Granny’s Tomato Tart
- Total Time
- 1 hour
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 2½cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 3tablespoons semolina flour
- 1teaspoon salt
- 12tablespoons (1½ sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into ¼-inch pieces
- 3tablespoons chilled solid vegetable shortening
- 2tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 8ounces Gruyère cheese, coarsely grated
- 12 to 14ripe plum tomatoes, ends trimmed, very thinly sliced into rounds
- 1teaspoon herbes de Provence
- Freshly ground black pepper
- ½teaspoon salt, or to taste
For the Tart Crust
For the Topping
Preparation
For the Tart Crust
- Step 1
For tart crust: In a food processor, combine flours and salt. Pulse to combine. Add butter and shortening and pulse until mixture resembles moist crumbs; do not overwork dough. Transfer to a bowl and sprinkle with 4 tablespoons ice water. Shape into a ball, adding ice water 1 tablespoon at a time (as many as 6 more may be needed) until dough is just past crumbly and holds together.
- Step 2
For two tarts, divide dough in half and wrap each in plastic wrap, and press each with palm of your hand into disks. For one tart, wrap in plastic and shape into one large disk. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes before rolling out.
- Step 3
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Roll out dough into two 9-inch disks or one 10-by-16-inch rectangle ⅛-inch thick. Transfer to a baking sheet and crimp edges ½-inch high. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Prick all over with fork. Place parchment paper or foil on top and weigh down with pie weights or dried beans. Bake until lightly browned, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove paper or foil and weights from dough, and continue to bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside to cool; do not turn off oven.
- Step 4
For topping: Spread mustard thinly over bottom of cooled shell. Scatter evenly with cheese. Arrange tomatoes in even, slightly overlapping rows. Sprinkle with herbes de Provence, and season to taste with pepper. Bake until tomatoes begin to shrivel and cheese melts, 10 to 12 minutes. Sprinkle with salt, and serve hot or at room temperature.
Private Notes
Comments
This is truly the best tomato tart recipe. The dough is incredibly forgiving, even a pastry novice can have great success. I always make two rectangular tarts. I seed the tomatoes and drain the very thin slices on a double layer of paper towels to make sure they are not too watery. It is delicious served at room temperature. I have made this numerous times and shared the recipe with many. Such a keeper.
I used thinly sliced heirloom tomatoes from the farmer's market drained on paper towels first. The dough was forgiving and plenty of it for 10" × 16". Loved the pastry flake and crunch. Spread the mustard evenly or taste will not be even. Delicious and beautiful end of summer tart.
Based on what I had on hand, replaced shell with puff pastry, dijon mustard with black olive tapenade and gruyere with softened goat cheese. I lightly salted and drained the tomatoes, then dehydrated slightly in the oven while par-baking the pastry. A winner that I'll make again.
I’ve been making some version of this for many years. The Gruyère cheese and mustard are important as their sharpness offsets the sweet tomatoes. The herbs de Provençal can easily be replaced with pesto, basil or whatever you have fresh. I used TJs pie dough, but would also work well with a lightly pre baked puff pastry.
OMG! This was amazing. With a nod to Melissa Clark’s cherry tomato pie, I added a quarter cup of chopped olives, a splash of sherry vinegar, and used puff pastry. Also increased the herbs to 1TBLS. It really is the perfect way to use up that big haul of plum tomatoes from the Farm Share. Definitely going into our normal rotation of easy dinners that have huge flavor.
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