Oh well - one good thing about having friends over is it forces us to tidy up... While I did food prep, Brett cleaned. Tucker's fur always looks nice and shiny with a dusting of wood polish:
Cleaning also involves moving heavy stuff:
Meanwhile, I whipped this up.
Oh wait, ignore that text at the bottom - yes, I made that. Exactly as it appears in that picture. Honest. And hopefully Martha Stewart isn't going to sue me! LOL Seriously - I've had this recipe for a few months now in the Martha Stewart Outdoor Living special mag, and I've been dying to try making it based on that beautiful pic. Plus, hello, it calls for FOUR zucchini/summer squash! Any recipe that uses up that many squash is great... Now I've never made a tart before, but I cashed in a Williams Sonoma gift card that's been sitting around for who knows how long recently, and with this recipe in mind got two tart pans - neither of which was the right size/shape to make what you see above, but eh, I figured I could work around that. (And now I DO plan to get a 14 x 4.5" tart pan!)
Here's the crust being rolled out - that's freshly-picked thyme leaves you see in the crust, not bugs.
You gotta admit, there's something beautiful about a scalloped edge on a tart crust! Here I've just fit it in the pan and run the rolling pin across the top, but haven't yet pulled off the spare crust.
While the tart crust baked I started on the filling - not much more than leeks, zucchini, yellow squash topped with shredded gruyere and then held together with a simple custard.
I goofed on the specifics for the squash. For one thing, the recipe says stuff like "2 zucchini (12 oz)". Um, I consider myself a somewhat experienced cook, but usually recipes will be more clear - like "(12 oz EACH)" or "(12 oz TOTAL)". Anyhow, I think I ended out using about three zucchini and two yellow squash, based on size and what I thought it would take to fill the tart. And then I mandolined (there, now it's a verb!) the squash a little too thick the first time, so those got chopped and added to the filling and I super-thin-mandolined more for the topping. Hold on - you'll see in a sec...
The blind-baked crust was GOOOOOD! What you don't see here is I also baked the scraps, which were super tasty!
The sauteed leeks and first round of squash. This was then topped with shredded gruyere.
Then I formed the lattice of mandolined squash, and then the fun part was trying to fit all the custard in by lifting the edges of the lattice and pouring it in here and there. Wasn't much liquid, but damn, that tart was FULL!
After the custard was added, the top was lightly brushed with olive oil and then it was baked. Brett thought I could've gone a little longer in the oven for more browning, but this tasted pretty good. Never having made a recipe like this before, I worried I was at risk of overcooking the crust. Next time I'll try a little longer.
Sharon and Andy arrived as the tart was about to come out. Here you see super skinny Sharon and super big tart!
Sharon and I went out to pick squash, snow peas, a tiny carrot and the first of the cucumbers to send home with them.
Mmmmm tart!
After eating, and since it was storming, it was time for video games and fun times - the rain meant STILL not getting to sit around the fire pit making s'mores. Next time...
Now that they're married Sharon seems to think she can stick her finger in Andy's ear anytime she wants.
Brett - getting ready to bust a move to some classic 80s!?
Since we couldn't go outside, I brought some of the outdoors in. Between running out to check the chicken and taters on the grill, I cut a mixture of galliardia, sunflowers and dahlias.
And here was the best part of the whole night - playing games with Andy trying to get the clue "blackmail" across...
2 comments:
Mmm...love the look of that tart!
1. the flowers are lovely.
2. the tart looks amazing.
3. Brett is in danger of being supplanted by Andy.
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