Provencal Vegetable and Goat Cheese Tart is a lovely way to enjoy all the best summer produce with elegant French flair!
The inspiration behind this recipe:
Like almost everyone else, every trip we planned to take this year had to be canceled. The drive we took to see our families in Wisconsin earlier this month was much-needed relief but it looks like that will be the extent of it.
Provence, France wasn’t on the itinerary this year but I have fond memories of visiting there a number of years ago. If we can’t travel physically, we can certainly travel culinarily!
Layers of summer vegetables, fresh herbs and tangy goat cheese fill a buttery crust in this Provencal-inspired savory tart. It’s the perfect way to enjoy a culinary getaway to sunny, beautiful southern France!
What is the difference between a tart and quiche?
Not a heck of a lot. Basically:
- A tart can be sweet or savory. Tarts are usually made in “special” pans with low sides that often have a removable bottom.
- A quiche is always savory and a regular pie pan works just fine for quiche.
If you don’t have a special tart pan, this can easily be made in a pie pan.
How to make Provencal Vegetable and Goat Cheese Tart:
- Gather up some beautiful summer produce!
- Eggplant
- Yellow squash
- Zucchini
- Red bell pepper
- Fresh herbs such as basil. Thyme would also be lovely!
- Gather up the ingredients for the buttery crust and make the crust first.
- All-purpose flour
- Unsalted butter
- Salt
- Ice water
- Place the flour, butter and salt in a food processor and process until nice and crumbly.
- Add JUST enough ice water to get the dough to bind.
- Press the dough into a prepared tart pan.
- Place a piece of parchment paper or aluminum foil over the crust and fill it with pie weights, dried beans, rice or lentils.
- Bake until the crust is cooked through and lightly browned. Set that aside to cool and work on the vegetables.
- Slice the vegetables as shown and place them on baking sheets as shown for roasting. At this point, however, leave the tomatoes whole. If you cut them in half at this point, you’ll lose much of the juice and end up with flat tomato halves.
- Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and black pepper.
- Roast until the vegetables are just tender. The pan with the shallot, yellow squash and zucchini will only take half as much time as the pan with the red bell pepper, eggplant and tomatoes.
- When the tomatoes have cooled, cut them in half.
- Cut the red bell peppers into ½-inch pieces.
- Then start layering! Spread a layer of grated Parmesan cheese over the bottom first. This will help to keep the crust from getting too soggy from the custard filling.
- Layer the vegetables, cheese and herbs any way you want but leave the tomatoes for the final layer. I recommend the layers be as follows:
- Eggplant
- Half the red bell pepper
- A third of the goat cheese
- A third of the sliced basil
- Zucchini, yellow squash and shallot
- A third of the goat cheese
- A third of the sliced basil
- The rest of the red bell pepper
- The tomatoes (I preferred them cut side up)
- The rest of the goat cheese
- The rest of the basil
- Combine 1 cup heavy cream or half-and-half, two eggs and some salt and pepper.
- Pour that over the vegetables….
- Bake and voila!
- Let it cool a little before cutting into wedges.
Beautiful!
Serve with:
- Arugula, Egg and Asparagus Salad with Creamy Lemon Vinaigrette
- French Lentil Salad
- Broccoli Gruyere Soup with Torn Garlic Croutons
- Cream of Asparagus and Leek Soup with Curry
- Cream of Green Vegetable Soup
- Very Veggie Gazpacho
More elegant tart recipes you’ll love!
- Butternut Squash, Leek and Gruyere Tart
- Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Tart with Thyme
- Roasted Cherry Tomato Tart with Herbed Ricotta
- Asparagus Prosciutto and Fontina Tortino
- Tomato Ricotta Tart with Basil Pesto
- Asparagus, Spring Onion and Fontina Tart
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Yield: 8
Provencal Vegetable and Goat Cheese Tart
Provencal Vegetable and Goat Cheese Tart is a lovely way to enjoy all the best summer produce with French flair!
Prep Time
30 minutes
Cook Time
1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time
2 hours
Ingredients
- CRUST
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 4-6 tablespoons ice water (as needed)
- Cooking spray
- TART FILLING
- 1 small eggplant, sliced into ¼-inch slices
- 1 small yellow squash, sliced into ¼-inch slices
- 1 small zucchini, sliced into ¼-inch slices
- 1 red bell pepper, sliced into ½-inch slices
- 1 large shallot, sliced vertically
- 8-10 large grape tomatoes, left whole
- ½ cup olive oil, or as needed to roast the vegetables
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- ½ cup fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced, divided
- ⅓ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 4 ounces goat cheese, crumbled and divided
- 1 cup heavy cream or half-and-half
- 2 large eggs, beaten
Instructions
- CRUST: Combine the flour, butter and salt in a food processor. Pulse until crumbly. Alternately, combine in a bowl and cut the flour mixture into the butter with a pastry blender until crumbly. Add the water and continue to mix until the dough clings together.
- Spray an 11-inch tart pan with cooking spray. Press the dough evenly into the tart pan and up the sides.
- With a fork, prick the bottom of the dough in several places. Place in the freezer for 15 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place a piece of parchment paper over the crust and fill with pie weights or old beans, rice or lentils.
- Bake for 15-18 minutes or until crust is lightly baked through. Let cool. Increase oven temperature to 425 degrees.
- TART: Place the eggplant, red bell pepper and tomatoes on a large sheet pan. Place the yellow squash, zucchini and shallot on another sheet pan. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and black pepper. Toss or flip so that the vegetables are evenly coated with oil, salt and pepper. Roast the zucchini, squash and shallot for 13-15 minutes and the eggplant, bell pepper and tomatoes for 20-25 minutes. Let cool to room temperature. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees.
- Cut the red bell pepper into ½-inch cubes and cut the tomatoes in half top to bottom.
- Sprinkle the bottom of the tart with Parmesan cheese.
- Place the eggplant over the Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle with half the red bell pepper, ⅓ of the goat cheese, ⅓ of the sliced basil and half the garlic.
- Top with zucchini, yellow squash and shallot. Sprinkle with ⅓ of the goat cheese, ⅓ of the sliced basil and the remaining garlic.
- Top with remaining red bell pepper, tomatoes, remaining goat cheese and basil.
- Whisk the cream (or half-and-half) and eggs together. Add ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon black pepper.
- Bake for 50-60 minutes or until filling set and cheese is lightly browned.
- Let stand 10 minutes. Cut into wedges and serve warm.
Notes
If you don’t have an 11-inch tart pan, this can easily be made in a pie pan.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 668Total Fat: 49gSaturated Fat: 23gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 23gCholesterol: 147mgSodium: 371mgCarbohydrates: 44gFiber: 4gSugar: 10gProtein: 15g
The nutritional information above is computer-generated and only an estimate. Please do your own research with the products you're using if you have a serious health issue or are following a specific diet.
Linda says
Made this last evening with seared scallops and a nice salad. This tart was a Hit! The crust was buttery and flaky and the veggies were very flavorful. Beautiful presentation on the table. This will be delicious this summer when we’re eating outside and the temperatures are hot. This can be prepared ahead of time. I baked off the tart shell in the morning. I also roasted the vegetables and kept them refrigerated. 75 minutes before we were going to eat, I assembled the tart and popped it in the oven for 60 minutes, then let it rest for 15. Perfect!
Carol says
Hi, Linda, Thanks so very much and so glad you and everyone enjoyed! Your meal sounds amazing!! Thank you again!
Sherry says
Wondering how to get this prepped for a “later” lunch (because this just cries out for a garden lunch with delicious crisp pinot gris and salad). Wondering how it tastes a little less than “warm” and if it reheats well? Any thoughts on a little drizzle of balsamic glaze? Any other herbs that you would add? Cheers!!
Carol says
Hi, Sherry, Thanks so much for your question. Yes! This would be perfect with a fresh, crunchy garden salad and a crisp glass of wine! You could serve it room temperature and it does reheat fine. I would cut into pieces first to reheat rather than reheat the whole tart. When I do tarts for clients, I instruct them to cut into pieces and gently reheat at 325 or 350. Thanks again and hope you enjoy!