Not Your Bubbe's Kitchen! - Healthy Modern Cooking: September 2010

I am always looking for ways to sneak in more vegetables in Mr. Not Your Bubbe's Kitchen and my own diet. Of course, we do the norm- roasted asparagus or broccoli, sweet potato fries, salad, sautéed spinach, etc etc, but last night I didn't want that. Oh no siree! I looked in the fridge and saw the following vegetables- asparagus, tomatoes, mushrooms. I saw 1 ready made pie crust waiting to be used before it's expiration date. I also saw a tiny bit of mozzarella cheese, and a fresh Parmesan cheese wedge. Then I remembered I had frozen basil artichoke pesto in the freezer. And I thought- Yes. I will make a tart. A vegetable cheese tart with pesto....oh and did I mention there is a tiny bit of turkey bacon on this love, also?

So here is my vegetable tart recipe. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

What you need:

Artichoke Basil Pesto- See this recipe from my blog for directions on that one.
1 Ready to Roll pie crust
1 Tomato, ripened
About 5 or 6 white Button Mushrooms
About 12 Fresh Asparagus Tips
1/4 Cup reduced fat Mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/2 Cup freshly shaved Parmesan cheese
I can't believe it's not butter spray, for sautéing the mushrooms and asparagus
6 thin slices turkey bacon, like Butterball brand

How you make it:

Preheat oven to 425.

Roll out dough just enough to fit in a tart shell.

Place dough in tart shell, remove loose edges.

Bake in a 425 degree oven for about 12 minutes.

While the tart is in the oven, make sure your pesto is made.

Slice the tomato
Parboil the asparagus (remove woody ends) for about 4 minutes, remove from water.
Sauté the chopped turkey bacon, remove from pan.
Sauté (in the same pan as the bacon for a smoky flavor) the asparagus in the butter spray (about 5 sprays) for about 3 minutes.
Slice mushrooms (remove stems) and sauté in about 5 more sprays of butter for about 3 minutes.

When the tart shell is done, let cool about 5-10 minutes. Layer about 6 tbsp of the pesto on the bottom of the tart shell.

Layer the mozzarella cheese over the pesto (I had a tiny bit extra Parmesan, I threw that on before the mozzarella).

Place sliced tomatoes over that.
Decorate with asparagus (tips only!) and sliced mushrooms
Mix the Parmesan cheese and chopped turkey bacon together and sprinkle over the tart. Bake at 375 for about 25 min.

The facts, approximately:

Serving Size: 1/6 of the tart