Sunday, June 07, 2015

What a tart

A real tomato.

Tomato tart, that is.

I finally got around to making the tomato tart whose ingredients have been hanging around for over a week. It's pretty simple, but the end result looks fancy and tastes divine. It's about time I shared the recipe, isn't it?

Tomato Tart

1 pie crust for 9" pie pan or fancy tart pan with a removable bottom - you can make your own, use a mix or use the unfoldy-type ones, or keep it really simple and use a pre-made, unbaked kind - whatever floats your boat (note: you can use puff pastry, but pie crust works better)

About one cup of shredded swiss cheese (do yourself a favor: buy a block and shred your own for much better taste)

One small to medium onion, diced fairly small, or cut in half and sliced thinly, your choice

One or two tablespoons of butter

Quarter cup of dry white wine - optional

One pint or so of cherry tomatoes, or twice as many grape tomatoes, or the awesome campari tomatoes, or regular old on- or off-the-vine tomatoes

About a teaspoon each of sage, thyme and oregano

Salt and pepper

The ingredient list is a bit floaty; trust me, you can't mess this up.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. Put a tablespoon or so of butter in a nonstick pan. Throw in the sliced or diced onion and cook over a low heat until they are caramelized. Toss in a half teaspoon of brown sugar to help the process along if you must.When they are almost done, you can put in a quarter cup of white wine and cook until it evaporates, but that's up to you, as the tart tastes just as great without it. Let the onions cool (throw them in the fridge for a while).

2. When the onions are cool, lay them in the pie crust, covering the bottom. Layer the grated cheese on top. Now for the fun part...

3. The goal is to cover the cheese with the tomatoes. If you happen to have both red and yellow cherry tomatoes, you can cut them in half and lay them cut side up in a fun pattern. Or you can just use the red ones. If your cherry tomatoes are on the small side (or you are lazy like me), you can leave them whole. If you only have standard size tomatoes, slice them about a quarter of an inch thick and lay them out, cutting the slices as needed to cover all the cheese. Really, the only way to mess up this step is to layer the tomatoes on too thickly.

4. Sprinkle the tomatoes with the thyme, sage and oregano. Add a shot of salt, and more of pepper.

5. Bake at 350 for an hour or so, watching during the last 10-15 minutes in case you need to cover the edges of the pie crust to keep it from getting too dark.

Serve either hot or at room temperature.


I still want to try making these in the little individual, fluted edge ceramic pie plates I have, for a fun course for a dinner party. The first time I made the tart was for an opener for a dinner; I set it down, went to the kitchen to stir the stew, and by the time I came back, the tart was gone. It's that good. It's a great change from salad or sauce once the tomato crop starts coming in.

Sorry about not having a picture...I may have cut into it the second it came out of the oven. Leftovers (assuming there are any) should be refrigerated and gently reheated in the toaster oven or oven for about five - seven minutes at 250 for optimal taste. I've even taken it in my lunch, and eaten the leftovers at room temp.

So happy we are heading into fresh tomato season.



5 comments:

Francesca Watson said...

That sounds DIVINE!

Diane said...

It really is. And if you do a fancy pattern with the tomatoes, you can look like a gourmet!

melissa said...

Oh goodness. Saw a mention of this recently. Your recipe sound wonderful. Will definitely make it this week. Btw, considering Gary's such a carnivore, what would you serve this with?

melissa said...

Well darlin'....the kids bought the ingredients tonight and we're making it tomorrow! Got some pasta as a side dish. It'll be wonderful. Really, can't wait, thanks. :)

Francesca Watson said...

Just read this to Nick - we're having this for dinner one night this week. YUM!