Roasted Vegetable Tart

My reputation is spreading. I must talk about food, cooking, and recipes a little too much. But it does have perks...someone I work with recently brought me a stack old Eating Well magazines because he heard I like to spend time in the kitchen.

While perusing the December 2008 issue this morning, I found this recipe and immediately started writing out a grocery list. It's my usual roasted veggies (which I seem to eat constantly this winter) but with a simple wheat and cheddar crust that looks all fancypants after baking in a tart pan.

You would think the tart tastes pretty bland...just veggies and crust. But the secret ingredient is a thin layer black olive tapenade hiding between the veggies and crust. And I still had a little container of homemade tapenade in my freezer from last summer.

Add some chunks of creamy, yummy goat cheese on top (if you don't like goat cheese you can substitute feta or parmesan) and you've got a beautiful twist on the usual roasted veggie supper.

The crust has a nice texture from the cornmeal (maybe it was a tiny bit on the dry side) and I wish I would have used more veggies, specifically more grape tomatoes because they add a really nice juiciness to counteract the crust. Overall, I really liked this tart. I would like to make it again but in muffin tins for individual veggie tarts as an appetizer.

Roasted Vegetable Tart (from December 2008 Eating Well Magazine)

Crust:

1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 cup cornmeal

4 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into small chunks

3 Tbsp olive oil

3 Tbsp ice water

Filling:

Mixture of any winter veggies (I used broccoli, red and yellow onions, mushrooms, and grape tomatoes) cut into bite-sized pieces

Garlic cloves, leave skin on

1 Tbsp vinegar (recipe calls for sherry vinegar but you can use balsamic or red wine, too)

Other:

black olive tapenade

goat cheese

Put veggies and garlic cloves on a baking sheet and cover with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast for 25 minutes at 450 degrees, or until they smell good and have burnt-char marks on veggies. Pull out garlic cloves and let them cool. Toss the rest of the hot veggies with the vinegar. When garlic has cooled, squeeze out of skins and add to the other veggies.

In the meantime, put flour, cheddar, and cornmeal in food processor and pulse to combine. Add butter one piece at a time, pulsing a few times after each addition. Add oil and ice water and pulse until a crumbly texture forms.

Press crust mixture into greased tart or pie pan and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

Top crust with a layer of black olive tapenade and the roasted veggies. Sprinkle crumbled goat cheese on top and bake for another 25 minutes or until cheese and crust have browned.

Let cool 10 minutes before serving.

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