So, I’ve been reading all these wonderful posts lately about really delicious sounding (and looking) tomato tarts. Hmmm…I started to think, that would be a good way to use some of the tomatoes that keep coming in from the back and front yards. Then, on Saturday morning, I sat down to watch a few episodes of America’s Test Kitchen (how dorky is it that I bought the Season 4 dvds? Uh, or that my big Saturday morning thing is to sit on the couch and watch four or so episodes?) But, my dorkiness aside, the second episode was — Summer Tomatoes — and they made a tart! Well, now it’s like fate or something, I thought. I have to make a tomato tart.
And so I made a tart.
I followed America’s Test Kitchen’s suggestion and used puff pastry as my crust:
1. because I am lazy, and
2. I just happened to have some in the freezer. Could that be another sign that this tart was pre-destined? .
Tomato and Mozzarella Tart:
1 box frozen puff pastry (thawed in the box in refrigerator overnight, if you can — myself, I just let it sit on the counter for 30 minutes before using and it worked well enough)
1 large egg, beaten
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
4-5 medium tomatoes (I used a combination of Early Girls and Romas)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 cups whole-milk mozzarella cheese, shredded
2 tbsp chopped fresh basil leaves
unbleached all-purpose flour (for work surface)
ground black pepper
balsamic glaze if you are feeling fancy-pantsy (as I often am)
Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Dust work surface with flour and unfold both pieces puff pastry onto work surface. Form one large sheet, by brushing one vertical end with beaten egg and laying the other sheet’s vertical end on top. Press down to seal. Trim horizontal edges to make a nice looking rectangle — now you are looking down at your one large piece rectangle of puff pastry dough.
Next, you will need two long strips and two short strips of your pastry dough that will be added to the sides of the rectangle to make a border. For this border, you see, will contain all of the tomatoey-goodness within its raised boundaries below. To do this: trim two 1-inch strips off the horizontal ends and two 1-inch strips off the vertical ends. Using egg as a sort of glue and place each strip on top of the end of each side, kind of like you are building a frame. Then, when that is done, brush entire surface with the beaten egg. This (along with the soon-to-be-mentioned cheese) will guard against crust sogginess.
Sprinkle parmesan evenly (and generously) over shell — but not the raised parts. Using a fork, uniformly and thoroughly poke holes in parmesan-covered shell to dock it. Bake 13 to 15 minutes, then reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees; continue to bake until golden brown and crisp, 13 to 15 minutes longer. Remove pastry; increase oven temperature to 425 degrees.
While shell bakes, place tomato slices in single layer on double layer paper towels and sprinkle evenly with 1/2 teaspoon salt; let stand 30 minutes. Place second double layer paper towels on top of tomatoes and press firmly to dry tomatoes. Combine garlic, olive oil, and pinch each salt and pepper in small bowl; set aside.
Sprinkle mozzarella evenly over warm (or cool, if made ahead) baked pastry shell. Shingle tomato slices widthwise on top of cheese (about 4 slices per row); brush tomatoes with garlic oil. Bake until shell is deep golden brown and cheese is melted, 15 to 17 minutes. Cool on wire rack 5 minutes, sprinkle with basil, slide onto cutting board or serving platter, cut into pieces, and serve.
Add balsamic glaze drizzle if desired and uncork the Zinfandel, baby — it’s tart time!
We ate the tart with a side of sautéed spinach with olive oil, pine nuts, garlic and golden raisins. This recipe came out of an Eating Well magazine. If you need more cheese (and of course we did), the spinach is also very good with some shaved parmesan on top. Mini-directions: Sautee a handful of pine nuts, a minced clove of garlic, and a handful of raisins in some olive oil for about 1-2 minutes. Add a bag of baby spinach and a little salt & pepper. Cook until it is wilted down (1-2 minutes). Top with cheese. Yum! As we were discussing our bounty during dinner, we decided that the spinach would also be an excellent bed for a grilled chicken breast or some other kind of tasty main dish item.
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Lastly, can I just say this (Catskill Craftsmen Wood Pastry Board with Baking Graphics) is one of the coolest things ever? I got it to make my pumpkin pie with last Thanksgiving (thinking I would need all the help I could get). It’s large enough to roll almost anything out on and you never have to guess about the size of what you are rolling out — I love it.