Rustic Garden Veggie Tart
Before I started gardening, I used to hate August. It’s hot, it’s dusty, the summer blooms are starting to die back, and — although it’s been a long time since I went back to school — that stifling Back to School feeling lingers in the air. Ugh. Give me a shady tree and a stack of books and let me know when autumn arrives. But as the steward of a rather large vegetable garden, August has become a time of abundance. Cucumbers, green beans, and summer squash still grow riotously while juicy tomatoes and fat eggplants begin to ripen on the vine. This tasty vegetarian recipe makes great use of the season’s abundant offerings.
Like so much of what I cook, this is less a recipe than a technique. I took pains to measure when I made it last night so that I could provide you with exact amounts, but it’s one of those dishes where you should feel free to riff and experiment at will. Normally, I add sliced eggplant to this dish and not mushrooms, but because the eggplant isn’t quite ready yet and I had some mushrooms to use up I switched things up a little, so that’s what you see in the picture. Both add a nice, earthy flavor and meaty texture to the dish. Use either one, or both.
Rustic Garden Veggie Tart
Ingredients
- 1 batch double-crust pie dough (omit the sugar)
- 2 teaspoons country Dijon or spicy brown mustard
- 1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 1 zucchini, sliced thin
- 1 yellow squash, sliced thin
- 1 large or 2 medium slicing tomatoes
- 1 green onion, sliced
- 1 eggplant, sliced (OR a handful of sliced mushrooms)
- 4 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, cut into small blobs
- salt and pepper
- egg wash
Instructions
- Prepare the pie dough in advance as it must chill for at least 1 hour. I like to add fresh chopped chives to the dough for this recipe in place of sugar. See the notes on the pie dough recipe for amounts
- Wash and slice all the vegetables and grate the cheese while the dough chills
- When you are ready to assemble the tart, pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees
- Lightly flour your surface and your rolling pin and roll the disk of chilled dough out into a rough circle measuring about 12.5" across
- Wrapping the edge of the dough around your rolling pin, carefully lift it off the work surface and transfer it to a 13" round pizza pan or a large, flat baking sheet. It's perfectly OK if there is some overhang as you will be folding it up over the tart before you bake it
- Spread a thin layer of mustard across the middle of the dough, leaving the outside 1.5" edge clean to be used as a crust
- Sprinkle the shredded cheddar cheese over the mustard
- Arrange slices of eggplant, zucchini, and yellow squash in a single layer covering the cheese. Salt and pepper the vegetables to taste
- Add tomato slices on top of the vegetables
- Sprinkle sliced green onion and mushrooms, if using, over the vegetables
- Dot the top of the tart with blobs of mozzarella
- Fold the outer edge up over the vegetables on all sides to form a rough crust. This is a rustic tart, no need to worry about perfect shaping here!
- Brush the outer crust with egg wash
- Bake for 45 minutes. Serve warm immediately or allow to cool and serve at room temperature. Refrigerate any leftovers
