Flaky! Tomato Tart

Not me, my crust. Very flaky and delicious. Better still, it was whipped up in minutes. No chilling the dough, no patching an unwilling crust.

Easy. As pie.  (Although I’m afraid that when I do make it again I will fail terribly. It has happened before). Until then we were very happy to have this for a light dinner. The filled French Bread you see on some of the photos was geared towards the picky eater son. He was as happy with it as we were with the tart.

Husband noted that it was more filling that it looked. Which in his opinion is a good thing. I can totally see this for when you have company for lunch, or in small slices served as an appetizer.

A perfect crust to use for all kinds of idle vegetables, and equally good I think to use for sweet fillings as well. Husband thought it was a tad too sweet for a hearty filling… (I’m not so sure but I kind of understand where that comes from).

Got the recipe from a trusted source and totally followed it as written including the higher temp in my convection oven. I was a bit worried about the tomatoes spilling liquid and thus a soggy crust. Didn’t happen. Might be that the Dyon mustard prevented that.

Tart Filling

One unbaked tart dough (see recipe, below)
Dijon or whole-grain mustard
2-3 large ripe tomatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper
two generous tablespoons chopped fresh herbs, (thyme/chives/tarragon)
8 ounces (250 g) fresh or slightly aged goat cheese, sliced into rounds
Optional: 1 1/2 tablespoons flavorful honey

(I used what I had on hand, fresh parsley and basil, plus freeze dry lemon thyme, drizzled a little honey, and used mozzarella instead of goat chees although I think the goat cheese adds some more spike to it )

Tart Dough

1 1/2 cups (210 g) flour
4 1/2 ounces (125 g) unsalted butter, chilled, cut into cubes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
2-3 tablespoons cold water

1. Make the dough by mixing the flour and salt in a bowl. Add the butter and use your hands, or a pastry blender, to break in the butter until the mixture has a crumbly, cornmeal-like texture. (I went the easy way and used the pulse button on my Magimix)

2. Mix the egg with 2 tablespoons of the water. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the beaten egg mixture, stirring the mixture until the dough holds together. If it's not coming together easily, add the additional tablespoon of ice water.

3. Gather the dough into a ball and roll the dough on a lightly floured surface, adding additional flour only as necessary to keep the dough from sticking to the counter.

4. Once the dough is large enough so that it will cover the bottom of the pan and go up the sides, roll the dough around the rolling pin then unroll it over the tart pan. "Dock" the bottom of the pastry firmly with your fingertips a few times, pressing in to make indentations.

5. Preheat the oven to 425ºF (218ºC).

6. Spread an even layer of mustard over the bottom of the tart dough and let it sit a few minutes to dry out.

7. Slice the tomatoes and arrange them over the mustard in a single, even layer. Drizzle the olive oil over the top.

8. Sprinkle with some chopped fresh herbs, then arrange the slices of goat cheese on top. Add some more fresh herbs, then drizzle with some honey, if using.

9. Bake the tart for 30 minutes or so, until the dough is cooked, the tomatoes are tender, and the cheese on top is nicely browned. Depending on the heat of your oven, if the cheese doesn't brown as much as you'd like it, you might want to pass it under the broiler until it's just right.