Summer calls for easy recipes that you can pair with a glass of Prosecco or an Aperol Spritz outside. This Sweet Pepper Tart is just such a recipe! With the creamy goat cheese, crunchy peppers, and bitey black olives, it’s delicious with every bite. Plus, the recipe pairs well with so many other dishes in the Sicilian cuisine repertoire, from Cart Driver’s Pasta (in Menu 30 in my cookbook This is Sunday Dinner) to my Orange Polenta Cake.

Buon Appetito e Tutti a Tavola!

~Lisa

Lisa’s Sweet Pepper Tart Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil, plus 1 teaspoon for greasing the cookie sheet
• 1 red bell pepper
• 2 sweet red peppers, cored, seeded and chopped into 1/2 inch squares
• 1 yellow bell pepper, cored, seeded and chopped into 1/2 inch squares
• 1 orange bell pepper, cored, seeded and chopped into 1/2 inch squares
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tablespoon chopped rosemary
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
• 1 teaspoon Sicilian sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 sheets frozen puff pastry
• 18 pitted black olives, preferably imported from Italy
• 1 – 12 ox package goat cheese, room temperature

Lisa’s Sweet Pepper Tart Directions:

In a large frying pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions and bell peppers and cook for 30 minutes. Stir occasionally so nothing sticks to the pan. After 30 minutes, add the garlic, rosemary, basil, thyme, salt and pepper. Cook for 15 more minutes until the vegetables are very soft and wilted. Set the mixture aside to cool.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Spread the 1 teaspoon of olive oil on a rimless cookie sheet. It should form a rectangle, approximately 9×12 inches. Spread the cooked bell pepper mixture on the pastry. Leave at least 1 inch of puff pastry uncovered, all around the edge of the vegetable mixture (it will spread as it bakes). Arrange the olives on top of the pepper mixture. Bake the pastry in the oven for 20 minutes. Remove the tart from the oven and let it rest for 15 minutes before slicing and serving.