Zucchini and carrots roses tart

The apple rose tart I posted for mother’s day last year is still one of my favorite recipes: such a beautiful result with an easy and simple “rolling” technique. And without mentioning that the tart tasted sooooo good. I’ve been preparing the apple tart recipe for very special occasions and every time I was very pleased by the “ohhhh” of admiration that the tart caused 😉

I wanted to recreate the same beautiful effect but this time in a savory recipe and using more colors. That’ how the zucchini and carrots tart came to life. The variety of natural colors of the zucchini and carrots itself was a wonderful combination. As a base for the tart a store bought puff pastry worked perfectly. A nice mix of ricotta, mozzarella and parmesan cheese held together by some eggs gave a creamy and salty ground for the vegetable roses.

We start preparing the base and unfolding a puff pastry sheet on a tart pan (cover all the surface). Place a parchment paper foil in the center and place on top of it some kind of weight: seeds, dry beans, what you have available in the pantry. I have a box with some dried chickpeas that I keep using and using again as a weight for my tarts 🙂 I really don’t know how many times they have been in the oven…and they still do their job properly!!

Bake the tart base in the preheated oven at 350F/180C for 15/20 minutes. Than remove the seeds/dry beans and the parchment paper. Let it cool down.

As mentioned before, don’t trow away the seeds/beans…simply keep them in a container for next time!

In a medium bowl add the eggs, the ricotta cheese, the grated parmesan cheese and the grated nutmeg. Adjust with a pinch of salt. Also add the mozzarella in cubes and the fresh oregano. Mix everything up until smooth.

Now starts the art part of the recipe: creating the roses! Slice the zucchini and the carrots for their length using a potato peeler or a mandolin. Place the slices in a bowl and cook in the microwave for 1 minute. This step will make the slices very soft and much easier to roll: they will not break while rolling.

Spread the cheese cream on top of the tart base. This will not only give extra flavor to the tart, but it will serve as sticky base for the roses to attach. It is basically our way to glue the roses to the pastry base.

Take one long slice of a vegetable (I started with the zucchini) and roll it on itself very tightly. That’s the core of our rose. Take another slice and keep rolling.

With only 2/3 slices you should obtain a nice rose bud.

Place the bud in the center of the tart: the cheesy cream will act like a glue and the vegetable bud will stay in place without any problem. Keep going creating rose buds of different colors/vegetables and placing them one next to the other in a spiral movement. Rose after rose you will obtain a beautiful and colored vegetable field of roses

Brush some extra virgin oil of olive on top of the vegetables and bake the tart in the preheated oven at 380F/200C for 50 minutes.

p.s. In order to obtain a very colored tart I used purple, orange, yellow and red carrots and yellow and green zucchini in a ratio of 4 carrots for 2 zucchini. The sweetness of the carrots was a nice background for the tart. If you want a more savory tart, just change the ratio to 1:1 or even less carrots than zucchini.

Enjoy!!

5 from 1 vote

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Zucchini and carrots roses tart

Ingredients

• 1 roll puff pastry

Filling:

• ricotta cheese 0.8 lb. 350gr.
• 2 eggs
• Parmesan cheese 3 oz. 80gr.
• a pinch of nutmeg
• Extra Virgin oil of Olive 2 Tbsp
• fresh oregano 1 Tbsp
• mozzarella cheese 4.5 oz. 130gr.

Decoration:

• multi color carrots 4
• zucchini 2

Instructions

1. Tart base: unfold a puff pastry sheet on a tart pan (cover all the surface). Place a parchment paper foil in the center and place on top of it some kind of weight (seeds, dry beans).

2. Bake the tart base in the preheated oven at 350F/180C for 15/20 minutes. Remove the seeds/dry beans and the parchment paper. Let it cool down.

3. Tart filling: in a medium bowl add the eggs, the ricotta cheese, the grated parmesan cheese and the grated nutmeg. Adjust with a pinch of salt. Also add the mozzarella in cubes and the fresh oregano. Mix everything up until smooth.

4. Roses: slice the zucchini and the carrots for their length using a potato peeler or a mandolin. Place the slices in a bowl and cook in the microwave for 1 minute. This step will make the slices very soft and much easier to roll: they will not break while rolling.

5. Spread the cheeses’ cream on top of the tart base

6. Take one long slice of a vegetable (I started with the zucchini) and roll it on itself very tightly. That’s the core of our rose. Take another slice and keep rolling. With only 2/3 slices you should obtain a nice rose bud. Place the bud in the center of the tart: the cheesy cream will act like a glue and the vegetable bud will stay in place without any problem. Keep going creating rose buds of different colors/vegetables and placing them one next to the other in a spiral movement. Rose after rose you will obtain a beautiful and colored vegetable field of roses

7. Brush some extra virgin oil of olive on top of the vegetables and bake the tart in the preheated oven at 380F/200C for 50 minutes.