Zucchini Tart

Summer is over, actually according to all the stores here in New York even fall is over, they are having fall sales and the puffy coats are on… how did all that happened? Some stores already have Christmas tunes playing can you believe that? It’s a nonsense Halloween / Christmas decoration. But it somehow make sense to my life right now all the rush, I have been going all over the place lately, the airport people can probably call me by my name, it would be something like “ hi Anna nice to see you AGAIN.” This summer we went to check the West Cost and fell in love with it, San Francisco is such an amazing city we felt very tempted but Venice Beach made us decide to move. We loved everything about it. The weather, the people, the beach, it’s a really lovely place. Now we just came back from San Antonio, Texas we went there to visit my little sister in law, it’s her first time living by herself and Texas is a pit stop for her before she goes to India and Thailand, my mother and father in law are literally pulling their hair. So we went there to check things out. It’s a lovely place, and she is doing great. My favorite place there was the River Walk, restaurants on both sides of a beautiful river with delicious Texan steaks. You can see some pictures here.

But now back to work, we have to go back to LA and find an apartment, contact moving companies. It’s a bit overwhelming I have to say, I’m totally stress eating right now which is really not a good idea since I’m moving to a beach place, I should probably be eating lettuce and carrots. But yesterday I decided to try for the gazillion time to bake a tart. And miraculously it actually worked; do I hear a round of applause? No, it’s probably just me clapping, but yeah Baby! I am clapping, because all the flops and snafus I had so far we could probably cover the Great Wall with all my failed pastry dough, so now that it actually worked I’ll probably be clapping for a week. Calling all my friends and family even acquaintances, and the conversation will be something like that: “Hey, hello such and such I’m calling to let you know my pastry dough worked this time, yes, yes, thank you, thank you”. I know…. I’m going a bit Ape about my tart, but you have to understand  (remember I’m stress eating) probably all the carbs I’m ingesting is affecting my brain somehow. But anyway here is the mission-accomplished tart. Made by yours truly. Enjoy.

Zucchini Tart

For the Pie Crust:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
• 1-teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoon freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 9 tablespoons unsalted butter chilled diced
• 2large eggs yolk
• 2-3 tablespoons ice water

In a food processor, combine the flour, Parmesan Cheese, salt, butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Drizzle in the water and pulse until the mixture comes together. Turn out of the food processor, form into a ball, and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to overnight. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. On a lightly floured work surface, roll the pastry to a thickness of 1/8-inch and place in a 9-inch tart shell with a removable bottom. Blind bake until lightly golden brown, 15 to 18 minutes.

For the Zucchini:

Grate the zucchinis and lightly sauté it with salt, pepper, garlic, red chili flakes. Let it cool down.

For the Cheese filing:

• 11 ounces goat cheese
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2-cup ricotta cheese
• 3 large egg yolks
• 1/4-cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme leaves
• 1/2-teaspoon salt.
• 1/2-teaspoon black pepper

Into a large mixing bowl place the goat cheese, butter, ricotta cheese, and beat ingredients with a mixer on high speed until smooth. Add the egg yolks one at a time, then the flour, salt, and pepper, mixing well to incorporate. Mix half of the zucchinis. Living the other half for topping. Pour the cheese and zucchini mixture into mixture into the prepared piecrust and bake until the top is golden and the filling is set, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow cooling for 30 minutes before serving.