The crust is the flavorful base for this assembled Grilled Vegetable and Hummus Black Pepper Olive Oil Tart and is star of this post.
Using olive oil in baking was new to me until I started traveling to countries along the Mediterranean littoral where I encountered breads, pizzas, cookies, pastries, tarts and cakes made with olive oil instead of butter or margarine. Each baked morsel made with olive oil, sweet or savory, that I enjoyed in the region had a rich but light taste and subtle herbal fragrance. So I started exploring baking with olive oil, researching and testing recipes found in Greek, Cypriot, Italian, Turkish and Lebanese cookbooks and on the internet.
As it turns out, olive oil has been a favorite of bread bakers in Mediterranean countries for centuries because it results in bread with excellent flavor and texture. Using olive oil instead of butter eliminates much of the saturated fat and cholesterol in many dessert cakes and rolls, making them healthier and more nutritious. The natural antioxidants (such as vitamin E) in olive oil help keep baked items fresher for a longer period than items baked with butter. In the United States, olive oil is used less often for baking, except in bread making. American bakers seemed concerned that cakes, sweetly flavored breads, or rolls baked with olive oil will have a strong olive taste. However, when light olive oil is used, it is difficult to detect an olive flavor in baked goods.
I have numerous North American cake, quick bread, muffin, brownie and pancake recipes where vegetable oil is added for moistness. Since olive oil has density similar to other vegetable oils, yeast and quick breads, pizzas and cakes enriched with olive oil are easy to prepare and produce similar moistness in the finished product with a more fruity taste. But I had never made pastry without butter or other solid shortenings, and I became intrigued with how olive oil pastry would turn out. Would the crust be tender and flaky or tough and oily?
I found and tested several olive oil pastry recipes with mixed results. In the process, I learned that working with liquid olive oil as the pastry fat, rather than solid shortening, requires special procedures to achieve a flaky crust. The olive oil has to be thickened to form pockets of oil in the flour which create flakiness. Two recipes required shaking or whisking cold olive oil and iced water into an emulsion before combining with the dry ingredients. Another recipe called for cutting in cold olive oil throughout the flour to form dough particles before adding water. This recipe I adapted for this tart produces a flaky crust with a slightly peppery taste.
Black Pepper Olive Olive Pastry
Adapted from Caroline Beck’s The Olive Oil Source
1 cup or 4.4 ounces (125g) unbleached white flour
1 cup or 4.4 ounces (125g ) whole wheat flour pastry flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon herb/spice option (I used a mixture of coarsely ground black pepper with a pinch of cayenne. You can mix any favorite combination of herbs/spice to equal one teaspoon.)
¼ cup (60ml) extra virgin olive oil, chilled
½ cup (120ml ) iced water
Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C) degrees. Lightly grease an 11-12″ (28-30 cm) tart pan or large cookie sheet.
Combine dry ingredients in medium-sized mixing bowl. Add olive oil one tablespoon at a time and cut in with a fork or pastry cutter until coarse crumbs form. Then add cold water one tablespoon at a time, gently gathering the dough into a soft-ball with fingertips. Stop adding water when dough ball is formed. The dough will be soft, not sticky, and crumbly, not stretchy like conventional pastry dough.
Divide dough ball in two. Place a ball of dough between two sheets of parchment paper and roll in one direction to the desired shape about a ¼ inch thick. (I rolled out this crust into a free-form shape. Most importantly, don’t overwork the dough or it will become tough, not tender.) Remove top parchment, trim edges if desired and transfer dough on bottom parchment paper to pan. Chill dough in refrigerator for 30 minutes.
To blind-bake, prick dough with fork and bake until edges get slightly brown. Set aside until ready to assemble. Crust can be prepared a day ahead.
Grilled Vegetables
Any assortment of grilled vegetables may be used as long as the vegetables are not watery. The grilled wedges of plum tomatoes (skinned, seeded and juiced,)I used in an earlier version added a pleasant tanginess to the tart. While I provide instructions for stove–top grilling, vegetables also can be roasted in the oven or grilled outside, which will add an additional smoky note to the tart.
1 large red pepper
1 large yellow pepper
2 small zucchini
2 portabella mushrooms
1 large red onion
2 Japanese eggplants
Salt/pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
Preparing peppers: Turn gas burner to high. Place peppers directly on a burner or under a broiler, rotating every few minutes until charred all over. Remove and place into a heat-proof container and cover with a lid or into a tight brown paper bag. After 5 minutes, peel and remove seeds under cold running water. Cut into thin strips. Set aside.
Preparing remaining vegetables: Heat ungreased grill pan on high heat for 5 minutes. Slice zucchini, eggplant and onions into ¼ inch strips or rings. Lay mushrooms stem side up and gently bend and pull up the stems. Discard stems. Cradle a mushroom in one hand and using a teaspoon in the other, gently scrape and scoop out the gills on the underside working in the round and slice mushroom caps into ¼ inch slices. Season vegetables with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Set aside.
Working in batches, grill the vegetables until tender and lightly charred all over, about 7 minutes for zucchini, eggplant, and mushrooms; 4 minutes for onions. Remove to cookie sheet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, drizzle with olive oil and set aside.
Hummus (chickpea spread)
This tart can be prepared with purchased hummus, available in many flavors in grocery stores. But making hummus at home is quite simple. Many versions of hummus are prepared in countries along the Mediterranean, each of which is declared by its cook to be the authentic version. The basic ingredients are cooked chickpeas (garbanzos), garlic, lemon juice and tahini with other spices added for flavor or garnish.
14 ounces (400 g) canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 garlic clove, crushed to paste with ¼ teaspoon salt (more can be added)
4 tablespoons tahini (sesame seed paste)
2-4 tablespoons lemon juice, freshly squeezed
¼ teaspoon cumin, ground|
Extra virgin olive oil or water for thinning
Salt and pepper to taste
Garnish: ground sumac or paprika and flat leaf parsley
Place chickpeas and garlic in a food processor and process to a thick, coarse paste for a few minutes. With food processor running, add tahini one tablespoon at a time until blended. Add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, cumin, salt and pepper and continue to process until creamy. Taste and add more lemon juice, salt, pepper and tahini, if desired. If the mixture is too thick, add olive oil or water one tablespoon at the time until desired consistency is obtained.
Humus can be prepared a day ahead and stored in the refrigerator. Remove from refrigerator 30 minutes to soften before spreading on the crust.
To assemble tart:
Place cooled olive oil crust on serving plate. Using an offset spatula, spread hummus evenly over crust. Arrange grilled vegetables. Garnish with chopped parsley. Serve at room temperature.
Serves 6 as appetizer and 3 for lunch.
Photo credits: Slava Johnson
One year ago: http://www.kitchenepiphanies.com/chicken-with-olives/