One of the things about being ‘stuck’ in Umbria during the last 3 months was that just when I was cooking so much, with so much time on my hands, most of my cookbooks were back in Rome. Especially the new ones that had just come out. I had especially looked forward to cooking from Melissa Clark’s newest, Dinner in French. The recipe that called loudest to me from across the divide that separated me from the book was the cover dish, a gorgeous goat cheese asparagus tart.
Well, I finally got around to making it, except that I still didn’t have the cookbook (stuck in customs? Stuck on a truck? Who knows) and asparagus season was just about at the end. So, inspired by the recipe (which I found online here) I kind of made up my own version. I didn’t have goat cheese, but did have ricotta, so used that. And while the end-of-season-asparagus I could find were too tough, I did have the first gorgeous zucchini from my own garden.
So here is a Ricotta Zucchini Tart. Kind of like this cake, feel free to make any substitutes you’d like. Asparagus of course, if you can still get them, but I’m thinking of trying it again with eggplant. And while I love the geometry of the vegetables cut into strips, I’m even thinking I might try one with fresh peas.
I used a mixture of ricotta, goat cheese and mascarpone for this version, but feel free to mix that up too. I added the grated goat cheese, which was pretty strong, because I wanted that gamey flavor. The base should be some sort of creamy cheese, but the rest you can play around with. I may try a version with blue cheese, pairing it with red onions. Or pecorino and cherry tomatoes.
I used mint but literally could not make up my mind whether or not to add basil too. Or chives. Any fresh herbs will do.
Definitely use a pre-made puff pastry crust for this one. Not only is it light, it’s also EASY, which is the charm of this recipe. It works great as a main course for lunch, but also small slices with salad would make a nice starter for dinner.
Zucchini Ricotta Tart
Yield 6-8
This recipe is based on Melissa Clark's Goat Cheese Asparagus Tart recipe from her book Dinner in French.
Ingredients
- 1 cup full fat ricotta (drained if very wet)
- 1/2 cup mascarpone
- 1/4 cup grated hard goat cheese (or parmigiano or pecorino)
- 1/4 cup whole milk yogurt
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 clove of garlic, grated
- 1/4 cup chopped mint
- 1/2 tsp salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 2 medium zucchini
- 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil
- 1/4 cup grated parmigiano
- Salt and pepper
- 1 package pre-made puff pastry (thawed out if frozen)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400F/200C
In a medium bowl whisk together ricotta, mascarpone, grated goat cheese, yogurt, egg, garlic, mint and salt. Mix until smooth.
Cut the zucchini lengthwise into eighths. If your zucchini are big, and the centers seem watery and spongy, trim that part out (you can freeze it and put it in a soup later). Toss the strips of zucchini with the olive oil
Lay out the pastry onto a baking sheet. Using a sharp knife score a line around the rim, about a 1/2 inch in from the edge.
Spread the cheese mixture onto the pastry, within the scored rim. Artfully arrange the zucchini strips. Season with salt and pepper. Scatter remaining 1/4 cup parmigiano on top.
Place in pre-heated oven and bake for about 25 minutes. The cheese and crust should be golden. Take out of oven and let rest at least 20 minutes. It’s best at room temperature, which gives the cheese a chance to set. If you’d like, scatter some fresh herbs on top before serving.
Hello! This looks amazing… I don’t see the pastry in the ingredients. just in the text. Are you using a premade pastry? If so, what is it? Pie crust? puff pastry? Thanks for any details 🙂
Sorry, forgot that bit, now added!
There is no mention of pastry in the ingredient list. I’m assuming good puff pastry?
Yes, sorry, just added it!
I have tried so many of your off the cuff recipes. My favorites are the zucchini carpaccio, the lemon rusks from the lagoon trip, and this one is definitely on the list. Thank you so much for your inspiration!!!
I just tried this, and it was wonderful, but I got tripped up a bit on the pastry. a package of puff pastry has 2 sheets—was I supposed to use both, and how….do I stack one on top of the other. and are you supposed to roll it out, because it comes out of the package as a small rectangle, nowhere near the lovely large round pie you have. sorry for the dumb questions—I’m obviously not adept at working w/ pastry.
Hmmm….sorry but I don’t know about the two-sheet problem. In Italy it comes as one sheet, already the correct size. And you can get them either round or square.
I believe you meant pie crust like we have I. The states which comes out round.
This was fantastic! Making another one today! We had guests who just loved it!
I made this last night. In the US the puff pastry came in two small rectangles, I made the tart with just one and it was excellent. Thanks for another winner.
Baking mine now! So excited, thank you. I have one question, you said to score the puff pastry, after putting all the ingredients on top, do I fold in the edges of the pastry or leave it flat before baking? Thanks!
Just leave flat! The scoring with assure the edges puff up a bit.