Zucchini Tart

We were away, and then spent the remainder of last week readjusting to being home, thus our lack of posts.  We're back, though, and looking forward to trying some yummy new dishes.

I just finished reading In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan.  It's an incredibly interesting, and important, book.  It gave me so much to think about in terms of both the health of my family and of our planet.  It's also causing me to think about the money I spend on our family's food (more on that in a separate post where I'll explain how I've been tracking things).  I've just started reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver.  It's every bit as interesting as In Defense of Food, and reinforces many of the same ideas.  One of the main emphases of each book is the recommendation to buy (and eat) as much of your food from locally grown sources as possible.  There are so many important reasons for doing so, and each book explains these reasons wonderfully.

We hoped to have our own garden this year, but it turns out we just don't get enough sun in our yard (even without the insane amount of rain we've had this year!).  Next year we'll look into getting a plot at one of our local community gardens.  This year we'll utilize our CSA share, our wonderful local farmer's market, and the fantastic garden planted by my parents-in-law with help from our four-year-old.  (My parents-in-law live on a beautiful farm in Central Massachusetts.  They planted an amazing garden this year, and my older daughter was in heaven helping them (my younger daughter was in heaven trying to pick all the yummy looking veggies!).  We've been out a few times to visit and watch as the garden has transformed from a plot of dirt to an abundance of plants and flowers.  We're also hoping they'll get chickens soon, as they've been talking about for years, so that we can enjoy fresh eggs.)  We were out there this past weekend, and came home with some gorgeous zucchini and summer squash, perfect green beans, and very orange carrots.

I wanted to make a fresh dinner showcasing the zucchini.  With my husband home to entertain the kids I finally had time to try a recipe I discovered a few years ago and have been holding onto ever since.  It's for Zucchini Tart from Saveur magazine.  Even using prepared puff pastry (I don't often use this as it violates a few of my rules, but it's so good and everything in moderation is a great rule for a reason), this took longer than I would be able to spend on a normal weeknight.  That said, it was absolutely delicious!!  Both of my kids ate huge portions, and my older daughter asked for seconds (she usually screams and runs in the other direction when I put something with zucchini on the table).  My husband and I loved it, and we will absolutely find the time to make this again.  If you have lots of zucchini, this is a wonderful way to enjoy them.