You guys, I’m in deep. I’m in the middle of some pretty serious Instagram stalking. I’ve gone down the rabbit hole.
I’ve followed a comment on my friend Whitney’s feed and now I’m well into some stranger’s Instagram wedding album, some weird dude’s pet snake, and did you know there’s a whole Ryan Gosling thing going on on Instagram? Of course there is. Also, there are just so many selfies of strangers I have to marvel at! Gosh. I’m in it.
It’s usually when I’m in deep that I start to think about the other side of the coin: someone losing themselves in my Instagram feed. What would they think? Geez, this girl eats a lot of food. Geez, this girl likes to stack food and take pictures of it. How many pictures of a desk can one person take? A lot. Ok… she has a cat. And cocktails. And she likes cookies. And she’s been to New Orleans.
That’s about the long and short of it.
Whatever we do, let’s not think about the former bosses, and ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriends that are probably scrolling through our feeds. Actually… maybe we do want to think about them, and hope they’re hungry when they run across this picture of our Heirloom Tomato Tart.
We’re here to inspire, right? …and occasionally flaunt our flakey crust and lip gloss.
I like a cacophony of ingredients. Savory this time! Tomatoes of two kinds, fresh basil and thyme, fresh goat cheese, and the makings of a simple sundried tomato spread.
This Sundried Tomato Pesto is really the secret sauce of this tart.
We combine sundried tomatoes, garlic, a chili pepper, salt, and sugar and make an intense tomato spread. It’s seriously delicious! This recipe makes enough for two tarts. If you just make one tart, then you’ll have enough spread for tomorrow’s breakfast toast.
We’re building these gorgeous tomato flavors atop a chilled piece of puff pastry. Flakes for days, friends. Flakes for days.
Spread is spread.
I like to the drain the sliced tomatoes by placing them on a paper towel. I also like to remove some of the seeds from the sliced cherry tomatoes. This helps the tomato stay crisp with no chance of sog.
Sundried spread, fresh basil, and fresh goat cheese. Layered.
Tomato time! Thyme time! Salt and pepper for good measure.
After some oven-time, this tart is flakey, golden brown, and summer-lush. We’re talking crisp, flavorful, herby, tomato YESSS! So good and so easy to make pretty! The tomatoes do all the work. Win!
Heirloom Tomato Tart
makes 1 9×9-inch tart
adapted slightly from The Guardian
For the Sundried Tomato Pesto Sauce:
(This will actually make enough sauce for two tarts. Either double the Tart ingredients below, or reserve the extra sauce for topping on toast, eggs, or pasta. It’s delicious.)
1-8 ounce jar sundried tomatoes, some of the oil reserved
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 small red chili, seeds remove and coarsely chopped
big pinch of granulated sugar
1 scant teaspoon salt
3 to 4 tablespoons olive oil from the sundried tomato jar
For the Tart:
1 9×9-inch sheet all-butter puff pastry, thawed but still cold
small handful fresh basil leaves
4 ounces goat cheese
3 small heirloom tomatoes, sliced about 1/4-inch thick and drained on paper towels
handful of cherry tomatoes, sliced in half and seeds removed
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
olive oil
To make the Sundried Tomato Pesto Sauce, combine sundried tomatoes, garlic cloves, chopped chili, sugar, salt, and oil in the bowl of a food processor. Blend until combined, but still slightly coarse. The mixture does not need to be completely smooth. Taste and season as needed.
Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
Unfold a chilled sheet of puff pastry. Roll lightly with a rolling pin just to flatten completely. Place on the prepared baking sheet and spread about half of the pesto sauce over the puff pastry, leaving about a 1/2-inch border around the edges. Coarsely tear basil leaves over the sauce. Crumble goat cheese over the sauce. Arrange heirloom tomatoes in a single layer over the goat cheese and press down slightly. Try to cover as much of the sauce as possible as it can burn in the oven if exposed. Add a few cherry tomato halves. Sprinkle generously with fresh thyme and drizzle with olive oil.
Bake for 15 to 18 minutes until puffed and golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for at lease 10 minutes before serving.
source: The Guardian
Jennifer
I made this tart three times and each time it was a flavourful tart but really soggy! What am I doing wrong? Does the puff pastry need to be thicker maybe? How thick should it be? I drained the tomatoes. Even removed the pulp in the tomatoes in case that was it. Anyway, I would like to make it again as my garden tomatoes are so wonderful right now I want to showcase them… Any insight would be great.
robyn
hi!
could you prepare this ahead of time and have it waiting in the fridge until guests arrive, or would it not “puff” properly?
Liz S
Our beautiful bounty of tomatoes up in the San Juan islands left me wondering what to do with all the tomatoes. I made the tart last ginger and it was delicious. Had a Manhattan while the tart was baking. Thank you for this great recipe!
Taylor
Just gave this a try. It was too pretty and simple to resist! I found the pesto a tiny bit monotone, but some lemon juice and chili powder gave it some life. It tasted amazing fresh out of the oven. My only issue is how soggy and tasteless the puff pastry remains underneath the toppings, especially after sitting for a few minutes. Any way to keep that 80% of the crust “crusty”?