May 21, 2011

Weekend Recipe -- Zucchini & Tomato Tart

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Errands I had to run yesterday made me miss my weekly appointment with a new recipe - aka Weekend Recipe - so I decided to play catchup today by making a savory tart. The upside of making a savory dish is that I can have that with a small salad and have fruit for dessert. It's not a snack, but it's a good main dish. The pastry is very crumbly, but really delicious. It's filling, but still light. 




Zucchini & cherry tomato tart

➵ Ingredients for the pastry

- 2 cups (250g) all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup (125g) unsalted butter, cut up into 10 or so pieces
- pinch of salt
- one egg
- 1/4 cup of ice water *

➵ Ingredients for the filling

- 5 tbsp mascarpone cheese
- 1 tbsp crème fraîche or heavy cream
- a pinch of herbs (I used a combination of thyme, sage and marjoram)
- half a small onion, thinly sliced
- 1/2 a zucchini
- 10 or so cherry tomatoes (I used a mix of red and yellow)
- half a mozzarella ball 
- 1-2 clove of garlic, chopped up
- oregano to sprinkle on top (about 1 tsp)
- pepper to taste
- 1-2 tsp pine nuts (optional)
- tsp olive oil

➸ Instructions

⤿ Mix all ingredients for the pastry but the water in a food processor until it resembles coarse meal. Add ice water little by little to bind the dough together until the clumps form. 
⤿ Place dough on a floured surface, shape into a ball and cover with cling wrap. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 380 degrees Fahrenheit. 
⤿ Take pastry out of the fridge and roll out onto the floured surface. Unroll on top of tart pan, and press onto the bottom and the sides. If you're like me, have fun patching the dough back together with a little water. 
⤿ In a frying pan, heat up some olive oil and fry onion until tender. Remove from the heat. 
⤿ Slice half a zucchini into very thin slices (almost potato chip-like). 
⤿ Cut up the cherry tomatoes in half. I picked two colors because I thought that would look prettier, but tastier, if less pretty cherry tomatoes, are fine too. 

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⤿ Mix together the mascarpone and heavy cream with a fork. Mix in the herbs until just combined. 
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⤿ Spread mascarpone mixture on the bottom of the pie crust.  
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⤿ Place the onion rings on top of the mascarpone mix. 
⤿ Place zucchini slices in rows (I made two rows), scatter mozzarella slices between the zucchini rows, and strew the cherry tomatoes on top. 
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⤿ Dump the garlic over the mozzarella.  
⤿ Grind pepper, sprinkle oregano on top, and brush the cherry tomatoes with a little olive oil. 
⤿ Bake for 20 minutes, and cool on rack. 
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Enjoy with a nice arugula salad! 

* The recipe I used didn't call for water, and I might have overprocessed it, so the crust was very crumbly, and it fell apart when I tried to pick it up. I'll make sure to follow a different recipe next time.

6 comments:

  1. oh ça aurait été dommage de rater ton joli blog.
    c'est une recette inspirante!

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  2. The result looks absolutely divine, I wonder if it would work with filo pastry...

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  3. @ Elisabelle: Merci beaucoup! Ça me fait plaisir que tu dises ça. C'était très bon, surtout avec de la roquette.

    @ Queen of Carrot Flowers: I think it would, though I've never been brave enough to cook with filo pastry. I'm sure you could substitute feta for mozzarella for a more Mediterranean flavor.

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  4. so lovely! perfect lighting. and it looks so yummy.

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  5. hello love. i want to link your blog to mine with a button but you don't have one! want to photoshop me something that i can put on her three birds?

    love love love.

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  6. Rhiannon: I don't have one, but I asked a friend of mine to make me a logo so I might make one with her design in a few weeks. If you want, you can photoshop me a temporary one. What did you make yours with?

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