My lovely neighbors have this incredible garden (*jealous*) and they have been sharing plenty of it! With the gorgeous tomatoes they brought over this week, I made one of John’s favorites – a tomato tart. It’s simple and flavorful. I even got to share some with my neighbors who asked for the recipe…so I thought I should share.
You can use any kind of hard salty cheese, typically I’ll use pecorino, Parmesan, gruyere..comte..I could go on.
Tomato tart (Tarte au tomates) – 4 main course servings/ 16 appetizers
1 sheet of packaged puff pastry
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/4 cup finely grated hard/salty cheese
4 sprigs of thyme
3-4 tomatoes, different varieties, thinly sliced
Olive oil
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Optional: greens and red onion salad
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Lightly salt tomato slices and allow to sit while preparing pastry, they’ll release quite a bit of water.
Roll out your puff pastry on a floured surface to a 10in X 13in rectangle. Place on prepared baking sheet. Spread with mustard, leaving a 1.5cm border. Scatter with cheese, thyme leaves from 3 sprigs (discard stems), then layer the tomato slices on top, slightly overlapping – season to taste with freshly ground pepper. Fold in pastry edges to form a border, lay fourth sprig of thyme on the center and drizzle tomatoes lightly with olive oil. Increase temperature to 425 degrees F and bake for 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven, use leaves from garnish thyme to sprinkle over tart, discard the stem.
Optional:
A typical way to serve is to dress lettuce leaves and red onion or shallot with a light dressing: champagne vinegar (1 teaspoon) + olive oil (2 teaspoons)
Serve hot or at room temperature, slice tart into 4 or 16, garnish each slice with a few lightly dressed greens and onions.
Bon appetit! Happy cooking!
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