White House Vegetable Tart

      Was a boring weekend and in typical style of Mr. Binns, I was doing nothing but watching the Foodnetwork to inspire myself with some new ideas. I came across the show Barefoot Contessa and decided to watch it as she was visiting the White House and cooking with the chef there. She was also having a luncheon with Mrs. Obama. Well I stopped to watch for two reasons; 1. To see if I could cook whatever the White House chef was making and 2. Because Mrs. Obama is pure class and if she can eat it, it must be good. So I sort of followed the chef's recipe for this delicious vegetable tart, however made it my own. The chef utilized homemade pie crust and did not add tomatoes. I decided to include the red fruit along with utilizing puff pastry instead of pie crust. So here goes; White House Vegetable Tart.

Ingredients:

• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1 small onion diced
• 8 ounces Swiss cheese
• 1 zucchini sliced
• 1 squash sliced
• 3 Roma tomatoes sliced
• 2 sheets puff pastry
• Salt/pepper

Custard:

• 2 eggs beaten
• 1 cup half and half
• Zest 1 lemon
• 1/2 tsp thyme

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. In a large skillet over medium heat saute onion in olive oil. Toss in the 1 tsp thyme and garlic and simmer until fragrant. Set aside to cool.

3. Lay the sliced zucchini, squash, and tomato on a tin foiled lined pan. Drizzle with some olive oil, salt and pepper. Bake in oven for roughly 5 minutes.

4. Meanwhile in a large bowl whisk together the eggs, half and half, lemon zest, 1/2 tsp thyme, salt and pepper. Set aside.

5. Layer the puff pastry end to end in a large baking sheet that has been greased.

6. Spread the onion mixture over top and sprinkle half the Swiss cheese on top.

7. Carefully arrange the vegetables according to the picture. One layer zucchini, followed by tomato, then squash, and so forth.

8. Pour over the egg custard mixture and sprinkle over the rest of the Swiss cheese.

9. Bake for 30 minutes until cooked through.

     This vegetable dish was fantastic. Fresh, crisp, and very light in it's flavor and texture. Definitely fit for anyone including the First Lady.

Prep Time: 20 minutes.

Cook Time: 30 minutes.

Serves: 5+