Summer Squash Tart with Goat Cheese

Today's recipe comes from the June/July issue of Fine Cooking Magazine. I made a few changes from the original, mainly due to what ingredients I had or rather didn't have on hand. If you just want to skip to the original recipe, it can be found here: Zucchini Tart with Lemon Thyme Goat Cheese.

On to the changes. First, I used yellow summer squash instead of zucchini, because that's what was available. I honestly don't think it makes much of a difference either way, as they're kind of interchangeable. If you want to get really fancy, you probably could use some of each.

My next change was to use dried thyme instead of fresh lemon-thyme. The recipe recommends also adding lemon zest if you are not using the fresh herb, but I didn't bother. I'd say it's up to you. I find dried thyme very flavorful (assuming it's not 4 years old), so I don't think the dish suffered much from this substitution. Your call.

The final thing I did differently was to reduce all the ingredients by a quarter. Note: I do not recommend this. I only did it out of necessity because I was just a little short on just about every ingredient (butter, squash, & goat cheese). If you make the recipe in full, as I DO recommend, I still don't think it needs the full 8 oz of goat cheese, that's probably a bit overkill. For my bizarre 3/4 tart, I should have used 6 oz, but I only used 4 and I think it came out perfectly. If you make a full recipe, I'd say use 5-6 oz.

OK, there is one more thing I did differently, but it was out of sheer laziness. I so did not roll this tart into a pretty, perfect circle. It was more like a jagged, rectangular-ish shape that would fit on my baking sheet. Whatever floats your boat.

Two more good things to know: 1. It will look like you have too much squash -- don't worry about it. Just make sure all the slices are overlapping and it will cook down in the oven. 2. Even as I just told you to use less cheese, it will look like there isn't enough cheese. Just spread it nice and thin (using your fingers helps a lot) and it should cover the dough.

This tart is so incredibly good, you really need to try it. If you manage to have leftovers, reheat in the oven or toaster oven, not the microwave -- it's worth the extra few minutes to crisp up the crust. Enjoy!

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