Mathilde’s Tomato Tart
Description
This is as rich as it is beautiful, so even though it doesn’t appear to be very big (I used a 10-inch removeable bottom tart pan), this goes a long way. Absolutely smashing for breakfast, lunch or dinner, please don’t wait for a fancy occasion to try it…and we have Smitten Kitchen to thank for sharing this recipe this past August – enjoy!
Ingredients
For the crust (pâte brisée);
1 3/4 c. (230 g) flour
1/2 t. EACH sugar AND kosher salt
1/2 c. (115 g) cold butter, cut into cubes
1 egg
1 T. water (I used closer to 2 tablespoons)
For the filling;
3 large, very ripe (preferably heirloom) tomatoes (about 1 1/2 lbs.), or the equivalent in a variety of sizes – all cut about 1/4-inch thick for even cooking
1 small clove of garlic AND 1/2 t. kosher salt
1 c. (15 g) fresh basil leaves AND 2 c. (25 g) fresh parsley leaves
2 T. olive oil, plus extra for brushing on the top before cooking
1 T. Dijon
2 oz. (55 g) strong, hard cheese, thinly sliced or coarsely grated – I used Parmesan
lots of freshly ground pepper
Instructions
To make the crust – place the flour, sugar, salt and butter in your food processor and pulse until the mix resembles coarse crumbs. Add the egg and 1 tablespoon of water and pulse again until the dough comes together – this is where I dripped in a titch more water to help it along. Turn the dough out onto a piece of parchment, flatten it into a disk, place another piece of parchment on top and roll it out to the size of your tart pan (remembering that the crust also needs to be pressed up the sides). Slide the dough circle onto a plate or pan and freeze for 10 minutes until it hardens up slightly, but won’t crack when you’re shaping it.
Line the bottom of your tart pan (or even a regular pie plate) with the dough and gently press it into the sides and edges. Trim it if needed (this wasn’t necessary for me, maybe I got lucky?), and then prick the entire thing across the bottom with a fork. Place in the freezer again until frozen solid (and cover gently if you’ve chosen to do all of these steps a day or 2 before you plan on baking it).
Preheat the oven to 375, place the frozen crust-in-tart-pan on a parchment lined baking sheet, line it with parchment and fill it evenly with pie weights. Bake for 20 minutes then remove the parchment and weights and bake for 5 minutes more. Leave on a rack and allow it to cool while you prep the filling.
To make the filling – place all of the tomato slices on a large, rimmed baking sheet and sprinkle all lightly with salt. To your food processor, add the garlic, salt, basil and parsley and pulse until finely chopped (my mini-chopper worked well for this). Add the olive oil and pulse again until a paste forms, scraping down the sides as needed. If you make this ahead of time, cover tightly with plastic wrap pressed against the surface to prevent browning and keep it in the fridge.
Blot the tomatoes with a clean towel or paper towel to remove all excess moisture that you can. Use a small spoon to spread the mustard evenly over the bottom of your cooled crust, evenly sprinkle on all of the cheese, dollop on the herb mix and do your best to spread it out evenly in a thin layer, then layer on the tomatoes. The tomatoes will shrink as they cook so some overlapping is fine, cut them as you need to to fill all gaps!
Lightly brush or spray all of the tomatoes with olive oil, generously grind on some pepper and then bake for about 50 minutes at 375 until the tomatoes are deeply roasted. This will need to cool for a good chunk of time to be able to slice it – serving it at room temperature also works very well.
