Zucchini and Goat Cheese Tart

I’m continuing my series of summer pie recipes that are very quick, easy, and require little to no equipment (except for a baking sheet and oven, of course). Today I propose to make a zucchini and goat cheese tart. Yes, it’s not a very familiar combination, but believe me, it’s worth a try.

Yes, I know, many people don’t like goat cheese. But firstly, after baking, it changes the intensity and shade of its taste a bit and complements the taste of zucchini in a very interesting way, as if it emphasizes this vegetable. And secondly, as an option, you can replace goat cheese with feta, for example, which will also go well with zucchini.

For this pie, we use ready-made puff pastry. Nowadays, it is sold in almost any supermarket and is usually of good quality and adequate price. It is very convenient, in my opinion, to have a roll of dough in the freezer just in case, which you can use when you are short on time or simply do not want to fiddle with the dough.

The shape of the dough can be either round or rectangular, there is no big difference, it’s all up to you.

I want to say something about zucchini. In my opinion, this is an underrated vegetable in world cuisine. Yes, of course, there are a lot of recipes with zucchini on the Internet, but for some reason we usually try something new, but in the end we come back to familiar dishes, such as fried zucchini with garlic or vegetable stew. Or some hedonists will try to make zucchini cookies or brownies. What else do you cook with this vegetable? Share in the comments, it will be an inspiration or a friendly reminder for other readers.

So, as for our zucchini and goat cheese tart, everything is incredibly simple and quick. Ready-made dough, grated mozzarella, sliced zucchini, cheese, a little seasoning, a little magic lemon zest, and that’s it, throw it in the oven for 25 minutes and it’s ready.

Use the kind of mozzarella that melts well, such as for pizza. Mozzarella in brine is not suitable, it will add extra moisture, and we don’t need it.

Ingredients:

1 sheet of puff pastry
120 g grated mozzarella
1 medium zucchini (or courgette)
50 g goat cheese (or feta)
1 lemon zest
dried red pepper flakes (optional)
salt, pepper
2 tbsp of milk for greasing the dough

1. Take the dough out of the freezer an hour before making the tart.
2. Turn on the oven to preheat to 180°C.
3. Cut the zucchini into very thin slices, sprinkle with salt, and set aside for 10 minutes. Then put them in a sieve and squeeze them a little to get rid of excess liquid.
4. Roll out the puff pastry. If necessary, roll it out to a thickness of about 2 mm. Place on a baking sheet covered with parchment.
5. Spread the grated mozzarella over the dough, leaving 2 cm from the edges. Put zucchini slices on top, crumble cheese (goat cheese or feta) and grate lemon zest. Add a little more salt and pepper, sprinkle with dried red pepper flakes.
6. Brush the edges of the dough with milk. Bake the zucchini tart at 180ºC until golden brown, it takes about 20–25 minutes, but the time may be different in your oven.
7. Remove the cake from the oven and cool at room temperature.

Serve the zucchini and goat cheese tart hot (it will taste like a pizza), warm or cold. This tart is convenient to take away, and it tastes great even on the second day.

Enjoy your meal!

What do you think about this recipe? Did you like it? I am happy to share my experience with you and waiting for your feedback!