Tuesday 18 September 2007

Roasted vegetable tart


As I promised in yesterday's post, here is another recipe from the brunch on Sunday - Roasted vegetable tart. While choosing what to make for brunch, I was debating between this and a torta caprese. What ultimately tipped the scale in favour of this was that I have recently discovered the pleasures of zucchini and aubergine. This tart seemed like a lovely way to showcase them.

I haven't included a recipe for shortcrust pastry since you can easily substitute your favourite recipe here. Also, although the recipe calls for low-fat ricotta cheese, I used regular ricotta. I figured the extra 30 minutes in the gym would be worth it.


Roasted vegetable tart
Adapted from delicious.

1 small aubergine
1 red pepper, halved, seeds removed
2 small courgettes
1 red onion
1 yellow pepper, halved, seeds removed
2 garlic cloves, crushed
100 ml olive oil
375g shortcrust pastry (use your favourite recipe)
300g low-fat ricotta cheese
2 eggs
50g grated parmesan
2 tsp chopped rosemary

Preheat oven to 190°C. Grease a 30 x 11cm loose-bottomed, rectangular tart pan.

Cut the eggplant, capsicum, zucchini, onion and sweet potato into 2cm chunks. Place in a bowl with the garlic and olive oil, and toss to coat in the oil. Tip the vegetables onto a large baking tray and spread out evenly. Bake in oven for 20 minutes or until cooked through and slightly charred, then set aside.

Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface. Line the prepared pan with pastry, then line with baking paper. Fill with pastry weights or rice and blind bake for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, beat together ricotta, eggs, parmesan and rosemary. Fill pre-baked tart shell with ricotta mixture and place in oven for 15 minutes or until set. Top with roasted vegetables, then return to oven for 5 minutes to warm through. Garnish with extra rosemary, if desired.

Makes 1 30cm x 11cm rectangular tart