Torta di Zucchini e Ricotta

After we ate the marinated baby zucchini with their flowers, Gigliola served us a puff pastry tart filled with zucchini and ricotta, which was as lovely as the first and completely different.

Ingredients:
2 lbs zucchini, diced very fine
1 onion diced, very fine
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
3 tbsp pesto sauce*
250 grams (about 8 ozs) of whole milk ricotta cheese
1 package of puff pastry

Heat the oil over medium and add the onion. Sautee until translucent then add the zucchini. Cook until it has rendered it's juices and they have evaporated. Take off the heat and cool. Mix in the pesto (or herbs) and ricotta. Taste and correct for salt and pepper. The end product will be tastier if you do this ahead of time and bake the next day.

Line a pie tin with the puff pastry, dock and add the filling. Bake in a 350F pre-heated oven until the crust is browned and the filling is set.

*You can vary the herbs you put into this dish. If you do not use pesto, in summertime Gigliola suggests you try out the many herbs available, particularly, "mentuccia romana" (Satureia nepeta = field balm), but says to avoid parsley as it will get bitter during the baking process.