I recently brought the October copy of Woolworths ‘Australian Good Taste’ magazine. Now I am one of those people who buy cooking books and magazines and rarely use them. However the recipe on the cover drew my eye and off I went and purchased the ingredients.

Well today Paula and I made the Prosciutto, Zucchini and Ricotta tart for lunch. It is quick to make taking about 10 minutes to prepare (this includes the cooling time for the zucchini) and 40 minutes to cook.

The following recipe is adapted from the original because I could not find the right dip. 

Prosciutto, Zucchini & Ricotta Tart
Serves 6

Ingredients:

2 sheets (25 cm x 25cm – approx 10″) frozen ready-rolled puff pastry, just thawed.
3 large zucchini with the ends trimmed and sliced very thinly
3 tbs Baby Spinach with Cashew and Parmesan Chunky Dip, we used spinach and cashew with feta dip.
250gms (approx 9 ounces) fresh ricotta
3 prosciutto slices, halved lengthways. We used 5 slices and feel they should be cut into smaller portions.
5 mini roma tomatoes, halved. Couldn’t get the mini type but they would be preferable to the larger tomatoes.
50gms (1.8 ounces) feta, crumbled
Chopped parsley leaves to serve.

Preheat oven to 220° C (425°F).

Line a large baking tray with non-stick baking paper.
Place 1 pastry sheet on the prepared tray.
Place a second sheet on top of the first sheet to make a stack.

Using a small sharp knife make a 2cm-thick border around the edge of the pastry. Do not cut all the way through.

Cover with another sheet of non-stick baking paper and place another baking tray on top.

Bake in oven for 30 minutes or until the pastry is crisp on the base.

In the meantime, cook the zucchini in a steamer basket over a saucepan of simmering water for 3-4 minutes or until tender. We used the George Forman steamer for this process.

Transfer the zucchini to a plate lined with paper towel and set aside to cool slightly.

Combine the zucchini and the dip in a medium bowl. Coat the zucchini as well as you can without breaking it up.

Keeping within the border, spread the riccotta evenly over the pastry base.

Arrange the zucchini mixture , prosciutto and tomato over the ricotta.

Crumble the feta over the top.

Reduce the oven temperature to 180°C ( 350°F). Bake for 10 minutes or until pastry is golden brown. We found that we needed to do this for about 18 minutes.

Sprinkle with parsley  and serve with a side salad.

This recipe has approximately 15 gms (0.5 ozs)protein, 21 gms (0.74 ozs) fat (8.5gms (0.29 ozs)of saturated fat), 31 gms (1.09 ozs) carb, 3.5gms (0.12oz)dietary fibre, 1610kj (385 Cals).

This tart  proved to be a hit and is very filling.