Finished Tart

I’m ready to admit that I will only eat tomatoes in the month of August. The farmer’s market near my house sells their own field tomatoes, which are so fresh that there’s still a little bit of dirt on the outside. They’re dark red, juicy and bursting with so much flavour. How can a pale, lifeless, mealy tomato compete with that? It can’t.

My favourite applications for fresh tomatoes are:

  1. Layer them on top of toasted sourdough, spread with a lemony garlic mayo, and sprinkled with coarsely ground black pepper and flaky sea salt
  2. Classic BLT
  3. Diced and tossed with cucumber slices, olive oil and lemon juice and spooned on top of hummus to be scooped up with fresh pita.

So I guess it’s a pretty simple formula: tomatoes + bread = late Summer bliss.

Heirlooms

But then I saw this tart pop up on Smitten Kitchen and I knew I would have to make it right away. It’s a simple pastry dough pressed into a tart pan and blind baked, then topped with cheese (I used parm), a parsley/basil pesto, and a layer of fresh tomatoes. Deb says you can use any type of tomatoes you wish, but I spotted these gorgeous heirlooms at the farmer’s market and ($16 later) they came home with me.

Pre-Bake

I worked on this as a project over a few days. You can make the pastry and pesto in advance and keep them in the fridge until you need them. This turned out beautifully, and I ate it for lunches throughout the week with a simple green salad.

Heirloom Tomato Tart

Source: Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients

Crust

  • 1 3/4 cups (230 g) flour
  • 1/2 tsp sugar
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, cut into 1″ cubes
  • 1 tbsp water

Pesto

  • 2 cups (25 grams) flat-leaf parsley
  • 1 cup (15 grams) basil leaves
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 2 tbsp olive oil

Filling

  • 2 oz (55 grams) hard cheese, grated or thinly sliced (I used parm)
  • 3 large, ripe, in season tomatoes (heirloom or otherwise)
  • olive oil + sea salt for topping

Directions

  1. For the pie dough, add the flour, sugar and salt to the bowl of your food processor. Pulse until combined. Add the butter, and pulse again until the butter is in small pieces about the size of peas. Add the egg and water, and pulse once again until the dough comes together in one big clump.
  2. Dump the dough onto a large piece of parchment paper and form into a disc with your hands. Place another large piece of parchment paper on top, and roll out the dough with a rolling pin to an 11″ circle. Slide the dough onto a cutting board or back of a baking sheet and chill for 10 minutes.
  3. When dough is chilled, place it over top a 9.5″ tart pan and gently press it into the bottom and up the sides of the pan. To quickly trim the excess dough, just roll the rolling pin across the top. Prick the dough with a fork and chill the whole thing for 20 minutes (or until you’re ready to finish the tart).
  4. For the pesto, add the parsley leaves, basil leaves and garlic to the food processor. Pulse until everything is in little bits, then add the olive oil and process until a paste forms. Add to a small bowl and cover directly with plastic wrap until ready to assemble the tart.
  5. When you’re ready to assemble/finish the tart, preheat the oven to 375°. Blind bake the tart shell for 20 minutes covered in parchment paper and filled with pie weights, then remove them and bake for 5 more minutes. Let cool.
  6. In the meantime, slice the tomatoes and place them on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt.
  7. To assemble, sprinkle the cheese in the bottom of the cooled tart shell. Dollop the pesto overtop, and use an offset spatula to gently spread this into as even a layer as you can (it doesn’t need to be perfect). Add the tomato slices on top, blotting each one with a paper towel to absorb a bit of the juices (and prevent a soggy tart). Brush the tomatoes lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper.
  8. Bake for 50-60 minutes until the crust is golden brown and the tart is bubbly.