SUMMER ZUCCHINI TART
Ingredients
- 1 cup of Ricotta cheese (preferably homemade, it makes a huge difference)
- 1 cup crumbled feta (or more, if you're like me)
- 2 tablespoons of finely chopped or sliced fresh mint
- 1 zucchini, thinly sliced
- a few cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 bell pepper, thinly sliced
- olive oil for drizzling
- 1/4 -1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- 1 sheet Puff Pastry, thawed
Egg wash:
- 2 egg yolks plus 1/4 cup water or milk, whisked together
Instructions
- Serve this very impressive tart at your next brunch or get together! Definitely make 2 if you're serving it to more than 4 people. It's so light and flavorful, especially with the homemade ricotta! The star ingredient in this dish has to be the cheesy spread. You can top it with ANY of your favorite veggies. I had lots of zucchini and I love it, so that's what I used. I've also made it with just bell peppers and tomatoes and it turned out spectacular! Cooking is not complicated 🙂
- Also, please do not substitute low fat cheese for any of the cheese ingredients!!! It will not turn out the same.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Combine the ricotta cheese, feta and mint and mix well. Taste and add salt if necessary and as much black pepper as you like.
- Drizzle a little bit of olive oil over the zucchini slices. Season well with salt and oregano.
- Drizzle some olive oil over the sliced tomatoes and season with some salt and oregano.
- Now there are a couple of options on how to prepare the puff pastry:
- 1) You can just roll the puff pastry sheet as it is (whole) out into a rectangle. Do this by lightly dusting flour on your counter and rolling pin and rolling it out into a rectangle about an inch bigger all around. It will be about 16 inches long.
- or
- 2) Fold the puff pastry in half vertically and then roll both pieces out into longer rectangles about 16 inches long and an inch wider on both sides.
- The second option is my favorite. It looks very elegant and is much easier to slice and serve.
- Once you're done rolling out the dough, place it on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
- With a sharp knife, score a line inside the border of the puff pastry 1/2 inch from the edge. Do not cut all the way down to the bottom.
- Prick the inside rectangle of the pastry with a fork all around. This will prevent this part of the tart from puffing up too much while baking and will allow the border to create a nice puffy crust.
- Spread half of the cheese mixture inside the rectangle keeping it off the borders.
- Arrange the marinated slices of zucchini over the cheese. Add the bell pepper slices and fill in the empty spaces with the marinated tomatoes.
- Brush the edges of the tart with egg wash.
- Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until golden and puffy.
- Allow to cool for about 15 minutes before serving.
- Enjoy!
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