RATATOUILLE TART

I have to admit it, I have recently been SO smitten with Smitten Kitchen. If you are a food lover, and who among us is not, you have to check it out. You may notice a lot of my recipes in the future coming from here. This looked so yummy and healthy and like a great take on a classic recipe that I had to try it. Aside from rolling out puff pastry, it's very easy. The tomato sauce and cheese make it a little like a pizza but the puff pastry gives it a flaky, buttery quality that is to die for. This recipe, made into individualized tarts would be perfect finger food for a party too!

Ingredients:
14 ounces frozen puff pastry, defrosted in the fridge overnight
1 Asian eggplant
1 smallish zucchini
1 smallish yellow squash
1 longish red bell pepper
1/3 cup tomato sauce, I used a store bought marinara
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper
Few sprigs fresh thyme
1 cup crumbled feta

1. Pre heat the oven to 375°F. Lightly flour a work surface, lay the sheet of pastry out, and gently roll until it measures about 11 x 15 inches. Slide the pastry onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Prick the pastry all over with a fork, at about 1-inch intervals.

2. Spread the tomato puree or sauce evenly over the pastry, leaving a one-inch border around the edges.

3. Trim the ends off the eggplant, zucchini and yellow squash. As carefully as you can, trim the ends off the red pepper and remove the core, leaving the edges intact, like a tube.

4. On a mandoline, adjustable-blade slicer or with a very sharp knife, cut the eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash and red pepper into very thin slices, approximately 1/16-inch thick.

5. Arrange slightly overlapped slices of vegetables concentrically or in rows over the tomato puree or sauce, alternative vegetables.

6. Drizzle vegetables with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and sprinkle de-stemmed thyme leaves over the vegetables.

7. Bake in the heated oven until the pastry is puffed and browned (including on the bottom), 25 to 30 min and the vegetables look softened. Slide onto a cutting board, sprinkle with the feta, and cut into squares or strips.

**Image via me**