If you’re crazy and you know it, bake a tart
Hi, my name is Ellie and I’m an oven-addict.
I know you’re laughing, but you shouldn’t. You see, it’s a legitimate problem. I have a pastry-obsession and I need to bake at least once a week to feel sane. I love sifting flour, I adore beating eggs and working with butter sends shivers down my spine.
My mother has tried an intervention, but alas, to no avail. Her pleas, her reprimands, warnings and orders to stay away from the oven fall on deaf ears as I gaze affectionately at its temperature dial and cheekily stroke the inner shelves. We’ve been through a lot, this oven and me. We’ve had our ups and downs, our failures and our successes, but through it all we’ve stood firmly by each other, defiant in the faces of those who would try and tear us apart.
But, as is sometimes the case, loving something doesn’t necessarily mean it’s good for you, and after an incident last week, I think I need to explore other options. You see, I’m only just starting to recover from a cold which has held a firm grip on me for the past week and a bit, and I’m convinced that I would have started the recovery process a lot sooner had it not been for my obsession with baking.
The day that the cold hit me with its full force, I was miserably rummaging through the fridge, trying to find something that would whet my disinterested appetite, when I came across half a pumpkin and a sweet potato that was looking a bit dry. Further exploration revealed a slightly shriveled capsicum and a softening zucchini. One final poke about surrendered a handful of pitiful mushrooms and a lonely garlic bulb. I lay my ageing bounty on the kitchen bench and looked at it, feeling bemused. All these old veggies, what would I do to use them before they expired from the world of tastiness? In my sickened state, going shopping was no option so I would have to make do with whatever I had lying around the house. After casting my gaze over my bakeware, my eye finally settled on the new rectangular tart tin that I’d bought a month earlier but still not used, so I thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to break it in!
Yes, I know the photos are awful and the presentation stinks, but I was coughing up a lung and could barely stand upright by the time this was finished so I think I did okay, considering the circumstances!
I trudged back to my room and sat myself down in my chair to try and find a recipe for a roast vegetable tart on the internet so I pulled up google and started hunting…but as soon as I pulled up the first search result, I laughed (perhaps a touch maniacally) as I had forgotten the fact that the cold was messing with my head so badly that I couldn’t focus my eyes on the screen long enough to read through the instructions. Hoo-bloody-ray. By this stage I was feeling a bit woozy from the walking about, cold meds and lack of energy and I should have taken this as a sign that I was in no condition to be in the kitchen, but nooooooooooooooooooo, not me! I completely failed to put them together, and in my spinning-headed state I decided that I’d just wing it.
(At this stage, I must advise that my family are not to fault - they were out and I was home alone so there was nobody to gently inform me that I was being a ninny…though to be honest, this is usually what happens when I’m home alone and left to my own devices!)
Having made a decision, I meandered back to the kitchen where I began to haphazardly chop the veggies and cook them down, growing slightly more spaced out as the process continued till the point where lay on the ground in front of the oven as soon as I’d safely bunged the tart inside. I eventually woke up and crawled to my room where I hid under the covers and shivered on the edge of sleep till the oven timer buzzed to let me know that I should attend to it right this instant if I didn’t want to burn my house down.
Though I didn’t realize it at the time, looking back I can see that me and the oven need to take a little break from each other. I’ll always love it, but in its current state it’s just not a healthy relationship. So, with this tart I bid adieu to my oven for a little while, just till I learn to love it wisely…
Or at least, I will once I’ve made another one of these 
Ellie’s Roast Vegetable Tart
(You’ll have to excuse the quantities, they’re rough…I’m surprised I can remember them at all!)
Ingredients
1x quantity of shortcrust pastry, rolled about 3-5mm thick (I had some home made in my freezer, thank god!)
1 cup butternut pumpkin, cut into a large dice
1 medium zucchini, halved lengthways and cut into roughly 5mm thick slices
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and roughly diced
1 red bell pepper (capsicum), core and seeds removed and roughly diced
1 cup mushrooms, cleaned and roughly chopped
1/2 cup chopped semi sundried tomatoes
1 large bulb of garlic
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/3 cup cream
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
Salt and pepper, to taste
1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees C, then toss together the pumpkin and sweet potato in a light drizzle of olive oil and place on a lined baking tray. Slice the top off the garlic bulb, drizzle a little olive oil over the top and wrap in some foil, then place the pumpkin, sweet potato and garlic bulb in the oven to bake for about 20 minutes, or till soft enough to poke with a fork.
2. Meanwhile, heat a little olive oil in a frying pan and fry the capsicum till softened, then add the zucchini and mushroom and fry till softened. Place the fried veggies in a bowl and once the pumpkin and sweet potato have roasted, add them along with the semi sundried tomatoes to the bowl as well.
3. Once the garlic is soft enough to squish, remove from the oven (about the same time that you take out the pumpkin) and unwrap it and leave it to cool so that you can handle it, and reduce oven temperature to 180 degrees C. While that’s cooling, mix together the cream, eggs and parmesan then add to the veggies and mix to combine, then season with some salt and freshly cracked pepper.
4. Once the garlic is cool enough to handle, squeeze out all the roasted garlic into the veggie mix and stir it through so everything is well combined. Line your tart tin with your pastry, then pour in the egg and veggies on top of the pastry and place it in the oven to bake for about 20 minutes or till the eggs have set.
5. Leave to cool and firm up slightly, then slice up and enjoy.
This is good whether hot or cold, and a slice of this along with a bowl of soup makes for a hearty lunch full of roasted vegetable goodness!
Technorati Tags: roasting, vegetables, tarts, pastry, baking, recipes
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Comments
Anh This tart rocks, Ellie! I understand your obsession for the oven, sifting flour, using eggs and butter. I somewhat feel the same way, too! 
I love love my oven!!!!
Amelita (Squishy) Keep up the obsession brave sick girl. Your doing just fine. Love the look of the tart. Looks yummy! 
Johanna love your blog - this tart looks melt-in-the-mouth fantastic
- like so many of your recipes - I don’t really like making pastry or sifting flour but I love baking of other sorts so can empathise with your obsession with your oven - ovens work such wonderful miracles with food - goo goes in, baked goodies come out
Steamy Kitchen Holy crap! I can’t believe you could make something like that while sick. When I’m sick, I can barely muster opening the freezer and getting ice cream out.
eat me, delicious that tart looks and sounds extremely delicious. i must bookmark it to make later!
Cheryl That is a pretty impressive creation for someone who is sick. I’m not sure fully well I could make something that pretty. And the title of your blog is going to be singing in my head all day.
Callipygia 
I can’t believe how gorgeous this looks. Yes you must definitely not be feeling well if you thought your photo was bad! I hate to be an enabler, but I think you and your oven have a good thing going on. Hope you feel better.
Cris Sick, cooking and going shoppping… only you! Ok, this looks soo good! Hope you are feeling better. Take care!
Ellie Thanks Tanna I guess I could just try and cut back on the oven lovin’ for now and see how that goes
Thanks Kat Okay, but only since you say so
Anh, it’s good to know that there are other like-minded oven-lovers out there
Hehehe, thanks Amelita, I’m glad you like the tart
TG - Thanks, hon
Johanna, that’s a good way of putting it I love the miracle of baking and I don’t think I’ll ever lose the love of oven-magic!
Galadkria, I hope you tried it and loved it as much as my family did!
Jaden, hence my mother thinks I’m insane
Thanks, Bee Dunno about gorgeous, but I was pleased with my effort - as were my family once they finished scolding me!
EMD, please let me know what you think when you give it a try
Cheryl, what can I say except that I’m just a little bit insane Hope the singing didn’t drive you too crazy yourself 
Callipygia, aww shucks, you’ll make me blush! Feeling a lot better, thanks hon
Cris, surely I can’t be the only one Well, perhaps the only one quite this mad Thanks for the well-wishes, am feeling much better now!
Belinda Oh my goodness…you created that beautiful veggetable tart while you were sick?! Very impressive! It looks wonderful, and oh how I wish I weren’t afraid of pastry (making it, not eating it, of course!). I’m new to your blog, and am enjoying it so much. I hope you aren’t serious about parting ways with your oven?
Ellie Thanks for the compliments, Belinda Pastry isn’t too bad once you actually give it a try - and is an absolute cinch if you have a decent food processor! As for parting ways with my oven…well, I don’t think I could, but perhaps just not be SO attached to it
Susan from Food "Blogga" Hi, my name is Susan, and I am drooling like a fool over this tart.
Helen You made this and you were sick and you remmebered how it came together…wow!! I am impressed. It looks wonderful!
jenjen Ellie, I know exactly what you mean. I have to bake something almost every other day and especially when i have days off work. It’s an addiction that I am most likely not going to curb.
Holy Moly - yum!!!!!!!!! Looks fabulous, Ellie!
Diana Oh my gosh. I just started reading your blog - I am AMAZED at your ability to just walk into a kitchen and whip up something tasty with no recipe! I want to DO that!
Ellie Susan - Ahh, you’re a funny one
Helen - Thanks hon I know, I’m surprised I remembered it too
Jenjen - I wonder if there’s a Bakers Anonymous group that we can join to help bring our addiction under control?
Chris - Thanks, hon
Diana - Hehehe, cheers sunshine It’s nothing to be super impressed by as it happens very irregularly, but I’m trying to make things without recipes more often
christine (myplateoryours) Actually, I think that first picture looks really good. Bet this would be great with some roasted eggplant too!
Ellie Christine, I reckon that sounds like a stellar idea - a little roasted eggplant would be great to add some colour too
Thanks Bea, I’m glad you like it
Sweetest Ellie please don’t be giving up this connection to the oven anytime soon. This looks just fabulous to me. And should have been super healthy for that cold.
Keep up the great work.