Raise your hand if you have subscriptions to Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, Cooking Light or some other cooking/food magazine.
Raise your hand if you tear out recipes and then hoard them, never actually making them.
Yeah, I’m guilty. I always think the recipes sound so good and then I put the clippings somewhere never to be found again. Or sometimes I get the urge to file them somewhere, where they then sit without being touched.
This mostly happened when I was single because I really don’t enjoy cooking for just myself. Since I’ve started dating Nate, however, I find myself cooking for us most days of the week. This has gotten me on the search for new recipes to try out. That’s when I realized…I could finally put my recipe stash to good use!
I pulled all the recipes out the other day and went searching through them. I’ve put aside a few, but one in particular caught my eye.I had mostly been avoiding it in the past because it looked complicated, but when I took a deeper look it wasn’t really too bad- Eggplant, Tomato, & Smoked Mozarella Tart.
I made a few shortcuts revisions so the recipe wouldn’t take all day. One of these included microwaving the eggplant. This was also because I hate how it soaks up so much oil when you roast it. I basically steamed it instead and then baked it quickly to dry it out so as not to get my dough all soggy.
I was also wary of the “dough” since it contained no yeast. I didn’t want this to be a tart and was hoping for something more like pizza. I happened to have some Sweet Rice Flour leftover, so I combined it with regular flour create a more elastic dough (which can usually only be achieved with yeast) rather than a flaky tart shell.
It definitely wasn’t like a pizza dough, since it didn’t rise, but it was a good substitution if you’re short on time and want the same flavor. I also subbed whole wheat flour for the wheat germ since I really didn’t feel like going out and buying a jar just for this recipe, left the fresh mint out, and replaced dried oregano for the fresh.
Nate and I both agreed that it tasted very fresh and the flavors were yummy. I was in such a rush to get it all cooked that I forgot to parbake the crust. I left it in for an extra 10 min, but I assume that had I made it the way I was supposed to, the crust wouldn’t have been as soggy as it came out for me. Oh well, it was still a quick and delicious addition to dinner! *Note that the recipe below is as the recipe was intended, not with my changes.
Eggplant, Tomato & Smoked Mozzarella Tart
Taken from Cooking Light
Serves 4 (2 wedges each)
Crust:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon toasted wheat germ
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon olive oil
Cooking spray
Filling:
1 (1-pound) eggplant, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices
3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon olive oil
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh mint
2 plum tomatoes, thinly sliced (about 6 ounces)
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded smoked mozzarella cheese, divided
2 tablespoons grated fresh Parmesan cheese
Preheat oven to 400°.
To prepare crust, lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 4 ingredients (flour through 1/4 teaspoon salt) in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk; make a well in center of mixture. Add water and 1 tablespoon oil, stirring to form a soft dough. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; knead lightly 4 times. Gently press dough into a 4-inch circle on plastic wrap; cover and chill 15 minutes.
Slightly overlap 2 sheets of plastic wrap on a slightly damp surface. Unwrap dough, and place chilled dough on plastic wrap. Cover with 2 additional sheets of overlapping plastic wrap. Roll dough, still covered, into an 11-inch circle. Remove top sheets of plastic wrap. Fit dough, plastic-wrap side up, into a 10-inch round removable-bottom tart pan coated with cooking spray. Remove remaining plastic wrap. Press dough against bottom and sides of pan. Pierce bottom and sides of dough with a fork; bake at 400° for 10 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack.
To prepare filling, arrange eggplant on several layers of heavy-duty paper towels. Sprinkle eggplant with 1/2 teaspoon salt; let stand 15 minutes. Pat dry with paper towels; brush eggplant with 1/2 teaspoon oil. Arrange eggplant in a single layer on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes. Stack eggplant slices on a plate; cover with plastic wrap. Let eggplant stand 7 minutes to steam.
Heat a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium heat. Add garlic; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; stir in 1/4 teaspoon salt, basil, oregano, mint, and tomatoes.
Sprinkle 2 tablespoons smoked mozzarella on bottom of baked crust. Layer eggplant and tomato mixture in crust; sprinkle with 6 tablespoons smoked mozzarella and Parmesan. Bake at 400° for 10 minutes or until cheese melts. Cut into 8 wedges.
Ha, I do the same thing with recipes. I’ve got a huge collection of things I mean to make someday. And look what you’ve done – now I have to add this tart to the list. 🙂 It looks just beautiful with all those colors.
Yes, the colors all made the presentation lovely 🙂
Wow, that filling looks good. I kept starting to read the post and getting side tracked staring at the melting cheese yum!
hehe 🙂
I do that!!
In fact I did that just now; that looks amazing! Heeheehee.
Thanks for stopping by! I love getting new readers 🙂 Hehe, I think so many of us are guilty…I bet half the people who get food magazines don’t even cook!
I think most of us food bloggers are recipe hoarders!! I try my best to organize them in a binder by category, or in my email inbox with folders. But it’s out of control as usual and I have like hundreds of things to make in my lifetime 🙂
Hehe, glad to know I’m not alone 😉 Wow, you’re organized! I tried that but after I made the binder, the new recipes just got shoved inside with the intent of filing later. Oh well!
Yeah, I am a recipe hoarder too! This looks delicious..another one to bookmark! 😉
Hehe, well your recipe collection is already huge, can’t hurt to add another 🙂
i keep all of my food mags, and it has been so painful to move them around! 🙂 I whink we are all guilty to a certain degree…
omg, I used to do that. But then when I moved the last time I had to purge…it was so difficult to say goodbye 😦
I have the same problem! I finally cancelled my cooking light subscription because I’d pick out a ton of recipes to make and just never make them.
Hi Lauren 🙂 omg, I did too! That’s where the majority of my pile of torn out recipes are from. I kinda wanna resubscribe now that I’m cooking more often though…but I feel like there are so many places new recipes can come from, especially with all the blogs I read!
[…] are quick, don’t take many ingredients, are fairly healthy and taste really good. Among my hoard of recipes, I found one for a Potato Crusted Sausage […]
At least you hoard some great recipes!