When the garden is producing an abundance of vegetables, herbs and flowers, it’s time to make some festive and delicious tarts. We’ll start with a photo of the finished tart but know this: the flower petals are placed on the tarts after they are done and the oven is turned off – you leave them in the oven for two minutes only once the flowers are placed on top.
The finished tarts are colorful, festive and flavorful.
6 pieces thinly sliced bread
olive oil
2 eggs beaten
½ cup milk
½ cup total cubed or grated cheese of your choice – can be
a couple of different cheeses – good for using scraps!
1 to 2 Tablespoons chopped veggies for each tart – broccoli,
green beans, peas, chard, kale…whatever you have in the garden
¼ cup finely chopped chives or onion greens
freshly ground pepper
edible flowers such as marigolds, nasturtiums, sage, basil, pansies.
Herbs you love such as parsley, sage, thyme, basil
Here are the ingredients I started with. I happened to have some grated 6-cheese Italian blend so that’s what I used. Goat cheese would also be wonderful.
Cut the bread into squares, removing the crust. Save what you cut off for making bread crumbs or croutons.
Take a rolling pin and roll over each bread square, rolling in both directions to flatten the bread. Brush or spray the bread squares on both sides with olive oil.
Grease a muffin tin and push the bread squares into the cups. Place the muffin tin with the bread into an oven that’s preheated to 350 degrees. Bake for ten minutes until the bread just starts to look toasted.
Remove the pre-baked bread from the oven and first put some cheese in each tart. On top of the cheese add the veggie you’re using. I used chard that was steamed for four minutes to wilt it. You might want to steam or saute squash, broccoli or other veggies before adding them to the tarts as well.
Beat the eggs with the milk. Add the chives or onion greens and any other herbs or spices you like. I used quite a bit of fresh ground pepper in these. Finish filling all the bread cups with the chard or other veggies and pour the egg-milk mix into each cup until it’s full. Place in the oven and bake for about 20 to 25 minutes until the egg is fully cooked.
Turn the oven off and remove the muffin tin. Decorate the top of each tart with flower petals, herbs and other veggies as desired. I used rose, marigold and nasturtium petals with parsley, sage and slightly steamed thin green beans. Place the muffin tin back into the oven that’s still hot for two minutes so that the flowers wilt just a little but don’t lose their color.
Enjoy!