Tis the season for the bounty of those garden tomatoes. Much more beautiful than their red-headed cousins at the grocery store, and sweeter too. It’s always this time of year that I go into tomato overdrive and find a ton of ways to incorporate tomatoes into our meals before I turn to canning/roasting/saucing. The recipe for this tart is EASY…..and gorgeous….and kind of sophisticated. So, fool your family and friends to think you are a fancy schmancy cook and whip this up!
French Garden Tomato Tart
- 2-3 tomatoes sliced thinly and de-seeded (enough to fit one layer of tomatoes over a pie crust)
- dijon mustard (or a higher grade mustard that is not your plain ole’ yellow)
- a handful of fresh garden herbs (I used basil, rosemary, & thyme)
- goat cheese
- 1 1/2 TBSP. extra virgin olive oil (I used a white truffle infused olive oil)
- honey
- one sheet of pie crust
- preheat oven to 425
Please note that I didn’t put many measurements to the ingredients above. You can really customize this to how you like it. Not a big fan of herbs? Skip ‘em. Want your whole tart to be green? Pull up your whole basil plant and throw it on there. See what I mean?
Ok, I’m not a baker and I’m not messing around with making pie crust. If you are, high fives to you. If not, run to the grocery store and buy a box of rolled crust. All you need is one sheet. You can either use a quiche/tart form, or you can free mold this baby. Since I have a form, I just sprayed the bottom with olive oil spray, and pressed the pie crust down into every little nook so it’s anchored in there, like this:
Now take your mustard and squirt some on your pie crust and spread it evenly around. I probably used 2 TBSP. of a dijon mustard. Work your tomatoes next and let that mustard dry on your crust for a few minutes.
Next, slice your tomatoes on the thinner side. You need to de-seed them the best you can. Why? Because if you don’t, there will be way too much liquid in this tart and the crust will be soggy. No good. So, how do you de-seed? I just cut them thinly, poked my finger through the seed holes, and then whipped the tomato back and forth over my sink. Seeds went flying.
Layer the tomatoes on the mustard covered pie crust in a single layer. Chop up some fresh herbs, and sprinkle over your tomatoes. Next, drizzle some extra virgin olive oil over this layer. I used about 1 1/2 TBSP. of white truffle infused olive oil, because TJ Maxx was loving on me and left the last clearanced out bottle for me to find.
Now, slice up some goat cheese and arrange on top of tomatoes and herbs. You want to make sure you still see some of the red of the tomatoes so don’t cover the whole tart with cheese. If you are like me and like the herbs, sprinkle more on top of the goat cheese. The final touch is taking some honey and drizzle sparingly on top of all the layers. Oh, the freshness of the herbs, the creaminess of the cheese, the tartness of the tomato, the flakiness of the crust and the sweetness of the honey….it’s a dreamy combination.
Pop this into your oven that has been preheated to 425 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove, let stand for a few minutes, then cut and serve. Pretty and light. A salad or soup would be an excellent companion to this tart.
Keep on cooking 
Daniela
