Hello Kitchen Scout followers!
I’d like to start by thanking all of you for reading my blog! I am having so much fun with it and appreciate when you comment or send me emails about my posts! They really make my day and I love hearing that you’ve made one of my recipes. I particularly enjoy when you send me photographs of your results so please keep it up, ok?
Speaking of hearing from you, I would also appreciate any feedback you might have to make the blog better! If you have any thoughts on content, navigation of the site, etc., please be in touch! All feedback is welcome! My email address is valerie@thekitchenscout.com.
Lastly, and before you are absolutely convinced that I only cook vegetarian food, I do hope to share recipes for practical weeknight dishes, appetizers for football parties and desserts for book club gatherings as the temps cool and the day shorten.
This week, I am serving up a dish that celebrates the end of tomato season. The recipe for this Tomato Tart is one that my friend, Cherry, posted to her Facebook page several years ago. It once came across my newsfeed long before I started the blog, and then it quickly vanished into the Facebook vortex. Thankfully, a mutual friend wanted to let Cherry know she was making the tart, so she made a comment on the recipe and eureka, it was back in my newsfeed! If you are a Facebook user, you know what I am talking about. If you aren’t, be grateful you don’t! I quickly printed out the recipe before it vanished again and vowed to make it this week, which I did, twice!
I asked Cherry if it was ok to share it with all of you! She happily agreed because as Cherry said, there are still hundreds of tomatoes out there that need to find their pies!!! Cherry thought the original recipe may have come from a Martha Stewart Living magazine, but she has changed it a bunch over the years and made it her own. I made a few minor adjustments to Cherry’s original recipe and we both hope you will give it a try soon.
Although pretty straightforward, this recipe has a few time consuming but not labor intensive steps ahead of assembly. However, you can roast the garlic and saute the onions ahead of time if you want. You can even bake the entire tart ahead and just warm it up before serving. As I mentioned, I made two tarts this week, once using the Fontina cheese called for in Cherry’s original recipe, and the second time with Gruyere. They were both delicious. You can really play around with the recipe by adding additional flavorings such as mustard, basil or sundried tomato pestos or even tapenade.
I think the next time I make it, I may try using puff pastry and cut it into little squares. I hope you enjoy this sometime before the tomatoes are gone!
Until next time…
An entire head of garlic is prepared for roasting by cutting just a little bit off the top to expose the cloves…
The head is drizzled with olive oil, salt and pepper and wrapped in foil to roast until golden and sweet…
It will look like this after roasting…
The cloves easily pop out of their skins once they are roasted. Just hold the head in your hand and gently squeeze. I know, I need a manicure…
Final step is to mash the garlic. This would be so yummy on some toasted bread or mixed into some butter to put on top of a steak. Or added to mashed potatoes…
Sweet onion can be chopped, or sliced into half-moons as shown…
Depending on your preference, you can saute the onions until they are just softened…
Or to boost the flavor, you can keep them going at a low heat for about 45 minutes to achieve a deeper caramelization. These would be so good on top of a burger…
Spread the garlic on the bottom of your pie dough. Add half of the onions. My dough was 1 1/4 cups flour, 8 Tablespoons of unsalted butter, 3/4 teaspoon salt and about 4 Tablespoons of ice water. There was a little leftover dough that I am going to bake up with some cinnamon and sugar…
Then half of the cheese, all of the tomatoes seasoned with salt and pepper and the remaining onions. Finish it off with the remaining cheese…
Bake for 45 – 55 minutes until golden, let sit for at least 20 minutes and scatter slivered basil on top…
Ready for its closeup!
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Ingredients
- 1 head garlic
- 1 medium sized Vidalia onion, sliced thinly
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Homemade or store purchased single crust pie dough
- 8 ounces Fontina or Gruyere cheese, grated
- 1 1/2 pounds firm but ripe tomatoes (4 medium), cored and sliced 1/4 inch thick
- 10 leaves fresh basil, sliced thin
- Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Slice top off of garlic head to expose a thin layer of cloves. Place garlic on a piece of foil and drizzle with 1 Tablespoon of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Wrap to enclose garlic in foil and place on a small baking sheet. Bake until soft and golden brown and the tip of a knife easily pierces the flesh, about 45 minutes to 1 hour. When the garlic is cool enough to handle, using either your hands or the dull edge of a large knife, squeeze the cloves out of their skins and into a small bowl. Mash with a fork and set aside.
- Increase oven temperature to 400 degrees.
- While the garlic is roasting, saute the onion in another Tablespoon of olive oil until soft (or you can caramelize them for even more flavor). Set aside.
- Place pie dough in pan and crimp edges.
- Spread roasted garlic evenly across the bottom of the dough.
- Spread half of onions on top of garlic.
- Sprinkle half of the cheese on top of the onions.
- Arrange tomatoes on top of cheese in an overlapping pattern, layering the remaining onions between. Season with salt and pepper.
- Cover the tomatoes with the remaining cheese.
- Place tart on sheet pan and bake for 45 to 55 minutes until golden.
- Cool for 20 minutes before cutting.
- Sprinkle with basil and serve.
Hi Val. I’m happy to report that your friend Jill made “Cherry’s Tomato Tart” tonight for our annual Crab Dinner. I have never seen a tart go so fast! Jill chose Gruyere for the cheese, and the the flavor was exquisite with the tomato, basil and tasty crust. Even Cherry, who was present, enjoyed the tart! So glad that you (and Cherry) shared this recipe with everyone.
Hi Tenney! I am so glad she made it any you all had a chance to enjoy it with the original author, Cherry! Thank you for writing!
CANNOT wait to make this! Looks gorgeous…..where did you find those perfect tomatoes?
Hi Susan! I made the tart in the picture last summer, but I am betting the tomatoes came from either Verrill or Wilson Farm’s! I hope you enjoy it! xo
Val – looking forward to making this tomorrow. Do I need to adjust the cooking time if i use frozen pie crust – or should i let the crust thaw before spreading the garlic on the bottom?
Hi Ani! Yes, let the frozen crust thaw completely but try to have it be cold when you put I in the oven so it retains a nice shape. The frozen ones generally do! Good luck and let me know how it goes!
Can’t wait to try this tonight Val! Love your close up pics too! Any suggestions for an ingredient to replace the cheese??
Oh, good question, Lucy! I am thing you might try beating some eggs to make it more quiche like? Maybe 4 or 5 eggs. The cheese helps bind it all together but you could also free form it with a flat crust, layer of garlic, interwoven tomatoes and onions and then a drizzle of olive oil to keep it moist. Top with basil. Hope that helps!
Val- I made this last night and although it wasn’t as pretty as yours, it was crazy delicious. Bill is loving all the new “Valerie” recipes that I am trying out on him. Thanks for the inspiration.
Love it!
really really amazing! Thank you Val!
donna
I am so glad you enjoyed it, Donna!