Easy Roasted Vegetable Tart

◔ Serves 4 to 8, depending on whether you're serving it as a main course or as part of a meal

⧖ Preparation, 15 minutes for the crust, plus 30 minutes to let it rest. 30-45 minutes for the tart, including cooking time.

  • 1¼ cup all purpose flour, plus a little more (about ¼ cup) for kneading the dough

  • ½ to ¾ teaspoon salt

  • 7 tablespoons very cold butter, chopped into crude pieces

  • 4 tablespoons freezer-cold cheap vodka

  • Whatever vegetables and stuff you might like on your tart: sautéed mushrooms, thinly sliced and lightly sautéed eggplant, caramelized onions (a staple for me), red pepper, leeks, tomatoes (make sure to get rid of a fair amount of the juice), figs (not a vegetable), spinach, arugula, a handful of leftover kale (remove the stems)–seriously, just pick a few things that seem like they would go together and go for it.

  • Optional: a handful of pine nuts, a smattering of goat cheese, some Parmesan, any other cheese you like, basil, fresh herbs, any other thing you've ever had on a tart and liked

  • Salt and pepper to taste, and dried chili flakes if that's your thing

Add the flour and salt to your food processor, pulse a couple times to blend.

Add the butter, pulsing until you have a crumbly mixture.

Slowly add vodka, running the processor continuously. Keep an eye on it, but let the food processor run until your dough seizes up into one piece, no longer. (If there are a few scraps left in the bowl, you can press them into the dough after you remove it.)

Form the dough into a smooth ball with your hands, kneading in a little flour by hand if the dough is too sticky. Put it in a zip-loc bag, leaving one corner open, and use a rolling pin to press it evenly into all four corners of the bag. Close the bag and put it in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

When you're ready to make your tart, preheat oven to 375° and roll out your dough. I prefer to roll my dough onto parchment paper.

Add your toppings. (How about fig, prosciutto, arugula, and goat cheese? Eggplant, tomato, caramelized onion, and feta? Leeks, mushrooms, and a little brie? Your choice!)

Trim the edges of your tart if you like, or leave them there if you prefer a rustic look. Fold the edges ever so slightly over the tart, covering no more than an inch of your topping.

Drizzle with olive oil or not.

Cook for 20 to 25 minutes, remove from the oven, let it cool a little, and eat!

Notes:

  1. When choosing your vegetables, make sure you remove as much liquid as possible or your crust will get soggy. Salt and blot your eggplant if you're using it.

  2. You may want to pre-cook some of your vegetables depending on how roasted you want them to be. Just compare the normal amount of time you would cook them to the cook time for the tart.

  3. Rolling your dough out onto parchment paper then sliding the paper onto the baking tin saves a lot of mess. I've become a big fan of the Reynold's grid-lined parchment paper (which they sent me for free, but I now love for real), because I can roll it out on the counter and know that I'm getting the size right.

  4. You can definitely make the pâte brisée by hand, but the food processor sure does make it easier.

  5. This recipe is a lot easier than it may seem, especially if you make the dough ahead of time (or cheat and use store-bought). Once you make it regularly, it becomes a great way to clean out the fridge, using up whatever you find.