Delicious Vegetable & Ricotta Filo Tart

When so many of our favorite summer vegetables are finally in season, and are still young and flavorful, we naturally look for ways to use them and highlight them in all sorts of recipes.  This Delicious Vegetable & Ricotta Filo Tart is an example of a super easy, vegetable-forward dish that is surprisingly easy to put together.

This dish is a much lighter kind of tart, with a base that consists of several layers of crispy filo pastry; each one brushed with olive oil and layered in a baking pan.  The filo base is topped with a wonderful mixture of three cheeses and delicious roasted young vegetables before being baked until golden brown.

I like to serve this delicious Vegetable & Ricotta Filo Tart for lunch along with a nice summer salad, or, as the savory element of a brunch buffet, as this dish can be served warm or at room temperature.  Variations of this tart are many; as many as the possible combination of other wonderful summer vegetables!

Ingredients for this Delicious Vegetable & Ricotta Filo Tart

For this easy tart, besides the vegetables,  you will need good quality filo pastry, fresh Ricotta cheese and a good, tangy Greek cheese (see below).  I like to use Fillo Factory filo pastry for all my recipes, which make working with the dough a breeze.

• 1/2 packet Filo pastry (country style, or, #7, I used Fillo Factory’s Country Style for this recipe)
• A couple of small, tender zucchini
• A young leek (or, two shallots)
• A handful of thin asparagus
• Extra virgin olive oil – for brushing on the filo and to toss with the vegetables before roasting
• Red pepper flakes (optional)
• Good quality, full-fat Ricotta cheese, strained (I like to use the Calabro ricotta)
• Greek Mizithra cheese, or if cannot find this, a good quality Greek Feta cheese
• Pecorino Romano (or Parmesan) cheese
• Lemon zest
• Fresh thyme
• 1 egg (optional)

How to make the Delicious Vegetable & Ricotta Filo Tart

For this recipe the filo pastry base is topped with a delicious Ricotta and Feta cheese mixture, and then the sautéed vegetables are layered on top.

Here are the simple steps:

1. Prep the vegetables, season them, toss with the olive oil, and place them in the oven to roast
2. As the vegetables roast, prepare the Ricotta filling by mixing together all the cheeses
3. Form a tart shell by placing layers of the filo pastry, trimmed to fit the pan
4. Assemble the tart by layering the Ricotta filling over the filo base and topping it with the roasted vegetables
5. Bake it until the tart is set and golden brown
6.  Allow the baked tart to cool, then cut it into squares and serve

This recipe is in collaboration with Fillo Factory. You can find this favorite filo dough (country-style, or thinner varieties) at Whole Foods and several other local stores.  I love the quality of the Fillo Factory products and I always make sure to stash a couple of boxes in the freezer!

5.0 from 2 reviews

Delicious Vegetable & Ricotta Filo Tart

 

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Prep time

40 mins

Cook time

30 mins

Total time

1 hour 10 mins

 

A delicious, light summer meal, highlighting summer vegetables and a delicious ricotta mixture over layers of crispy filo pastry!

Author: Marilena Leavitt

Recipe type: Vegetarian Tart

Cuisine: Mediterranean

Serves: 6

Ingredients

• ½ packet Filo pastry (country style, or, #7. I used Fillo Factory Country Style for this recipe)
• 2 medium zucchini (about 12 oz.)
• 1 young leek (about 4 oz.)
• 6 oz. thin asparagus, trimmed
• ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil, divided
• --- sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
• ⅛ tsp. red pepper flakes
• 2 cups Ricotta cheese, strained and at room temperature (this should be a good quality, full-fat Ricotta)
• 5-6 oz. Greek Mizithra cheese, or, Greek Feta cheese, at room temperature, divided
• 4 TBSP. Pecorino Romano cheese (or, Parmesan)
• --- zest from one large lemon (about 2 tsp.)
• 1 egg (optional; it is to loosen up the cheese mixture if is too thick)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
2. Place the package of the frozen filo dough in your refrigerator overnight to defrost. The next day, remove the thawed package of filo from the refrigerator and let it sit, still in the package, at room temperature, while you are prepping the vegetable filling.
3. Wash, trim and prepare the vegetables.  Slice the zucchini and the leek into ½" slices, remove 2" from the end of the asparagus and cut the rest of the stalks into 2" long pieces.  Place them in a large pan, season them well with some salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes and toss them with 3 TBSP. of the olive oil.
4. Place the pan on the middle rack of the oven and roast for 15-20 minutes, or, until the vegetables are soft and lightly brown.  Remove from the oven and allow them to cool.
5. In a small bowl, mix the three cheeses together (reserving a little of the Feta for the top) with the lemon zest and set aside, while you work with the filo.
6. Brush the bottom and the sides of an 8" x 12" (or, similar) baking dish with olive oil.
7. Uncover the filo package and remove 5 sheets, if you are using the "country style" thicker filo, or, 7 sheets if you are using the thinner, #7 variety.  Keep the filo covered with a clean towel while you work so it does not dry out.  With a sharp knife (or a pizza cutter), cut through the stack of 5 (or 7) sheets of filo, so you have a 10" x 14” rectangle (your stack of filo should be about 2" bigger all around than the size of your pan).  Return the rest of the filo into the package and store in the refrigerator for another use.
8. Place the first sheet of filo on a clean surface and brush it with some extra virgin olive oil.  Continue the same process with four more sheets of filo, placing each sheet on top of the previous one.  Lift the filo sheets and place them in the center of the baking dish, allowing some of the pastry to drape over the sides.  Fold the overlapping dough over the edges towards the center of the baking dish, scrunching the filo to create a small border; it does not have to be perfect.  Brush those edges lightly with some more of the olive oil.
9. Prick the bottom of the filo stack with a fork and bake it in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes, or, until lightly brown.  Remove from the oven and let it cool slightly.
10. Using an offset spatula, spread the Ricotta cheese mixture evenly over the bottom of the baked filo shell.  Top it with the roasted vegetables, drizzle lightly with some extra olive oil and cook for some 15 more minutes.
11. Remove the tart from the oven.  When cool, sprinkle some fresh thyme on top as a garnish and some of the reserved Feta. Cut into 6 squares and serve warm or at room temperature.

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