I made this on a whim to change up our lunch menu from soups for a day. I had a vague idea of what I was heading for, but layered as I went and am delighted with the result. The crust was a little experimental, using cottage cheese instead of milk to bind the flour-butter crumbs together. I wasn't sure how the texture or taste would hold up, but they did, really well as it turns out. The filling had a vaguely Mediterranean leaning to it, with some garlic, olive oil and lemon.
Ingredients:
1 c flour
1/3 cold butter, diced
1/3-1/2 c cottage cheese
pepper
1 aubergine, chopped
1 courgette, chopped
1 tomato, sliced
1 onion, sliced
4 cloves of garlic roughly crushed
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp thyme
A squeeze of lemon juice
200g feta, crumbled
1) Place flour in a bowl and add diced butter. Rub the flour into the butter until it is all mixed together, forming a crumb like mix. Add pepper to taste.
2)Add cottage cheese and stir in, bringing all the crumbs together to form a dough. Wrap up and chill for at least 30 minutes.
3) Place aubergine and courgette in a bowl and salt generously. Leave for 10 minutes.
4) Roll out the pastry and line a tart dish with it.
5) Place aubergine and courgette in a colander and rinse thoroughly. Place in a clean bowl and toss with feta, garlic, olive oil, thyme, lemon juice and then spread evenly over the bottom of the pastry. Place tomato and onion slices over the top and bake at 180°C for 20-30 minutes, until the crust is golden brown and the veg is tender.
This came out how I had hoped it would and made an excellent lunch for the three of us. Salting the aubergine and courgette ahead of time drew out some of the liquid, making the tart less wet, and also added a nice aspect of seasoning. The cottage cheese crust, surprisingly baked with flecks of red in it, and was very tasty. I will be making this variant again! Overall this came out well! I hope you enjoy it too!