Two great recipes adapted from Real Simple made for a delicious vegetarian dinner to share with friends this past week:

Potato, Leek & Feta Tart 
(recipe makes two tarts, serving 7, and can easily be halved)

Ingredients:

• 2 store bought 9-inch pie crusts
• 4 small russet potatoes (sliced thinly)
• 3 medium zucchinis (sliced into half moons)
• 3 leeks (white and light green parts sliced into half moons)
• 1 C crumbled feta cheese
• fresh dill, about 1/3 C (chopped finely)
• olive oil

1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Add chopped zucchinis and leeks, salt and pepper, cook several minutes until tender.
2. Remove from heat, add feta cheese and dill to skillet, top with uncooked potato slices and toss.
3. Unroll pie crusts from package onto parchment paper, and roll to 12-in diameter. Transfer one crust on parchment paper to a large cookie sheet. Top with one half of vegetable mixture, leaving approx. 2 inches of crust uncovered around the edges. Fold edges of crust toward the center. Move to side of baking sheet, add the other crust, fill, and fold crust. Both tarts should fit on one large cookie sheet.
4. Bake at 375 for 60 minutes, or until potatoes are tender and crust is golden (may need to cover edges with tin foil to keep from over-browning.)

Gorgeous!

On the side, I served…


Honeyed Carrots
Ingredients:

• 2 pounds of pre-sliced and peeled mini carrots
• 1 orange cut into 8 slices
• olive oil
• honey
• salt and pepper
• dried oregano 

1. Place the carrots and orange slices on a large rimmed cookie sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and honey (about 2 T each), sprinkle with fresh ground salt and pepper and oregano to taste. Toss so that carrots are well-coated.
2. Bake at 375 for about 35 minutes. Once or twice while baking, turn the carrots and drizzle with additional honey. 

We served the dinner with a green salad and had home-made chocolate chip cookies for dessert. I think next time I’ll be creative with the tart and try different veggies for the center – the possibilities seem endless!