Friday, April 19, 2019

Fresh Spring Vegetable Tart – Eat Your Heart Out, Giuseppe Arcimboldo

This spring vegetable tart only looks hard to make, and would be a perfect centerpiece for any special occasion meal, just as long as you put it out on the table a little bit early, since we’ll need to allow enough time for all the Instagramming that follows. And please, no flash photography.

As long as you use a wide array of colorful vegetables, and tuck them into a gnarly base of greens, this easy cheese tart/salad can’t help but look gorgeous. In fact, the hardest things will be deciding which vegetables to use, and how to prepare them.

As I said in the video, you can go with anything from raw to roasted, but my favorite way to prep the vegetables, is to simply blanch them briefly in boiling, salted water. Just cook them for a few minutes to take off the raw edge, and then plunge them into cold water, before draining, and dressing.

Above and beyond the veggies, this cheese filling will work with any soft cheese, but I think the tanginess of the goat cheese is an important factor, so if you use something milder, you may want to sneak in some lemon juice. Regardless, of what specific ingredients you use, I really hope you give this gorgeous vegetable tart technique a try soon. Enjoy!


Ingredients for a 10-inch round Spring Vegetable Tart:
2 sheets frozen puff pastry (round or rectangular)
(This tart can be made with any type of shell, including piecrust, phyllo, etc.)
1 large egg beaten with 1 teaspoon of water (for brushing, and then for the filling)
For the filling:
1 1/4 cups goat cheese
salt, freshly ground black pepper, cayenne to taste
1/4 cup freshly chopped herbs, like dill, parsley, thyme, tarragon, basil, chives, etc.
the rest of the egg wash
1/4 cup heavy cream
For the vegetables:
2 handfuls mixed colorful salad greens (including something light and frizzy if possible)
2 to 3 cups of bite-sized fresh vegetables, briefly blanched in salted water
1/2 cup thinly sliced raw radishes, and cherry tomatoes
For the dressing (this is what I used, but your favorite salad dressing will work):
juice of one lemon
1/4 cup olive oil
salt to taste
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11 comments:

Unknown said...

Chef John, thank you so much for teaching me cook. I vow to make one of your dishes every week. (7 so far!)
I have to make dinner for some real food snobs. Obviously I want to blow them away! What would you make as an entree under the same circumstances?
Keep on cooking, brother!

Bill said...

Wait -- what happened to the other disk of pastry?
You just used the outer ring?!

V said...

This looks amazing! How far in advance can it be prepared?

moritz said...

Looks like a piece of art, but it seems like it would be hard to eat without spilling half of the veggies...

Lisa said...

Wow! Upside down salad......cute (and yum)....
Dear John,..............................(just kidding- my mom made really good beef brisket but yours sounds ammmmazing too, will try someday.)
Thanks for all you do to encourage cooking at home
lisa

the commentator said...

is this art?? amazing looking tart :)

heidi said...

Beautiful! I can't wait to try this.

JadedOne said...

Hi Chef John! I was wondering if you could show us how to make a Soubise. kthxbai :)

Marie said...

John, love your recipes and use them often, however, I do have one small gripe...why don't you have it set up on your website to "print" the recipes? Or download, or email to self, or something. I find writing them down a novelty but not always convenient. Thanks and love you....Marie

bijutoha said...

I can’t wait to make this! I love anything like that. I bet my hubby would like it sure! I would be delighted to get a glimpse of this!

Poingat Opinion said...

A winner again but with a tweak. I made mine with a cauliflower crust instead of bread,( Keto, Passover, sneaking in more vegetables). Here's a link to a great crust https://www.drberg.com/blog/the-healthiest-pizza-in-the-world. Everything else was done the same and it was a huge hit. I did add an avocado sliced on top at the time of serving.