When my CSA first started the ground had barely defrosted and the pickings were slim but I was ok with that. I live alone. How many veggies does one girl need? Well summer is fading fast and I've been inundated with zucchini, tomatoes, and interestingly enough, potatoes! Last night I racked my brains on how to use them up or at least preserve them. Generally preserving food to me means cooking them up somehow and freezing them in tiny portions for the future. I sliced up some potatoes and made a low fat gratin by basically layering them with onion and spices then pouring a can of evaporated skim milk over it all before baking. Chopped up zukes went into a dutch oven with tomatoes and some indian spices to be cooked down into a kind of all purpose sauce which works great over pasta, meats, fish, etc. All this was great but I felt it was a pity not to show case the produce themselves somehow. Flipping though various possible recipes I came up with the idea of a veggie tart with a potato crust. It helped use up my surplus and was so simple as to allow the veggies themselves to shine. And while it tastes great, next time I would hide the basil layer as they turned a rather unattractive brown post cooking.
Veggie Tart
(Please note these amounts are approximate as a lot depends on the size of your veggies. Just keep slicing until you have enough to cover. A mandoline or food processor greatly helps with all the slicing here.)
5 small potatoes sliced paper thin
1 onion thinly sliced
4 zucchini sliced into 1/4 inch rounds (my zukes are ~6 inches long each)
4 tomatoes sliced 1/4 inch thick and gently squeezed to get rid of some seeds/liquid
1/2 cup basil chiffonade
1 cup shredded cheese of your choice (make sure its one that melts well)
Set oven to 400F. Spray a half sheet pan with canola oil. Cover the pan in a double layer of potato slices overlapping slightly so they form a giant crust. Salt lightly between layers. Bake for 20 minutes. Spray top of crust with more canola oil. Bake for another 20 minutes until golden. Lower temp to 375F. Layer as follows: cheese, onion, basil, zucchini, tomato. Salt and pepper top generously. Bake for 40 minutes or until you see the tomato starting to shrink/dry a bit. Remove and let cool 10 minutes before cutting and serving.
