Grilled Vegetable Tarts with Pumpkin Seeds

• Makes 6 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 recipe Parmigiano-Reggiano Pastry (Chapter The Basics)
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 large (10-ounce/300 g) eggplant, trimmed and cut into ½-inch (1.25-cm) thick rounds
• 2 medium (7-ounce/210-g) zucchini, trimmed and cut lengthwise into ½-inch (1.25-cm) thick slices
• Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 medium (9-ounce/270 g) red bell peppers
• 1 medium (5-ounce/150 g) onion, cut into eighths
• 1 tablespoon ras el hanout, or to taste
• ½ teaspoon sherry vinegar
• 2 rounded tablespoons pumpkin seeds, lightly toasted
• Fresh basil or chervil leaves for garnish

Note: Ras el hanout is a Moroccan spice mixture found easily in a Middle Eastern grocery shop. You can substitute an excellent curry powder or a dash of cumin.

Instructions:

1. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll out the pastry so that it is about 1/8 inch thick. Cut out six 4-inch (10-cm) rounds of pastry and transfer them to the prepared baking sheets. Prick them all over with the tines of a fork and refrigerate until ready to bake. Save any extra pastry for another use.
2. Preheat the oven to 450°F (230°C).
3. Brush two baking sheets with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and place the rounds of eggplant and the strips of zucchini on the baking sheet. Brush the rounds of eggplant and the zucchini with another tablespoon of the oil. Season the eggplant and zucchini lightly with salt and pepper. Place the bell peppers on a sheet of thick aluminum foil. Place the vegetables in the oven and roast until the eggplant and zucchini are golden on the bottom, 8 to 10 minutes. Flip the eggplant and zucchini, season them lightly with salt and pepper, and roast until golden on the other side, 8 to 10 minutes longer. Remove them from the oven. Leave the peppers in the oven until they are soft and their skin is wrinkled, another 20 to 25 minutes. Remove the peppers from the oven and wrap them in the aluminium foil.
4. As soon as the zucchini is cool, dice the strips and place them in a medium bowl. As soon as the peppers are cool enough to handle, remove all the skin and seeds and dice the peppers. Add them to the zucchini in the bowl.
5. Place the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and the onion in a heavy skillet over medium heat and sauté the onion until tender through, 5 to 8 minutes. Remove from the heat and add to the vegetables in the bowl. Sprinkle 2 teaspoons of the ras el hanout over the vegetables and fold them together until all the vegetables are thoroughly combined. Taste for seasoning and add the remaining ras el hanout and salt and pepper to taste. Fold in the vinegar. Keep warm.
6. Reduce the oven temperature to 425°F (220° C). Bake the pastry in the center of the oven until the rounds are golden and crisp, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and transfer one to each of six warmed plates.
7. Fold the toasted pumpkin seeds into the vegetable mixture. Top each pastry with an equal number of eggplant rounds, then top the eggplant with an equal amount of the roasted vegetables. Garnish with the fresh herbs and serve.

Pistachio Music:

• The moon has risen full, softly illuminating the inky sky above a pistachio orchard near Aleppo, in Syria.
• The silvery branches of the trees shimmer like skin through wide and velvety green leaves.
• Hanging from them are endless grape like clusters of nuts, their dusty-rose skins soft in the moonlight.
• The nuts are secretive; they give neither juice nor aroma to hint at their ripeness; the harvest moon reveals their progress.
• The farmer stands at the edge of the orchard, waiting.
• He thinks tonight the bright green nuts may grow that final bit to burst the shell and skin.
• His head, bathed by moonlight, inclines.
• In the dark, a tiny puff of air floats through the orchard, audible to itself.
• Then there is another and another as nut follows nut with its final spurt of growth, bursting its shell, until all through the orchard the tiny hot breaths become music.
• Out under the moon more and more farmers come to hear pistachio music, the hauntingly joyful tune of the harvest