Puff pastry tart with bacon goat cheese topped with zucchini rounds.

Puff Pastry is the answer to most kitchen questions. It is also entirely vegan if purchased in store, nearly all brands I’ve seen sold in the freezer aisle are vegan, containing no butter or animal products.

Left over veggies? Puff Pastry

Extra fruit? Puff Pastry

Quick appetizer? Puff Pastry

Quick dessert? Puff Pastry

This tart? Puff Pastry

Zucchini is incredible versatile, inexpensive and will last for a week in the refrigerator.

Buying Zucchini

Zucchini season is technically summer, but it is available fresh and reasonably priced all year round.

The zucchini best in flavor are a little longer than your palm and not too thick. The bigger the zucchini typically less flavorful with a higher water content.

Larger zucchini are great for shredding into cakes, casseroles, stuffings and sauces.

Small zucchini are optimal for cutting and quickly sauteing, creating raw ribbons for salads, frying or adding into soup.

They don’t need any special care in their storage. In the fridge they will last kept dry, unpeeled and unwashed for up to a week. I’ve had some last slightly longer.

Can you freeze zucchini?

Yes, you can but once thawed will be very soft in texture and much different from fresh. The water can be squeeze out they canbe used for fillings, soups and sauces.

For this recipe, they need to be fresh.

Best way to thaw puff pastry?

In the fridge until soft enough to start rolling. Puff pastry should be firm with some resistance when starting to roll. Too soft and you may lose all the properties that make puff pastry amazing.

In all fairness, store bought puff pastry doesn’t need extra care. I’ve forgotten about it on the counter and rolled it out for a tart or rolled pastry without issue.

If you are looking for a dramatic rise, then homemade is best and keeping your puff as cold as possible is ideal.

Zucchini Goat Cheese Bacon Tart

Ingredients:

1 package puff pastry, rolled to fit two half sheet pans, excess trimmed off.

2 zucchini, sliced, salted, oiled and microwaved for 2 minutes.

4 strips bacon, cooked until crisp

3 scallions, chopped coarsely

10 oz goat cheese, softened

1 egg beaten, used to coat the puff pastry and remained added to the goat cheese filling

1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese or any cheese of your liking

cracked black pepper

2 sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves removed or 1/4 tsp dried thyme

salt to taste

Method:

1. Fit rolled pastry sheet to a half sheet pan, poke with fork across width of base and brush lightly with beaten egg. there should be left over egg to add into cheese mixture Set to bake at 425 for 5 minutes.
2. Allow goat cheese to soften.
3. Remove stem and bottom of fresh clean zucchini. Slice cleaned unpeeled zucchini into rounds, half a pinky thick. Place into a microwave safe bowl, add two swirls of oil and a pinch of salt. Microwave for 3 minutes. Set aside while preparing the remainder of the ingredients.
4. Roughly chop bacon and scallion
5. Combine remainder of the egg with goat cheese, scallions, bacon, parmesan, and thyme. Season and mix.
6. Spread the mixture evenly across both puff pastry crusts.
7. Arrange zucchini over cheese mixture
8. Grate additional parmesan over zucchini and bake at 375F for 35-40 minutes.
9. Cool and slice into squares.