Summer Vegetable Tart

This stunning summer meal, good hot, warm, at room temperature, or even cold leftover, is a bit of a production, though not difficult. Adapted from Ina Garten’s “Anna’s Tomato Tart, which Ina in turn adapted from Anna Pump’s famous recipe in her LOAVES AND FISHES COOKBOOK, there’s homemade pastry to be made which requires chilling and three bakings by the time the deed’s done. There’s then a slew of vegetables to cut and lots of cheese to grate – use the food processor for that if you can. But when it’s all finished, there’s nothing to do but pour a bottle of very chilly bubbly and call the gang in to one of the happiest lunches they’ll tuck into all year long. And if you’re lucky enough to have leftovers, there’s the next morning’s breakfast. For a good head start, make at least the pastry a day ahead – perhaps even prebaking, cooling, wrapping tightly, and refrigerating overnight. Read through the recipe thoroughly before beginning as some of the vegetables require cooking, etc. I like to serve this with a cold, puréed vegetable soup.

6 servings

Ingredients

Crust (recipe below):

6 tablespoons Dijon-style mustard for brushing on the crust before adding vegetables

Sauce:

1 cup parsley leaves
¼ cup fresh basil leaves
¼ cup fresh oregano leaves
3 large plump garlic cloves, sliced
¾ teaspoon kosher salt-I use Morton’s
½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
Pinch crushed red pepper
½ cup extra virgin olive oil

Vegetables:

4- ounces sliced button mushrooms, lightly sautéed or grilled
1 fennel bulb, trimmed and sliced thinly, lightly sautéed or grilled
½ large yellow bell pepper, sliced thinly –lightly sautéed or grilled
1- pound fresh ripe medium-sized tomatoes, sliced ¼-inch thick
¼ cup sliced kalamata olives--added after 20 minutes of baking
2 thinly sliced green onions--added after 20 minutes of baking

Cheese:

1 pound piece of Gruyère, grated (about ¾-pound of cheese after grating/without rind.)
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese--approx. 1 ½ ounces

Instructions

BAKE THE DOUGH for the crust: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line a half sheet pan with parchment paper. Roll the chilled dough out on a well-floured counter until it’s 11”x 7”. Gently roll the dough back onto the rolling pin and roll it back out onto the lined sheet pan. If it’s a bit too big, trim a little off; it doesn’t have to fit perfectly. There’s no need to pinch or flute the edges. Place another half sheet on top of the dough and bake for 15 minutes on a middle rack. (Alternately, line with foil and fill with dry beans before baking.) Remove the pans from the oven and take the top pan off. Using a fork, pierce the pastry all over (maybe 30 times) to keep it from puffing up. Bake another 8 minutes or until light brown, checking and piercing again any spots that puff up. Cool on rack 15 minutes. Brush all over with the 6 tablespoons Dijon-style mustard. Lower the oven temperature to 375 degrees F.
MAKE THE SAUCE IN THE FOOD PROCESSOR: Add all of the sauce ingredients (parsley – red pepper) except the olive oil to the work bowl fitted with a steel blade. Pulse until minced. With machine running, pour in the olive oil slowly until well-combined. (Alternately, chop finely on the board with a chef’s knife and whisk together in a large measuring cup.)
ADD THE VEGETABLES except the olives and green onions to a large bowl and drizzle the sauce over them. Gently combine.
SPRINKLE THE DIJON-COVERED CRUST WITH all the grated Gruyère except for ½ cup, which you’ll reserve for a topping. Sprinkle the Gruyère with the ½ cup of grated Parmigiano-Reggiano. Layer the sauced vegetables evenly over the cheese, carefully first straining out extra liquid from the bowl if necessary. Add any extra garlic and herb mixture over the vegetables. Make sure the vegetables are distributed evenly across the tart, not leaving all the peppers in one place, for instance. Sprinkle with the reserved ½ cup of grated Gruyère and the other 2 tablespoons of Parmigiano-Reggiano.
BAKE the tart for 20 minutes at 375 degrees F on the center rack. Remove tart from the oven and sprinkle evenly with reserved sliced Kalamata olives and green onions. Return the oven and bake another 10 minutes or until crust is crispy and toppings are bubbly. If fat from sauce and cheese has escaped into the pan, gently tip the pan with one hand, and carefully soak it up with a wad of paper towels in the other hand. Cool for a few minutes before cutting and serving hot, warm, or at room temperature.
Best the day it's made, you can wrap tart leftovers tightly, store in the refrigerator, and serve cold within a day. Do not freeze.

Notes

COOK’S NOTES: Other possible vegetables include already sautéed zucchini or eggplant.

CRUST RECIPE:

• 2 ½ cups unbleached, all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

• ¼ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

• 2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, chopped

• 12 tablespoons cold, salted butter cut into pieces

• 2 cold large egg yolks

• ½ cup ice water (Measure water into cup first and then add ice. Let rest a minute or two and remove ice.)

Add the flour, salt, pepper, and thyme into the food processor bowl fitted with a steel blade. Add butter and pulse until butter is both larger and smaller than, as well as the same size of peas –12 times or so. Pulse in the yolks briefly. With machine running, drizzle in the ice water through the feed tube until the dough begins to come together. Dump out onto floured board, gather into a ball, flatten into a disk, and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for 30 minutes before rolling out to an 11” x 7” rectangle. (Continue with instructions above).