This recipe is one of those fun experiments that turned out well. I’ve seen tarts with zucchini or tomato or both and wondered if I would like them. Tarts come in so many different varieties of sweet and savory combinations. I love goat cheese and I wanted to try making a tart that combined creamy goat cheese with fresh tomato and zucchini flavors. My daughter doesn’t normally like zucchini but even she liked this tart.
Goat Cheese Tart topped with Zucchini and Tomato
A savory tart that is great alongside a small salad for lunch!
- 1 Pie crust (see link below for a pie crust recipe.)
- 6 1/2 oz soft goat cheese (or 185 grams )
- 1/2 Tbsp fresh chives
- 4 1/2 – 5 oz thinly sliced zucchini (I only needed 1 zucchini) (or 142 grams)
- 4-4 1/2 oz thinly sliced tomatoes (I used the center of 3 small to medium sized tomatoes) (or 128 grams )
- 1 -1 1/2 tsp olive oil
- 1/2 Tbsp finely chopped basil
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- Roll out your pie dough and gently press it into a 9 inch (23 cm) round tart pan. I used a pan with the removable bottom to make it easy to lift the tart out once it was finished.
- Cut away the excess crust from the edge of the pan. An easy way to do this is to roll your rolling pin over the top of the pan and then just peel away the excess dough.
- Dock the bottom of the crust with a fork.
- Place the tart shell in the refrigerator for a couple of hours to firm up. This will help it not to shrink when you bake it.
- Take your crust out of the refrigerator and line with parchment or aluminum foil. Use pie weights or dry beans to add weight to the crust so that it holds its shape while baking.
- Pre-bake your pie crust for about 20 minutes in an oven preheated to 350 F/ 175 C. (You don’t want it to cook all the way through but you want to give it a head start on the filling.
- Let the crust cool completely.
- Stir 1/2 Tbsp of chopped fresh chives into 6 1/2 oz (185 grams) of soft goat cheese. I used a very soft and creamy goat cheese. You can also use a soft goat cheese that crumbles a bit but you want it to be room temperature so it is easy to spread.
- Evenly spread the goat cheese over the bottom of the crust.
- Slice the zucchini and tomatoes. The zucchini I sliced was around 1/8 of an inch thick or so. The tomato was a little thicker, closer to 1/4 of an inch. I tried to use slices that were close to the same size in diameter.
- Layer the zucchini and tomato over the goat cheese. I started with the outside circle and made a pattern of two zucchini followed by one tomato around the tart.
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Do the same with the inside circle and then lay a piece of zucchini in the center of the tart.
- Gently brush the top of the zucchini and tomato with olive oil.
- Freshly grate or sprinkle a little black pepper and sea salt over the top to taste.
- Chop a little fresh basil very fine until you have about 1/2 Tbsp. Gently rub the basil with a little of the olive oil. I put just a little olive oil in the bottom of a small bowl and coated the basil with it in the bowl.
- Sprinkle the basil over the top of the tart.
- Place in an oven preheated to 350 F/175 C.
- Bake for 45-50 minutes. The crust should turn a golden brown and the veggies will start to shrink up a bit when it is ready.
- Enjoy!
If you have a favorite pie crust, feel free to use it. If you need one, try the link below for a homemade crust. The recipe makes 2 crusts and you will only need one. You can freeze the other crust for another time.