Garlic and Rosemary Goat Cheese Tart with Arugula Salad and Kalamata Olive Vinaigrette

Ah, recently, I made this for dinner (last Sunday night, to be exact). This one, like the pork loin, is an Emeril recipe. Again, not super-crazy about the show, but everything of his I’ve made has turned out pretty well! So, yay! for Emeril. I didn’t change much except I listened to Alton Brown and used mostly all butter but also a bit of vegetable shortening for the crust. Flaky!

As this is an Emeril recipe, the filling had extra butter in it. Seemed way too overkill to me (because, when you are eating 11+ ounces of goat cheese it’s important to be mindful of how much butter you are eating!) The recipe called for 6 tablespoons of butter in the filling, I changed that to 2 tablespoons. Oh! I also added a pinch of ground rosemary to the crust.

So, this meal has lots of steps. The first thing you’ll want to do is remove some of the excess papery skin from a head of garlic. Wrap it in foil and roast it in the oven for 30-40 minutes at about 400 until it is soft. Set aside.

Savory Tart Crust:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
6 tbsp cold unsalted butter, diced
2 tbsp cold shortening , diced
1 teaspoon salt
3 to 4 tablespoons ice water
a pinch of ground rosemary

In a food processor, combine the flour, rosemary, butter, shortening and salt and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Drizzle in the water and pulse until the mixture comes together. Turn out of the food processor, form into a ball, and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

On a lightly floured work surface, roll the pastry to a thickness of 1/8-inch. I used the rolling the dough up on the rolling pin and then unrolling on the tart pan. However you do it, place the rolled out dough in a 9-inch tart shell with a removable bottom. Cut off some of the excess and then roll the rolling pin across the top of the tart pan to cut off the rest of the excess dough. Yes, I had a couple of tears in my crust — I just filled those in with leftover dough.

Blind bake until lightly golden brown, 15 to 18 minutes. It didn’t say to but I docked the crust with a few fork pricks along the bottom, just because I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to do that or not.

After baking, transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Garlic and Rosemary Goat Cheese Tart:
11 ounces goat cheese (2 small packages)
2 tbsp cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1 head roasted garlic, pulp mashed
3 large egg yolks
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary leaves
1 1/2 tsp chopped fresh thyme leaves
1/2 tsp chopped fresh oregano leaves
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 cup pitted kalamata olives, chopped
handful of parmesan cheese
1 Blind baked tart crust

Adjust the oven to 375 degrees F.

Into a large mixing bowl place the goat cheese, butter, ricotta cheese, and roasted garlic and beat ingredients with a mixer on high speed un1til smooth. Add the egg yolks one at a time, then the flour, rosemary, thyme, oregano, salt, and pepper, mixing well to incorporate.

Pour the cheese mixture into the prepared tart crust. Sprinkle the top of tart with diced olives and parmesan. Bake until the top is golden and the filling is set, 25 to 30 minutes.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 30 minutes before serving. Remove ring from tart pan and serve.

Black Olive Vinaigrette:
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 tbsp minced shallots
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsp finely chopped kalamata olives
2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil (or more if you like, I tend to like vinegary dressings)

In a blender combine the vinegar, shallots, garlic, salt, and pepper and let sit for 5 minutes. Add the mustard and olives and blend until smooth. While continuing to blend, add the oil in a thin, steady stream until vinaigrette is smooth and emulsified. Transfer to a non-reactive container and set aside, refrigerated, until ready to use. Toss the greens with enough Black Olive Vinaigrette to just coat the greens and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Serve immediately with slices of the tart.

Check out the crust flakiness! Woo!