Goat Cheese and Summer Squash Tart ~ call it a galette, a pizetta, or a flatbread pizza, this savory tart is elegant, crispy, and delicious. Serve it as an appetizer or a light meal.
This is the sister recipe to my recent White Peach Galette, made with this same amazing, game changing dough. I was so blown away by that quick, flakey dough that I started on a savory version asap. This is a hybrid tart/galette/ flatbread pizza ~ not sure exactly what to call it, but it’s spectacularly easy, and lovely to eat.
If you’re a fan of those French style savory tarts Trader Joe’s sells in the freezer section like we are, I think you’ll love this. My crust is even flakier (sorry TJ!)
I had this for a light summer meal, but it’s perfect as an appetizer with a crisp white wine. The real story here is how many gazillions of ways there are to customize it. If you want to make it heartier, add extra cheese and a protein like ham, bacon, or sausage, etc.
I plan to eek out as many variations as I can this summer, and then take it right on into the fall and holiday entertaining season. This formula is a keeper!
I know there must be quite a few crust-a-phobes out there, I was one myself until fairly recently. A couple of things have turned that all around for me:
- A food processor makes crusts quickly, cleanly, and easily. Just pulse the butter and flour together, then add the liquid and when it forms a clump, it’s ready. The whole process takes about a minute.
- I roll my dough out between layers of parchment paper. It works like a dream and sidesteps all the sticking issues I used to have. It also makes it super simple to transport the dough wherever it needs to go.
- I learned to roll the dough from the center outward, and turn it as I go, so that I can control its shape.
- I make sure I have a good solid reliable recipe like this one, and I memorize it!
Tips for making this goat cheese and summer squash tart ~
- Make sure your veggies are thinly sliced. A mandoline slicer really comes in handy for this. They should be flexible and translucent.
- Make sure your oven is at 400F. An inexpensive oven thermometer will let you know. (It’s one of the most important tools in my kitchen.)
- As long as you’ve rolled your your dough fairly thinly, it doesn’t really matter what shape it is, this is a rustic tart. If yours becomes more of a rectangle, you can cut it into squares.
- Keep the dough chilled at all stages. I pop the rolled out dough back in the refrigerator right on the baking tray if there’s any delay in topping or baking. Chilled dough bakes up flakey!
I have lots of easy elegant appetizers on the blog, whether you’ve got friends coming over, or just want to make the most of cocktail hour…
Baked Feta Cheese with Olives, Lemon & Rosemary
Rosemary and Olive No Knead Focaccia Bread
Antipasto Skewers
Goat Cheese and Summer Squash Tart
Goat Cheese and Summer Squash Tart ~ call it a savory tart, a galette, a pizetta, or a flatbread pizza, this is elegant, crispy, and delicious. Serve it as an appetizer or a light meal.
Servings: 10 slices
Ingredients
crust
- 1 cup flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 5 Tbsp unsalted butter, cold and cut in small pieces
- 5 Tbsp cold water
filling
- approximately 2 1/2 ounces spreadable goat cheese
- 1 small zucchini
- 1 small yellow squash
- 1 small new potato
- a few paper thin slices of red onion
- olive oil
- salt and pepper
- melted butter for brushing the crust
Instructions
- Put the flour and salt in a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the chunks of cold butter and pulse about 25 times, or until combined and crumbly. Drizzle in the water while pulsing, and run the machine briefly until the dough comes together in a lump, this should not take more than 15-30 seconds.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and bring together into a flat round disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least an hour.
- Preheat oven to 400F
- Slice the squash and potato on a mandoline slicer at set at 1/8 inch thickness. If you are using a knife, slice them as thin as you can so they are flexible and translucent.
- Roll the dough out on a sheet of parchment paper that is cut to fit a baking sheet. Roll it to about a 12 inch circle, more or less.
- Spread the soft goat cheese over the surface of your dough, leaving a border of dough free so you can roll it later.
- Arrange your sliced veggies over the cheese, overlapping them. You will probably not need all of them, I made a fairly thin layer. Separate the rings of the onion slices and feather them over the top.
- Roll up the edges of the dough to meet the filling. Season with salt and pepper, and drizzle with olive oil. I like to brush the edge of the crust with melted butter, but this is optional. Note: keep your dough chilled at all times before baking. If you need to you can put the whole tray in the refrigerator while your oven heats up.
- Bake for about 33-35 minutes, until the crust is golden brown. I like to take the parchment paper and set it right on the rack of my oven for a great crisp crust. If you have a pizza stone you can use that.
- Slice and serve the tart hot or at room temperature.
Notes
- Make it with different cheeses ~ you could use cream cheese, mascarpone, Boursin, feta, or shredded cheese like Gruyere or cheddar. Just about anything will work, just don't lay it on too thick.
- Make it heartier ~ use fine shreds of ham, or paper thin slices of proscuitto or other Italian cold cuts.
- Make it with frozen (and thawed) puff pastry
- Make it gluten free ~ try this with a socca (chickpea) or cauliflower crust.
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although The View from Great Island attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.
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Hello
I was wondering if you could make this recipe and freeze it as is before cooking it ! It would be to hard for me to do it at the time !
Thanks
I haven’t tried that Moppet, but I worry about the texture of the summer squash after freezing.
It turned out! However, I should have added more salt to it…next time! Question, when you take the dough out of the fridge, it’s pretty tough to roll out…any suggestions?
That’s normal Alyssa, whenever you chill pastry dough you need to let it sit out a bit to soften enough to roll. Some people like to whack it with their rolling pin to soften it up.
This was absolutely delicious! A perfect way to use abundant, fresh garden veggies right now. Even my very picky, non veggie eating 10 year old enjoyed this! I can picture making this as part of an elegant brunch with a nice glass of Chardonnay. This recipe is a keeper!
I love your recipe. But it took me 4 attempts to get to the actual recipe dogging all of the adds. Whew.