Celebrate tomato season with a stunning tomato tart - its simplicity belies its amazing flavour. A crisp pastry shell underneath, a rich cheesy layer, and then luscious slices of sweet, vine-ripened tomatoes, baked to juicy fullness. It makes a wonderful appetizer with a chilled glass of wine or a light dinner with a side salad. This is what simple, fresh, garden-to-table cooking is all about.
It's finally tomato season here in the north! All summer I read, with a green tinge of envy, about gardeners enjoying their tomato bounty in every amazing way. I dream of standing in the garden and biting into a sweet sun-warmed tomato, its juices running down my chin. But then I go out and look at my overgrown tomato plants loaded with their hard green orbs - the promise of future deliciousness - and I sigh and wait. I diligently water my greenhouse tomatoes - and I sigh and wait.
Until now! Our tomatoes are starting to ripen, finally! And I am enjoying them in all their dribbling-chin glory. We eat thick slices of them with almost every meal, simply sprinkled with salt. Soon, before it gets too cold, we will pick all the green tomatoes and bring them in to ripen on the cool basement floor, and we will enjoy sweet garden tomatoes for the next few months. Yes, here in our zone 3 northern climate, we are a few months behind our southern gardener cousins, but we do get to enjoy these luscious fruits eventually.
I make delicious German tomato salad often, or Heirloom Tomato Caprese salad. My Triple Tomato Pasta Salad is so good with our own vine-ripened cherry tomatoes. And there's nothing better than a simple tomato sandwich for lunch - a slather of mayonnaise on a slice of bread, a thick slice of ripe garden tomato, salt and pepper, and a basil leaf or two.
And I make this glorious tomato tart. As often as I can.
It's an amazing celebration of the tomato. It's crispy, cheesy, and juicy. The tomatoes shine in glowing colour on the top. So simple, yet with such luscious flavour. Serve the tart with a glass of chilled white wine as an appetizer, or with a simple side salad as a light meal. You'll feel like it's still the height of summer whenever you bite into it.
What You'll Need
You'll need a pastry crust for a 9-inch (23cm) tart tin with a removable bottom or a 9-inch (23 cm) springform pan (or use a 10-inch (25cm) pie dish). Use your favourite pastry recipe or use my foolproof gluten-free version in the recipe card below. Or cheat and purchase a pre-made crust (I'll never tell).
The stars of the show are those beautifully sweet, perfectly vine-ripened tomatoes. The kind that come from the garden or market in the late summer or fall and are so loaded with flavour you want to bite into them and eat them like the fruit that they are. Making this tomato tart in the winter with bland, watery, store-bought tomatoes will leave you wondering what all the fuss is about.
You'll also need some Dijon mustard (that's how the French make this tart), some cheese to grate (Gruyère is beautiful, but any other good melting cheese would work, too), and some fresh basil to do a dance with the tomatoes (but dried Herbes de Provence or thyme are pretty tasty, too).
How to Make an Elegant Tomato Tart
After you've fitted the pastry crust into the tart shell, you can set to work shredding the cheese and 'chiffonading' the basil. To do this, you stack up a pile of fresh basil leaves on top of each other, then roll them tightly lengthwise into a cigar shape. Hold the roll of leaves and slice it into as thinly as possible. It is important to use a very sharp knife to prevent bruising the basil leaves. The resulting fine ribbons are called a 'chiffonade'.
Save a few basil leaves to add to the tomato tart once it's baked.
Now combine the shredded cheese, basil chiffonade, pepper, and a bit of cornstarch in a bowl. The cheese adds amazing flavour and also forms a barrier to keep the tomato juices from soaking into the crust. The cornstarch helps capture and thicken some of the tomato juices as added insurance. You won't need salt here as the cheese is salty enough.
Spread the bottom of the prepared pastry crust with the Dijon mustard. It will look like a lot, but use it anyway. The mustard magically melds with the cheese when it's baking and you won't even notice it's there - it just adds an amazing tang and umami note to the whole tart, balancing all the other flavours and bringing out the best in them.
Spread the cheese mixture on top of the mustard in the tart shell.
Now slice up those gorgeous tomatoes thickly. If you've got a combination of colours, even better to make a beautiful work-of-art tart. But all-red tomatoes is perfectly beautiful too. Arrange them, partially overlapping in a circle around the outside of the tart, then fill in the middle with extra slices or pieces.
Drizzle the tomatoes with a little bit of olive oil, and sprinkle them with salt and freshly ground pepper.
Bake it. After it comes out of the oven, let the beautiful tomato tart cool for a few minutes, then add a shower of basil chiffonade (or add a few dollops of homemade basil pesto). It's a masterpiece, almost too beautiful to eat!
Can I Freeze it?
I don't recommend freezing this tart. It is a seasonal delicacy that is best served fresh, even slightly warm from the oven. But you can make up balls of the pastry crust and freeze them so you can enjoy the tomato tart often when tomatoes are in season. Just wrap each ball of pastry tightly in plastic food wrap, tuck it into a freezer bag and seal it, and freeze it for up to 6 months. To use it, thaw it until it's thawed but still chilled, or thaw it to room temperature and chill it for 30 minutes before rolling it out for the tart.
If you're making up the pastry crust for a gluten-free tomato tart, try this savoury Leek and Mushroom Tart, too- so tasty.
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Tomato Tart
Equipment
- a 9-inch (23 cm) tart pan with a removable bottom (or a 9-inch springform pan or a 10-inch/25cm pie plate)
Ingredients
- 1 single crust pastry, regular or gluten-free (for a gluten-free version, see below)
- 1 lb. (450 g) fresh, ripe tomatoes (4-5 medium tomatoes)
- 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
- 1½ cups (150 g) shredded Gruyère cheese, or other good melting cheese, like Fontina, Provolone, Monterey Jack, Havarti, or Cheddar
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- ¼ teaspoon coarsely grated pepper
- ¼ cup finely shredded fresh basil or 1 teaspoon Herbes de Provence or ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- salt & pepper to taste
- 2-3 fresh basil leaves for garnish
Gluten-Free Pastry Crust
- 2 tablespoons ground golden flax seeds
- 4 tablespoons (60 ml) water
- 1½ cups (200 g) gluten-free flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder (gluten-free)
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ cup (100 g) cold lard, diced (or ½ cup/113 grams cold butter, or half lard and half butter - ¼ cup of each)
- 2 tablespoons plain yogurt
Instructions
To Make the Gluten-Free Pastry Crust
- Stir together the ground flax seeds and water and leave them to gel for 10 minutes.
- Whisk together the gluten-free flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Add the cubed lard (or butter) and toss with the flour. Squeeze the cubes lightly with your fingers to flatten them to large flakes in the flour.
- Add the flax gel and yogurt and mix with a fork just until the flour is mostly moistened.
- Knead the dough lightly a few times until it just comes together into a rough ball. You should still see chunks of butter in the dough (these will melt while baking to make flaky pockets). Shape the pastry ball into a disk about 1-inch (2.5 cm) thick. Wrap it tightly with plastic food wrap and chill it for 30 minutes, or up to 5 days.
Assemble the Tomato Tart:
- Preheat the oven to 400℉ (200℃).
- Roll out the pie crust pastry (roll it between 2 sheets of parchment paper if using the gluten-free crust) and fit it into the tart pan or pie dish. Ease it down into the sides, trim off any excess, and patch any cracks. Chill the pan with the pastry for 30 minutes.
- Spread the dijon mustard evenly in the bottom of the chilled pie shell.
- Chiffonade the basil leaves; stack the leaves on top of each other, roll them tightly lengthwise into a log, then slice them finely across the 'log'. In a bowl, toss the shredded cheese with the cornstarch, pepper, and basil chiffonade (or dried herbs).
- Spread the shredded cheese mixture on top of the mustard in the tart tin.
- Core the tomatoes and cut them into ¼-inch (.5cm) slices. Arrange them on top of the cheese in a circle around the outside of the tart, overlapping the slices by about half. Fill in the center of the circle with more tomato slices.
- Sprinkle the tomato slices lightly with salt and more pepper. Drizzle with the olive oil. Set the tart pan onto a cookie sheet or larger flat baking pan to catch any drips or leakage (you can line the larger pan with parchment paper or tin foil for easier clean-up).
- Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the tart crust is nicely browned and the filling is bubbling around the edges.
- Allow the tomato tart to cool for 15-20 minutes before serving warm, or serve it at room temperature. Sprinkle on more freshly sliced basil leaves just before serving. Slice into 8 wedges. Serves 8 for appetizers or 4 for a main course.
Notes
Nutrition
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