The Modern Baker: Roasted Pepper and Goat Cheese Tart. Win a Free Cookbook

Great as an hors d’oeuvre or as the main course of a light meal, this tart started out years ago as a focaccia topping – one that I wasn’t particularly happy with. Every summer some of the teachers from the old Peter Kump’s Cooking School would teach a few classes at Peter’s house in Easthampton on Long Island. Most of the ground floor of the original house had been gutted and transformed into a small living room and gigantic kitchen-dining room with enough room for a dozen people to cook and dine.

Back then, classes started around 10 in the morning and didn’t end until 3 or 4 in the afternoon, so I always liked to prepare a few non-sweet items we could enjoy before tasting all the desserts made in the class. Arriving at the house for a series of classes one summer, I noticed a large chunk of mild goat cheese in the refrigerator, probably a leftover from a previous class, and decided to use it on a focaccia with some roasted pepper strips. The unbaked focaccia looked spectacular as it went into the oven – crumbled goat cheese all over the top and red and yellow pepper strips here and there. Even after taking it out of the oven, it was a beautiful sight – the cheese had colored to a light golden and had puffed slightly. The flavor, however, was another matter… Baking had concentrate the slight gaminess of the goat cheese to an unpleasant degree and the evaporation evidenced by the coloring of the cheese had also concentrated its saltiness – I was truly disappointed, but I still thought the combination could be made to work successfully.

When I was planning a chapter of savory pies and tarts for The Modern Baker, I remembered the disastrous focaccia and decided to try the combination as a tart. I knew one thing – the cheese had to be successfully hidden under an insulating layer of peppers, and then I decided to add some beaten eggs to the top also so that the tart turned into a crust holding creamy goat cheese topped with a roasted pepper frittata – and best of all, it worked beautifully.

If you don’t have time to roast peppers for this, you can buy some good ones in a jar or can – I’ve made this tart very successfully with a 13-ounce can of roasted piquillo peppers from Spain. Just don’t neglect to marinate the peppers in oil and garlic as the recipe recommends – it makes all the difference in the final flavor of the tart. Check the ingredients carefully when purchasing roasted peppers in a jar or can – it should contain peppers, water, salt, and perhaps a little citric acid, but nothing else. Some brands of roasted peppers are really pickled and contain vinegar and sugar, neither of which belongs in this recipe.

One 10 to 11-inch tart, about 8 generous servings

OLIVE OIL DOUGH
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup olive oil
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2-3 tablespoons water

ROASTED PEPPERS
4 medium red or yellow bell peppers, or a combination, about 2 pounds
Salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 garlic clove, peeled and thinly sliced

TART FILLING AND EGG MIXTURE
10 ounces mild goat cheese such as Montrachet, crumbled
6 large eggs
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup chopped flat leaf (Italian) parsley

One jelly roll pan covered with foil for roasting the peppers

One 10 or 11-inch tart pan with removable bottom

1. For the dough, combine the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade.Pulse several times to mix.Add the oil, egg, yolk, and water.Pulse repeatedly until the dough forms a shaggy ball.Don’t over mix or the oil might separate out of the dough and make it impossible to handle later on. If the dough seems dry and not about to form a ball, add water 1/2 teaspoon at a time until it does.Invert the dough to a floured surface and carefully remove the blade.Press the dough into a disk without folding it over on itself.Wrap and chill the dough for up to 3 days.
2. To roast the peppers, set a rack about 6 inches from the broiler element and preheat it.Place the peppers on the prepared pan and slide them under the broiler.Let the skin of the peppers char on one side, then use tongs to turn each 90 degrees.Repeat until the peppers are evenly charred and are collapsed.Or use an outdoor gas or charcoal grill set on medium (uniform white ash for charcoal) and char the peppers right on the grill.
3. Transfer the peppers to a bowl and cover it with plastic wrap.The peppers will steam for a while until they begin to cool and the skins will loosen automatically.When the peppers are cool enough to handle, place them in a colander and peel and seed them.The peppers will pretty much separate into smaller pieces as you peel them.Place the cleaned peppers back in the bowl and continue until all the peppers have been cleaned and seeded.Do not peel the peppers under running water or much of their flavor will be lost.
4. Place a layer of peppers in a container with a cover or a shallow bowl.Sprinkle with a pinch or two of salt and drizzle on a very little olive oil.Scatter a few of the garlic slices on the peppers.Repeat until you have layered all the peppers with the seasonings.Cover the bowl or container and refrigerate it for up to 3 days.If you intend to leave the peppers more than a day before baking the tart, remove the garlic no more than 24 hours after adding it.
5. When you are ready to bake the tart, set a rack in the lowest level of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees.
6. Roll the dough on a floured surface and line the pan, trimming away the excess dough at the top rim.
7. Sprinkle the tart crust with the cheese.Cover the cheese with the marinated peppers, slightly overlapping.
8. Whisk the eggs with the salt (not too much, the cheese is salty), pepper, and parsley and pour the mixture into the tart crust to uniformly cover the pepper strips.
9. Bake the tart until the filling is set and well colored and the crust is baked through, about 30 minutes.
10. Cool the tart on a rack.

Serving: Serve the tart in wedges for brunch, as an appetizer, or as the main course for lunch. It’s also good cut into thin wedges as an hors d’oeuvre.

Storage: Keep the tart at room temperature until you intend to serve it on the day it is baked. Wrap and refrigerate leftovers and bring to room temperature before serving again.

What baked dishes do you serve as hors d’oeuvres? Gather will draw two respondents to win a copy of Modern Baker. Comments must be posted by Sunday, November 30^th.

Learn more time-saving techniques for bread, tarts, pies, cakes, and cookies from The Modern Baker. Visit Food.gather.com for more.