Kyle loves quiche. Rich, creamy, silky, tons of savory flavor, all packed into a flaky crust. I don't know why, but it isn't something I make at home. I make it at work. Sometimes I even bring a piece home for him to have for dinner when he gets home after midnight. But as good as that is, I know he wants it made in our own kitchen, making our whole home smell of its awesomeness, by my own two baker-hands, but I don't. Maybe I am just guilt-tripping myself, but still.
I don't make quiche at home.
Until now.
I found a recipe on Bon Appetit (naturally) for a roasted vegetable and goat cheese tart. "That sounds delicious" I thought. So one day, with Kyle at work and myself having the entire day off, I was deciding what I was going to cook. I looked at my pantry stock. Tons of garden-fresh vegetables, eggs, dairy, butter, and flour. And then I knew it was meant to be. The gods and goddesses above were giving me a way to redeem myself in my quiche-making, boyfriend-delighting ways. It was going to happen.
I based my recipe off of the posted BA recipe, but adapted the filling to what I had on hand. And it was delicious.
Roasted Vegetable and Goat Cheese Tart
Pastry
2c All-Purpose Flour, plus some
3/4 tsp Kosher Salt
1/2 tsp Sugar
10 Tb Unsalted Butter, chilled, cut into 1/2" cubes
Filling
4 Sweet Nardello Peppers (1 large red bell can be subbed) cut into strips
1 Medium Eggplant, peeled, in 1/2" cubes
2 Medium Heirloom Tomatoes, coarsely chopped (I love Brandy Wine tomatoes!)
3 Garlic cloves, peeled and halved
1 white onion, thinly sliced
1TB balsamic vinegar
1c Spinach
2oz Fresh Goat Cheese, crumbled
3 Large Eggs
3/4 c Half-and-Half (milk or cream can be used too)
Pastry
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pulse 2c flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor. Add butter, pulsing until a coarse meal with pieces no larger than pea-size forms. Drizzle 3TB ice water over mixture. Pulse until moist clumps form, adding more water by the tsp if dry. Gather dough into a ball. Wrap in plastic and flatten into a disk. Chilluntil firm, at least 1 hour and up to 2 days.
Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface into a 13" round. Transfer to a pie dish or a tart pan. Press dough to line the bottom and up the sides of the dish. Trim the dough leaning a slight overhang. Crimp edges and freeze for 10 minutes.
Line the dough with parchment or aluminum foil and fill with dried beans or pie weights. Bake for 25 min. Remove weights and liner. Return to oven and bake until light golden brown, 25-30 minutes longer. Cool.
Filling
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Toss peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, garlic with 1-2 TB olive oil, a large pinch of salt, and 10 cranks of freshly ground pepper. Place in a 9x9 baking dish and roast until soft and caramelized, approx 45-60 minutes. Avoid burnt and charred edges by stirring every 15 minutes or so. In a skillet, heat 1 tsp olive oil. Saute onions until golden and soft (it is a dry pan without much oil, so take care to keep stirring and cook the onions with heat, not just oil). Once onions are golden and soft (5-7 minutes), add the balsamic vinegar. Cook for another 2 minutes. Remove from heat.
Putting It All Together
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In the cooled crust, evenly spread the spinach. Over that evenly scatter the cooled roasted vegetables and then the goat cheese. In a medium bowl, combine eggs, half-and-half, a pinch of salt and a few cracks of pepper. Whisk for 2 minutes (you know a baker by their muscles. 2 minutes may not seem like a long time, especially with such a small amount of whisked product, but you just might feel a little burn here!). Pour the egg mixture into the crust. Bake until the filling is set and the pastry is golden brown, approx. 50-60 minutes. Let sit for at least 10 minutes once it comes out of the oven before serving. Serve warm or at room temperature.
For dinner I served the tart with Eggplant Parmigiana Soup (I wrote the recipe for work, so I feel like that recipe should be kept in my brain...I will tell you it is a delicious soup with lots of chunky tomatoes, eggplant, garlic, fresh basil, garnished with freshly grated parmesan cheese...it was my brain child of a soup in the beginning of my recipe writing days, and one that I am proud of, for sure). Along the side of the tart and soup was a spinach salad with toasted pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries, crumbled goat cheese, and a honey-balsamic vinaigrette. Quite tasty combination, if I do say so myself.
The best thing about this tart is that you can play with the filling! Switch out the roasted vegetables for 1 1/2c broccoli and 1/2c cheddar! Roast up some zucchini with garlic and throw in some tomatoes and smoked provolone! Or do lots of mushrooms, caramelized onions and a nice gouda or gruyere! Anything you wish or dream! Ahh, the beauty of food and making what you want...I would keep it to around 2c of filling, but like I said, ahh, the beauty of making what you want...
As much as I cook at home, I don't do a whole lot of pastry, so this was a good exercise to keep my skills sharp and to reassure myself that "Yes I Can". And I think it is written somewhere that you have to eat pastry at home at least every so often...So I guess I am just being an abiding life citizen by making and eating it. And by finally making my boyfriend quiche at home.
Butter, flour, roasted garden veggies, goat cheese.
That is love, right there.
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