Roasted Carrot and Artichoke Puff Pastry Tart filled with Ricotta, Goat Cheese and Lemon Zest

I love to take existing recipes and put my twist on them. Artichoke, lemon and creamy mild cheese are always a nice mix on top of anything. Frozen puff pastry looks so intimidating, but is really quite easy to use. Just thaw it, roll it out, brush with egg and bake. I used two puff pastry here. There are usually 2 in a box. I cut strips from the second one and made a border. However, you do not need to do this. You can just score a border and fill the middle. I would suggest it though as it puffs up higher for the filling. The carrots are savory and sweet as they are tossed with olive oil, cumin and honey. You could eat them alone. So maybe make extra carrots and serve them another day. The original recipe was from Waves in the Kitchen, but I changed it up quite a bit by omitting spinach and adding chopped artichoke hearts and garlic and then changing the quantities of cheese and the baking time.

Prep Time:

Cooking Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

1 bunch of tricolor carrots, sliced in half lengthways (purple, yellow, orange) One color of each reserved to cut into discs and saute for topping

2 tsp ground cumin

1 ½ Tbs honey

2 Tbs olive oil, divided

1 box frozen puff pastry, thawed

8-10 sprigs thyme or ½ tsp dried thyme

3 eggs divided. 1 to brush pastry, 2 for filling

salt

pepper

For filling:

10 oz ricotta cheese

3.5 oz goat cheese (100 grams)

¾ cup frozen or canned artichoke hearts, sliced thin

zest from 1 lemon

juice from 1 lemon

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 tbs chives

1/4 tsp salt

To serve:

Sprinkle with extra chopped chives and fresh thyme sprigs

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cut the carrots in half lengthwise. Reserve 1 carrot of each color for cutting into discs to place on top afterwards. Mix together 1 Tbs of olive oil, 1 1/2 tsp of cumin, salt and pepper. Place the carrots on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper for easy cleanup. Toss with the olive oil, cumin and honey mixture. Bake for 30 minutes, turning them after 15 minutes. The carrots can be of different sizes, not uniform. It adds to the charm of the tart.

Flour your counter. Roll out 1 sheet of the thawed puff pastry. Cut to the shape like a heart or leave rectangle. Cut 1 inch strips from the second puff pastry and place over edge. Score border with knife. Brush with 1 of the beaten egg yolks mixed with 1 tsp water. Prick the center of the tart with a fork so that when baked, the tart does not rise up in the middle. Bake in the oven with the carrots for the last 10 minutes that the carrots are roasting.

While the tart is baking and the carrots are roasting, cut the reserved carrots into discs. Saute them in the remaining olive oil and sprinkle with salt, pepper and ½ tsp remaining cumin.

Mix the filling ingredients together. Mix the remaining 2 eggs with a whisk and add to the filling.

After 10 minutes, remove the tart. Fill the tart with the ricotta filling and top with the roasted carrots. Place the thyme sprigs on top, or sprinkle the dried thyme on top.

Bake for 20-25 minutes on middle rack. You may need to place aluminum foil over the top the last 10-15 minutes, so the tart does not brown too much. When the filling seems puffed up underneath, it is done.

Sprinkle with chives, the carrot discs, additional fresh thyme sprigs and serve.