Last night I made a roasted summer vegetable (eggplant, tomato, shallot, zucchini) tart from A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen. The base of the tart was puff pastry and since Jack Bishop claims that not even real pastry chefs make puff pastry I decided to believe him and not even make the Zuni Cafe "rough puff" and use Pepperidge Farm. While it was pretty (so pretty I almost took a picture but we were out of film and as Jeff pointed out, why would I want a picture of a store bought puff pastry tart) it tasted like nothing. No more store bought puff pastry for me.

In part due to the airy nothingness of the puff pastry and in part due to the fact that the squares I made with it were more than 7 inches (note to self: put ruler in kitchen), I felt that the tarts didn't have enough vegetables. And you know if I am clamoring for more vegetables, that is a vegetable-light dish. (And also the roasted tomato was so, so good I could have eaten a million.)

To accompany the tart, I made a salad with tomato, butter lettuce, fresh mozzarella, toasted pine nuts and a balsamic vinaigrette. Which, sad to say, outshone the tart a bit.