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Friday, October 22, 2010

Vegetable Tart

Once again, I let myself get inspired by one of the recipes on the menu for the contest going on at Kitchen Play.

The deal is that Kitchen Play posts a menu each month, and each of the six menu items has already been prepared by bloggers who post the recipes and prep instructions on their sites. Everyone else is invited to make one or more of the recipes, blog about it, and post links hither and yon.

You're supposed to be inspired by the recipes rather than trying to create them as close to the original as possible, which is pretty cool. This time, I went pretty far from the original, a stacked grilled salad. Mine is a side dish instead of a salad. It's a vegetable tart.

Actually, it would make a nice lunch item, too.

As far as the contest, the prizes are from Sur la Table and they include V-Slicers and a Le Creuset French Oven. Not exactly a complete kitchen makeover, but those are nice prizes. Definitely worth giving it a shot, and to be honest, I appreciated the inspiration to do something I hadn't planned on.

Another nice thing about this contest is that I don't have to nag people to vote for me. Once this post is up and I put a link on the other site, it's done until they decide. Which is kinda cool.

As far as my modifications here, I went a little farther than I originally planned. I was going to include eggplants as one of the major players in the tart, but when I cut into the ones I had in my fridge, they looked a little to sad, so I tossed 'em and added more zucchini. So if you make this, keep that in mind, it would be nice with eggplant.

Vegetable Tart

1 pie crust, home made or otherwise
4 small zucchini cut in 1/4-inch rounds (or equivalent larger zucchini)
1 onion, cut in half and slices into 1/4-inch half-moons
Fire roasted red peppers (I used pequillos)
2 fresh tomatoes, peeled seeded, and chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste
Splash of balsamic vinegar (I used a vanilla-fig balsamic)
Cheese, your choice, as much or little as you like (I used Swiss, mozzarella, and Parmesan, because that's what I had on hand- use what you like.)
Olive oil, for cooking

Put a little olive oil into a nonstick pan, heat to medium, and add the zucchini. Add a little salt and pepper and cook until browned nicely on both sides. Remove to a dish to cool.

Add the onions to the pan add salt and pepper as desired, and cook until the onions are softened. Remove to a dish to cool.

Place the pie crust in a 9-inch tart pan, press onto the bottom and up the sides, and trim off the excess.

Put a thin layer of cheese on the bottom (I used Swiss here) then top with the zucchini. Put a layer of roasted peppers on top, then the onions. Add a splash of balsamic vinegar. Add another layer of cheese, if desired. I added just a light sprinkle of the parmesan. Add the chopped tomatoes, and top with cheese. (This is where I put the mozzarella).

Put the tart pan on a baking sheet (depending on how wet your vegetables are and how full your tart is, it could boil over and/or leak.) Bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes, until the pastry is done and the cheese is melted and browned in spots. Let it cool a little bit before cutting.

1 comment:

My Man's Belly said...

I love your twist on the salad I created for Kitchen Play! Your pastry looks divine!

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