Ridiculously Healthy Spinach and Mushroom Tart

Spinach and Mushroom Tart Topped with Briny Kalamata Olives

Yup- no butter, no bacon but the yogurt lends a pleasant tang and the olives provide a briny burst. She ain’t pretty but she’s good.

Enough for a 9inch tart pan

Preheat oven to 400

Crust:

½ cup AP flour

½ cup Whole Wheat Flour

1 Tbs Ground Flax Seed

¼ tsp salt

¼ cup cold water

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

Ground pepper to taste

Mix first five ingredients in a bowl, add water and olive oil. Stir until incorporated. Knead briefly. Dough should be soft and wet, almost like cookie dough. Roll out or press into tart pan. Dough is pretty thin, about the thickness of a nickel. Refrigerate until filling is ready

Olive Oil Crust with Whole Wheat and Flax Seed with a curious cat

Filling:

About 15 mushrooms, cut into matchsticks

¾ lb leafy greens(I used frozen spinach because it’s what I had but the recipe is based off of a Provecal Swiss Chard tart)

1 small red onion, coarsely chopped

Garlic to taste

1 egg

¾ cup yogurt

¾ cup shredded Romano cheese

¼ tsp grated nutmeg

16 or so Kalamata olives pitted and cut length wise

Sauté mushrooms in a little olive oil over medium heat until liquid is released and dissipated. Add well-minced garlic during last few minutes of cooking.

Crimini Mushrooms

Meanwhile puree thawed spinach (or blanched fresh Chard or Kale) and onion in a food processor.

Set mushrooms aside and sauté spinach to remove excess moisture- about ten minutes over med-low heat. Remove from heat.

Sheeps Milk Reggiano and freshly grated Nutmeg

Combine yogurt, egg, nutmeg, and cheese together in a medium bowl. Add spinach and thoroughly combine. Add mushrooms and mix until evenly distributed.

Dark Kitchen + Bright Green Spinach = Picture that looks like it came from the fifties

Spread filling into awaiting tart shell, top with olives and bake for about forty minutes until crust looks brown and has begun to pull away from the sides of the tart pan and the filling is set.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

Pitted Kalamatas top this savory SPinach and Mushroom Tart

I just learned that I have high cholesterol- I do love cheese and butter and eggs and bacon... I think I could live quite happily (if not quite as long) on a diet of breakfast food and macaroni and cheese. 

But I also love my leafy greens (really! thanks Dad!) and avocados and garlic and ginger and onions and spicy peppers- in fact I love almost everything on the heart healthy diet- except for nuts but they don’t love me either so we’re square. 

Why did I resist?

Two weeks in and I feel great (though that mention of Mac and Cheese has got me yearning). I’m still eating things I like all I’ve done is flip the ratios around, add a salad course. Even if six months from now the medical community changes its mind yet again and decided that there is some other X factor that causes heart disease I’d still make this tart again, only this time with Kale!