3 Reasons Our Food Editor Loves This Easy Vegetable Tart

We’re in the middle of it y'all—the hot heavy days of summer. But that’s okay, because we’ve got this gorgeous Summer Vegetable Tart to get us through. There are many reasons to love this super-easy, show-stopping summer recipe, these are the big three that will have you coming back to this recipe until you know it by heart.

1. Calls For Store-bought Piecrust

Refrigerated piecrust is one of the greatest of modern culinary inventions. It’s the foundation of this tart, and what makes it so easy. Instead of using just one crust, we use two (from one package) rolled into one thicker disk with a layer of finely grated Parmesan in the middle.

2. Customize With Your Favorite Vegetables

We usually encourage readers to stick to our recipes, because we test them a certain way that we know works. But this one is easy to customize with what you’ve got on-hand, as long as you stick to the total amounts listed in the recipe. We used store-bought pimiento cheese, but feel free to make your own—it’ll be so much better.

As for the corn, onion, and squash, feel free to sneak in your favorite summer vegetables. Sliced okra would be nice, as would sweet peppers, and tomatoes.

3. Choose Where You Cook It

If you don’t mind heating up your house, feel free to bake this in your oven. Personally, I cook the tart on the grill. Before you roll your eyes or flee in terror, hear me out. My house is literally 100-years- old, and no amount of air conditioning will keep it cold. Therefore, I grill everything I can during the summer.

Here’s how I transform my grill into an oven:

1. Preheat the grill to medium-high, using the far left and far right burners, leaving the center two burners unlit (if you have a smaller grill, only fire up one side).
2. After assembling the tart, slide two sheets of heavy-duty foil under the parchment paper, then roll up the edges of the foil to enclose the tart (it will look like a foil pizza crust).
   
3. Once your grill is hot enough (mine has a thermometer so I have a rough idea of how hot it is) simply slide the foil-lined tart onto the grill (I use a flat cookie sheet).
4. Cover, then bake as directed, but check every 10 minutes or so and rotate the tart to encourage even cooking.
   
   And that’s it! The only hard part is letting the tart cool for 15 minutes so it’s easier to slice.