Chard and Feta Tart...

9 new recipes done in the kitchen this week - Jeff wanted to pick the favorites this week, so his list were those Girl Scout Cookie-like Coconut Caramel Candy Bars, Three-Cheese Polenta Pie and reluctantly those Spicy Mumbai Potatoes (go hidden tofu!).

While we can usually sneak in some lengthy recipes during the week, I'm glad I waited to do this Chard and Feta Tart on a weekend. It was not like this recipe had a ton of work to do, but there was plenty of time in between steps!

A couple hours before we were ready to eat, I started on the delicious fresh thyme-infused cracker-like crust. This is not a pastry that you need to be afraid of - it comes together in a jiffy and just needs to rest in the refrigerator to ease rolling it out. No butter or shortening here, just a few tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil and some cold water for the liquid! Once we rolled the dough into a large circle, I rolled it up on the rolling pin and scooted it into one of those snazzy removable bottom tart pans.

After a few pricks with a fork to keep it from puffing up, the crust is baked off until golden and firm - it then needs to cool down before the filling goes in. The filling is a mixture of sautéed swiss chard (stems and leaves), a mess of garlic, a couple eggs and ricotta cheese. To add some pizazz, fresh lemon zest is added along with briny chopped kalamata olives and crumbled feta cheese to the filling. Baked until the center is set, make sure the tart has a few minutes to cool down before cutting and serving. I know the color is a little wonky, but we could only get a hold of red chard today and it ended up dyeing the white ricotta quite well! Pre-baking the crust ensures that it stays nice and crispy, which also makes this piquant tart sturdy enough to cut into smaller bites if you wanted to pass it around as an appetizer.

Recipes
Chard and Feta Tart