Baking With Julia- Summer Vegetable Tart

Summer Vegetable Tart, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.

This week's baking challenge was a savory Summer Vegetable Tart. to see other Tarts head on over to Baking with Julia. Since there is no host I'll give a brief run down on the recipe.

For the crust I used half a package phyllo dough, each sheet  brushed with clarified butter and seasoned with freshly ground pepper. The sheets wee draped on a 9 inch tart pan with the edges resembling the points of a handkerchief. The dough was then baked for a bit under 10 minutes in a 375 oven. It was then placed on a rack and allowed to cool.

About an hour before serving saute in olive oil a sliced onion and two cloves of garlic. Once the onion is translucent add two sliced peppers and a half a pound of sliced mushrooms. Once the peppers are soft remove from heat and add salt and pepper to taste, fresh thyme, and half a cup of crumbled goat cheese. The objective to to warm the cheese, not melt it.

The dish is best slightly warm or at room temperature.

I was very pleased with how the phyllo dough worked out for me. Sometimes it can be a royal pain, shredding every time you handle a sheet. I got the corners all artfully draped and backed to a lovely golden color. The filling was delicious, at least to the older half of the family, those 14 and under really didn't care for it. My only complaint was how messy the dish is to serve, the phyllo dough would keep breaking off. Mess aside it is a recipe well worth repeating. I had it as a vegetable side dish for my chicken piccata and the light lemon flavors worked well with the tart.