We’ve been graced with some amazing tomatoes through our friend Alice at Log House Plants; these are Might ‘Mato grafted varieties and they are simply stunning in taste, appearance and yield. Trust me when I say get you some!
We’refeaturing several recipes that take advantage of these lovely things; here’s a savory, sweet to-die-for tart, if we do say so ourselves!
For the Tart:
2 cups Flour
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Sugar
12 Tbs. Unsalted Butter, well chilled & cut into 1/2″ cubes
6 to 8 Tbs. Ice Water
Combine flour, salt and sugar thoroughly.
With your fingertips, blend the butter into the flour mix until its has the even consistency of coarse corn meal.
Add water a tablespoon at a time and mix gently with your hands. Continue until the dough is thoroughly blended and moist but not sticky; STOP messing with it as soon as it gets to that stage.
Flatten the dough out into a disk about 6″ round, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, (And up to overnight).
Roll the dough out to roughly 16″ round and about 1/8″ thick.
Carefully transfer the dough to a parchment-lined 12″ tart pan. Double back the rim to about 3/4″ high and trim away any excess, (Roll the excess back out, sprinkle with a little sea salt, garlic, pepper and hard cheese for a lovely little amuse bouché)
Stick the pan back into the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 425 F.
Remove the crust from fridge, fill with marbles or dry beans and blind bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven, remove marbles/beans and get ready to fill ‘er up.
For the Caramelized Onions:
Slice a medium sweet onion into 1/4″ rounds.
In a large sauté pan, add 2 tablespoons each of extra virgin olive oil and butter over medium heat. Toss in onions, add salt and pepper to taste, reduce heat to medium low and Caramelized onions until golden brown and soft. Turn heat to high, briefly allow pan to heat through. Add two Tablespoons of Sherry, flame and allow the alcohol to burn off. Set onions aside in a non reactive bowl.
For the Tomatoes:
Add 1 fresh Tablespoon of butter and olive oil to sauté pan over medium low heat.
Slice about 24 small cherry or varietal tomatoes in half.
Mince two cloves of garlic.
Toss garlic and into pan and allow to caramelize slightly. Add tomatoes, blend with garlic for about 2 minutes. As soon as you see the tomatoes showing signs of getting soft, remove from heat, drain excess oil and set aside.
Set oven to 375 F.
Layer onions evenly over tart, then add an even layer of tomatoes.
Set oven racks at lower and upper third positions.
Bake tart for 15 minutes on lower rack, then spin 180 degrees and bake another 15 minutes on top rack.
Remove from heat and allow to rest for 10 minutes before serving.
Garnish with creme freche or Crema and fresh cilantro.
Be sure to pop over to this post for some truly wonderful Green Tomato Chuntney!
Lovely Variation:
Replace the lightly sautéed garlic with oven roasted garlic; gives a sweeter, deeper and more complex garlic note to the dish.
Preheat oven to 400°F.
Peel away the outer layers from a whole bulb of garlic bulb skin, (leave individual cloves skins intact). Do as many as you like this way – 1 large clove is enough for this tart.
Slice about 1/4″ off the top of the cloves.
Set garlic head up in a garlic roaster, (you can use a muffin tin if you don’t have a roaster; just cover each head with aluminum foil before roasting). Drizzle a bit of extra virgin olive oil over the top, then rub it in to the whole head by hand.
Bake at 400°F for 30-35 minutes, or until the cloves tops are caramel colored and feel soft to the touch.
Remove from oven and set to cool on a wire rack. When they’re cool enough to handle, you can grab a clove and squish the roasted garlic right out. Do that into a with as many as you like for your tart.
Spread the roasted garlic onto the tart crust prior to layering on the onions.
E & M
UrbanMonique 