be too many for just two of us but these are so delicious that they're eaten up in no time.

Although biscuits are often served with some sort of gravy or sauce, no liquid is needed with these because of the juicy tomatoes and the soft goat cheese.

• 1 can biscuits, the ready to bake variety
• 4oz. pack goat cheese
• 1 large tomato
• Knob butter (about a teaspoon)
• 4 oz. mushrooms. I used a mix of shiitake and other 'exotic mushrooms'
• ½ lemon
• 1 clove garlic
• Spring onion and salad leaves to serve
• 10 fresh basil leaves

PREPARE THE BISCUITS

If you're using biscuits that you've already made - or bought - put them into a low oven to heat through well. If you're using a can, as I did, simply place the dough pieces onto a cookie sheet and bake according to the instructions. The type that I use take about 11- 12 minutes at 400°. When I'm making this for a large crowd, I cook the biscuits in advance. But I admit that I've also made this with ones I've bought, too.

PREPARE THE TOMATOES

When the biscuits are almost ready, evenly slice the tomatoes.

THE GOAT CHEESE

Cut the goat cheese into ten equal portions; one per biscuit. It's much easier to slice if it's kept refrigerated until the last minute but this also adds a little to the cooking time so I tend to remove it from the fridge beforehand to bring it to room temperature and thus speed up the cooking.

MUSHROOMS

Clean the mushrooms and put aside. The ones that I had were in small pieces already but if yours are larger, cut them into pieces that are bite-sized. If you don't have a 'posh' mix, regular button mushrooms - sliced are great for this dish. Set these aside.

PUT IT ALL TOGETHER

When the biscuits are ready. remove them from the oven and cut in half around the 'waist'. Place the bottom halves, cut side up, on top of the tops. (I know what I mean! See the photograph). This means that both halves will stay warm when you broil them. See the image. Keep them on the cookie sheet and add a basil leaf to each half. Add sliced tomato. Preheat the broiler and set the biscuits aside for a few moments while you chop the garlic. The juice from the tomatoes will soak into the biscuits.

PLACE UNDER THE BROILER

Place the cookie tray under the broiler under a medium heat to cook the tomatoes. Be careful to cover the edges of the biscuits as you don't want these to burn. In the meantime, prepare the mushrooms.

PREPARE THE MUSHROOMS

Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the chopped garlic. Add the mushrooms and stir well. Cover and turn the heat low.

GOAT GOODNESS!

Remove the biscuits from under the broiler. The tomatoes will now be cooked. Add goat cheese to the top of each. Return the cookie sheet to the broiler to heat the cheese through. This just gives you time to get plates and silverware, slice the lemon and take salad leaves from the fridge. Then remove the biscuits and add the tops.

PLATING

Place the biscuits on plates and add lemon wedges, salad greens, the mushrooms and a spring onion. Serve and ... enjoy!

There was a time when I wondered about vegans and how they manage with baking. The great news is that there are a lot of recipes available for making your own baked goods including delicious biscuits that can be used in this recipe. These are great for anyone who wants to bake dairy-free.

There was a time when I thought that toaster ovens were old fashioned and suitable only for work lunch-rooms. So wrong! They save electricity which is great for the planet, they cook foods quickly and are remarkably inexpensive to buy and run. If you have a tiny kitchen, as I do, don't worry, they take up a very small amount of space. True bargains!