The Busy Gourmand

Tart Fresh out of the Oven

This came about while I was fooling around with tomato tarts to help use up a bunch of fresh heirloom tomatoes. It also dawned on me that we had an awful lot of eggplant and zucchini to use as well. So why not throw them all in one tart?

• 5 to 6 medium ripe tomatoes, heirloom varieties if you can get them, cut into thin layers
• 3 japanese style eggplants, or 1 medium size eggplant cut into thin layers lengthwise
• 2 medium zucchini cut into thin layers lengthwise
• 1, 9 inch pie crust
• 8 whole basil leaves
• 3 oz grated parmigiano reggiano or other salty cheese
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Place the pie crust in a tart or pie pan and press down making sure a fair amount of the crust goes up the side of the pan. Place some type of weight on top of the crust to keep the crust from puffing up and place the crust in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove the crust and set aside.

Meanwhile place the thin slices of eggplant and zucchini in a roasting pan and drizzle with olive oil. Rub the oil over the pieces just to coat evenly. Sprinkle the eggplant and zucchini with a bit of salt and black. Grill the pieces on a gas grill about 2 to 3 minutes per side just until you get some good grill marks on the vegetables and the vegetables become a bit wilted. The eggplant tends to take longer to cook so keep your eye on it.

Add about one quarter of the cheese to the bottom of the pie crust. On top of the cheese add a layer of zucchini. You may have to cut the zucchini to cover most of the bottom of the pie. Add one quarter of the cheese on top of the zucchini. Add the eggplant in a layer just like the zucchini making sure to cover the majority of the zucchini layer below. Add one quarter of the cheese on top of the eggplant. Add the sliced tomatoes in a spiral pattern making sure to cover as much of the eggplant as possible. Top the tomatoes with the remaining cheese and sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper.

Tart Ready for Slicing

Place the tart in the oven for 45 minutes. Remove the tart and allow to cool to a warm temperature before serving. Depending on how you are serving it the tart makes 4 large appetizer portions or up to about 8 side dish servings.