Combine savory fillings with shortcut crusts to craft stylish entrées

Baking a beautiful main-dish tart tends to be too time-consuming to do on a regular basis, but the elegant simplicity of a hearty tart is hard to resist for an autumn lunch or dinner. With a little ingenuity, the wide variety of prepared doughs available in the refrigerator and freezer cases of the grocery store can quickly turn into tasty crusts for all kinds of savory pastries.

Once you’re free to concentrate your efforts on flavorful fillings ― like chard and ricotta, golden squash custard with sage, sautéed mushrooms, or thinly sliced potatoes topped with capers and smoked salmon ― assembling an impressive one-dish meal becomes a much simpler proposition.