Fall Vegetable Tart with Goat Cheese and Prosciutto

Fall is coming! Here in Southeast Texas we enjoyed a “cold front” this past weekend.  The mornings were slightly chilly and the days incredibly pleasant.  This week it’s humid and hot again.  But the promise of cooler weather is near.  And cooler weather means comfort food and cute coats and sweaters for my kids.

This fall tart recipe comes from the latest issue of Fine Cooking which I received last week and I’ve already made this twice.  I can see it appearing in our dinner rotation many more times in the coming months.  I love roasted vegetables.  I love goat cheese.  I love savory pie crust.  And so naturally, I love this tart.  It is incredible.

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You can make this from start to finish in a couple of hours, or you can make the vegetables ahead of time and simply assemble and bake the tart when you’re ready.  I’ve done it both ways now.

The combination of vegetables (butternut squash, carrot, cauliflower and red bell pepper) is great.  The recipe calls for leeks, but I decided to use a yellow onion instead.  I didn’t make a great grocery list and ended up using my only onion in another dish so I left out the onion entirely.  The tart didn’t suffer a bit.  The measurements in the recipe below are from the magazine, but I didn’t really measure.  I’m sure I used a bit more, maybe heaping amounts of those listed here.

After roasting the vegetables you mix in a bunch of chopped proscuitto.  That’s magic right there.  Magic.

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The dough is simply flour, butter, cream cheese and a pinch of salt.  It comes together in a food processor in no time and doesn’t need to be chilled before being rolled out.  However, this means you absolutely must roll it out onto parchment paper.  I made the mistake of rolling it out on the counter the first time and won’t do that again.  Since this is a rustic tart you don’t need to worry too much about how neat the edges of your dough are.

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After you roll out your dough you spread some softened goat cheese on it.  Again, there’s magic happening in your kitchen right about now.  Be sure the goat cheese is room temperature or it will pull too much on the dough and rip it.  I know from experience.

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On top of the cheese goes the vegetables.

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Fold up the edges, brush with a beaten egg and bake.  I baked mine on a pizza stone the second time with great results, but a cookie sheet works well, too.

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After cooling for a few minutes, slice and serve and enjoy.  It’s so amazing warm, but I ate a slice cold from the fridge as I was running out the door at lunchtime and it was still delicious.  As far as reheating goes you need to be prepared for a slightly soggy bottom crust.  But again, still delicious.  If you’re serving this to at least 4 people you probably won’t need to worry about leftovers, though.

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Fall Vegetable Tart with Goat Cheese and Prosciuttio

From Fine Cooking

Ingredients

Dough

  • 6 ounces (1 1/3 cups) flour
  • 6 ounces (1 1/2 sticks) cold butter cut into chunks
  • 6 ounces cold cream cheese (low fat is fine) cut into chunks
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 beaten egg for egg wash

Filling

  • olive oil
  • 1 1/2 cups butternut squash cut into 1/2 inch cubes
  • 3/4 cup sliced carrots (1/2 inch thick half moons)
  • 3/4 cup sliced leek (optional)
  • 3/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
  • 3/4 cup chopped cauliflower
  • 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
  • 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
  • kosher salt and pepper
  • 4 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto, cut in to bite sized pieces
  • 4 ounces goat cheese, room temperature

Directions

Filling

  1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
  2. Toss the vegetables together with rosemary, thyme 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and a drizzle of olive oil.
  3. Transfer to a 9×13 pan, cover tightly with foil and roast for 30-40 minutes until just fork tender.
  4. Let cool for 10-15 minutes then add in the prosciutto.

Dough

  1. Put flour, butter, cream cheese and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until the dough just begins to come together.
  2. Place a large piece of parchment on the counter and sprinkle with a little flour.  Turn dough out onto the parchment and bring together with your hands, sprinkling with more flour if needed.
  3. Roll dough out onto the parchment into a roughly 16-inch round.

Assemble

  1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
  2. Transfer parchment to a cookie sheet or pizza stone and trim any excess parchment that hangs off the sheet or stone.
  3. Spread goat cheese onto the dough leaving a 1 1/2 inch border.
  4. Pile vegetable evenly on top of the goat cheese.
  5. Fold edges of the dough over the vegetables, then brush with beaten egg.
  6. Bake for 35-45 minutes.  Let cool for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.