Roasted Tomato Tart with Chèvre
Finding some oven dried tomatoes in the freezer, picking the first tomatoes from the garden, and a trip to the Farmer’s Market was the inspiration for making this delicious savory tart.
The tart dough is very much like making a “rough” puff pastry and requires only three ingredients. It is made by incorporating butter into flour, adding water then rolling and folding it over onto itself. It doesn’t require a food processor or mixer and actually, using either would not give you the desired results of layers of butter and flour. These layers are what give a flaky crust. It is amazingly easy, so don’t be intimidated by the length of the directions. They are just very detailed.
For the Filling –
1 ½ pounds of cherry tomatoes
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided, plus more for drizzling
1 – 2 plus ½ teaspoons kosher salt, divided (to taste)
¾ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
4 ounces dried roma tomatoes
1 teaspoon Herbs de Provence
5 ounces fresh cheese, such as chèvre
1 tablespoon chiffonade of fresh basil
Dough for 1 tart shell (recipe follows)
Heat oven to 325ºF and bring a kettle of water to a boil. Cut tomatoes in half and place in a bowl. Toss with 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 – 2 teaspoons salt and ½ teaspoon pepper. Place in a shallow roasting pan just large enough to hold them in a single layer and roast until skins begin to shrivel and char, about 40 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.
While tomatoes are roasting, place dried tomatoes in a bowl (can be the same bowl as used above) and cover with boiling water. Set aside to rehydrate, about ½ an hour.
Drain re-hydrated tomatoes and place in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal “S” blade. Process tomatoes until chopped. Scrape down using a rubber spatula. With the machine running, add the remaining olive oil and process until a paste forms. Scrape down sides; add herbs de Provence and remaining salt and pepper. Process until just combined and set aside.
For the Tart Shell –
Makes enough for two 9” rounds, for top and bottom pie crust, or two tarts
2 ¼ cups unbleached all purpose flour
16 tablespoons (8 ounces) cold PastureLand salted butter, cut into about 16 pieces
¼ cup water
Place flour in a mound on a clean flat surface such as a pastry board or granite counter-top. Toss the butter chunks into the flour to coat. With the heel of your hand, smear the butter into the flour. Using a bench knife (aka pastry scraper), toss the mixture back into a mound and smear it again.
Keep smearing and scraping until the butter becomes thin flakes and is incorporated into the flour. Eventually, there should be more butter flakes and less loose flour. If the butter flakes are large, break them up a little. In the end, there should be a combination of big flakes and some crumbs. This process should take less than five minutes.
Make a well in the center of the flour/butter mixture and pour in the water. Working very quickly, use your finger tips to gently blend and distribute the water evenly into the dough. Scrape up the dough with the pastry scraper and fold it over itself again. Gather it into a disk, wrap it tightly in food film and place in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes or until cold.
When the dough is cold, remove it from the refrigerator and unwrap it. Flour the pastry board or counter liberally, using enough so that the dough does not stick to the counter or the rolling pin. Place the dough on the board and flour the top of the dough liberally as well. Roll the dough out into an elongated rectangle.
Using a pastry brush, remove the excess flour from the top of the dough. Pick up one end of the rectangle and fold it over the dough by two-thirds Brush the flour off the newly folded section and then pick up the other end, folding it over that section as you would fold a letter. The dough may crack or even break, but this is okay. Just ensure that as much flour as possible is brushed off so that flour is not trapped between the layers of dough.
Sprinkle more flour over everything. Turn the folded dough 90 degree so that the seams are now on the sides, roll the dough out again into a rectangle, and repeat the brushing and folding. The dough will become smoother and more pliable. Repeat this process two more times. If the dough becomes too soft, wrap it again and return it to the refrigerator until cold. Roll out the dough and fold it for the third and final time forming it into a smaller rectangle. Cut in half and form each into a disk. Wrap each in food film and refrigerate for at least an additional 30 minutes. The other disk can be frozen and used for another recipe.
When ready to proceed, take one disk of dough out of the refrigerator. It may need to warm up a bit for ease in rolling. Roll out dough with a floured rolling pin into a 12 inch round on a lightly floured surface and fit into tart pan. Trim excess dough, leaving a 1/2-inch overhang, then fold overhang inward and press against side of pan to reinforce edge. Lightly prick bottom and sides with a fork. This time, freeze the shell for 30 minutes.
While the tart shell is in the freezer, preheat the oven to 375ºF. Remove shell from freezer, line it with parchment paper and fill with pie weights. Bake for 30 minutes. Gently remove pie weights and parchment paper. Carefully remove foil and weights and bake until pale golden all over. Cool in pan on a rack.
Assembling the Tart –
Using a small offset spatula, spread the dried tomato paste over bottom of tart shell. Crumble cheese evenly over the paste. Top with charred roasted tomatoes and return to the oven for 15 – 20 minutes or until cheese is melted and tomatoes are bubbly.
Remove from oven and sprinkle chopped basil over tart. If desired, drizzle with additional olive oil. Cut into eight pieces and serve immediately.
