This week I saw the first promise of tomato season. A few brightly colored cherry specimens were brought home from the local market, as well as the more standard varieties. I was down in Gascony visiting my friend Kate Hill, and her photographer friend Tim Clinch was there preparing to lead a photography workshop. Looking for something tempting and colorful, tomatoes seemed the obvious choice as willing subjects.
In addition to the profusion of flowers plucked from the lush garden by the canal du Midi, the tomatoes had their moment in front of the camera. But once the participants stopped clicking, we grabbed them and put them where they rightfully belong: In the kitchen.
In France, tarts are not considered "special occasion" fare, and if you're invited to someone's house for a meal, even the most inept home cook will make a quiche or tarte salée, which will surprise you when they present a stunning tart à table, looking just about as good as anything whipped up from the local bakery.
True, some cooks here cheat a bit and use pre-purchased pâte brisée, which you can buy in the supermarket refrigerator case where it's sold rolled up and boxed like plastic wrap. However I will concede that it does make quick work of making a savory tart and on more than one occasion I've been duped by someone, whose tart I've complimented, which prompted what I call "The Garbage Can Confessional": when someone has to fess up and extract an empty box from the poubelle, usually from Picard, France's popular frozen food chain.
I've not bought or used the pre-made stuff, however tempting it might be (!) but this dough is as easy as pie to make and roll out. And by the time it takes to go to the store and buy the dough, you can make this. I haven't tried it with the French tart dough recipe but Kate assured me it would work with either an unbaked or pre-baked tart shell.
Unlike other savory tarts, such as the Herbed Ricotta Tart, this one has no custard or cream added; it's just sliced tomatoes, fresh herbs, and sliced rounds of soft goat cheese, which get browned on top. Without a rich custard, the taste and texture of the tomatoes doesn't get lost. But the fresh goat cheese is wonderful, especially when it gets all crusty-brown on top, and warm and creamy-soft inside. You could swap out another cheese that you like, such as comté, haloumi, or fontina, or another favorite fromage which melts well.
Ditto with the fresh herbs. A few steps outside of her always-buzzing kitchen are big bunches of herbs growing in verdant, leafy profusion. Thyme, variegated two-color sage, lovage, and savory are well-represented, but I was especially pleased to find fresh oregano, which for some reason is elusive in Paris.
So when she wasn't looking, I clipped a few sprigs (ok, more than a few sprigs), which I squirreled away in my suitcase. Along with the homemade red wine vinegar and foie gras that she did give me. Plus I had some bitter chestnut honey that I picked up at the market in Cahors. (And, of course, a trip to the local antique market yielded me a few vintage wine glasses and Kate scored three gorgeous old French jam jars for just €5 a pop.)
I'm not a fan of sweet-savory cooking—with a few exceptions, most notably glazed Korean chicken wings, but when I saw the sticky jar of brusque miel de ronce (wild blackberry honey) on her counter, I suggested drizzling a bit over the tart just before baking. We had a bit of dough leftover, so it got rolled out and we made a mini-tart to give it a try. And it was a big hit.
But the real stroke of genius, I think, is the layer of mustard you spread on the tart, which provides a spicy back-bite to the baked tomato slices. You can go as easy or as generous as you want. The French love their Dijon mustard so don't be shy: a layer that's a thick as what you'd spread on a sandwich is just about right.
Perfect hot from the oven, or mighty good at room temperature as well, this is perfect summertime fare. You could pair it with the proverbial leafy green salad or go whole hog and serve it on a buffet with PLTs (Pig, Lettuce, and Tomato sandwiches). But in my mind, the best accompaniment are glasses of rosé over ice. And from the number of bottles we went through that afternoon, no one seemed to disagree.
French Tomato TartOne 9- or 10-inch (23-25 cm) tart
Adapted from A Culinary Journey in Gascony
Because this is 'country-style' fare, this tart is open to lots of interpretation. For those of you with tart dough "issues", you can make this either free-style or in a fluted tart ring with a removable bottom. Kate didn't let the dough rest, but simply rolled it out, transferred it into the tart ring, and ran the rolling pin over the dough to neatly shear away the edges.
If you wish to make a free-style tart, roll the dough out to about 14-inches across, then transfer it to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat. Assemble the tart, leaving a 2-inch (5 cm) border, which you'll then fold up to enclose the tart.
Depending on the size of your pan, you may have a bit of dough leftover. We used it to make a few mini-tartlets, which we enjoyed later than evening with our aperitifs.
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, such as thyme, chives, chervil, or tarragon
8 ounces (250 g) fresh or slightly aged goat cheese, sliced into rounds
Optional: 1 1/2 tablespoons flavorful honey
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.
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. If making a freestyle tart, transfer it to a prepared baking sheet. (See headnote instructions.)
5. Preheat the oven to 375ºF (190º C).
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.
(If baking a free-form tart, gather the edges when you're done, to envelope the filling.)
9. Bake the tart for 30 to 45 minutes, 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.
Related Recipes and Links
Wow, I can't even cook (admittedly, I only even looked because I thought you'd be divulging the recipe for the tarte tatin à la tomate from Les Philisophes), but I think I might be able to tackle this! Thanks David. :-)
Beautiful - the goat cheese looks divine.
That looks amazing! I can't wait to try it. I, too think there's nothing better than homemade tart crust. Buttery, flaky deliciousness.
your pictures are more gorgeous than ever in that light. And those colors...
"as easy as pie"... hahahaha :D. I love this !
I'd be glad to read the book you should write about the joys (and odds) of french countryside ! (except for that huge spider I prefer not to hear about too much :D !)
We must be on the same wavelength! I just made a Tomato Tart with a Pate Brisee crust that I was just writing about to post on my blog. I had to use cheddar as that was all the cheese I had in the house. Of course, yours looks a whole lot better than mine! I love tomato season!
That is gorgeous! I wish tomatoes were in season here.
Jenn
Is it coincidence that today, I bought tomato plants for the garden (Arkansas Traveler, a pink heirloom) and arrived home to find this gorgeous tart on your blog?
I don't think so. I cannot wait to try it! By chance, do you know the variety of the lobed tomato that was used for the tart with honey? It is beautiful, and I'd love to find seeds for it to grow it myself!
Bisous!
David, the photo of the tomato on the cutting board...what type of tomato is that? I bought them when I was in Paris, and maybe I got a bad batch or used them improperly, mostly in salades, but I wasn't overwhelmed by that variety.
While they all look beautiful, and delicious... that gorgeous fluted tomato in the absolute perfect shade of red just knocks me out. I almost (almost!) would say that it was too beautiful to be eaten.
oh that looks gooooood! Do you find that the base gets soggy without blind baking?
Absolutely delicious. And, yes, preparing your own crust makes all the difference.
I love the mustard in those tarts. I make a version with gruyère that is the taste of summer to me.
Your pictures are especially lovely, seeing as we're slogging through a cold, wet spring on the West Coast. What wouldn't I give for a few days of Southern French sunshine and tomatoes?
Will you please open up a restaurant in Paris?
This reminds me of a pizza I used to (30odd yrs ago!) get and dream of finding again..somewhere. The crust was so much like a thick pie crust or maybe a thin puff pastry, crisp and tender. It was covered with tomato slices, olive oil and fresh motz and sprinkled with oregano and basil, topped just like pizza margarita. A large group of us would pile into that little Italian restaurant from the office and devour several sheet pans full. It was SO good. David, uou have given me hope here!
Talk about bringing a little summer onto the table. Looks delicious.
This looks incredible and the photos are beautiful. I love the vibrant colors in this dish.
David will probably confirm this but the "pleated" tomatoes are named "coeur de boeuf" (beef' heart).
It's a not so ancient variety sold in supermarket, regular markets, and grown in gardens here. It has the favors of the public because it has a lot of "flesh" : not so much holes filled with juice when you cut it. In a garden this is a good variety because it gives a LOT for each crop, and because the fact that it is relatively new it resists quite well to the usual tomatoes diseases.
It has some taste when it comes from a garden, yet not amazing... It has a lot less flavor when it is mass produced of course, especially since everybody want it here and since their price is quite high due to their "fanciness reputation". Industrial groups are tempted to produce those tomatoes too quickly, and some of them have never seen the real sun and fresh air (not the industrial groups of course, the tomatoes :D). Depending on the producers and the supermarket sources, you can have very tasty flavored ones, or sad pieces of red, wet, polystyrene foam... :/.
the fact is, they are truly beautiful, and I strongly prefer la coeur de boeuf in pictures than in my salad plate if I'm given the choice of the variety. But in a tart like this it's one of its best use, and I would have gladly took a slice if I had the chance to share this moment ! :D.
This recipe looks amazing and the pictures.. just lovely!
Oh yum. I can't wait for my tomatoes to ripen in the garden! My favorite savory tart is custard-based with carmelized onions and goat cheese. It's great, but kinda heavy. This looks light-will have to try it!
You are torturing me! Its still so far away for local tomatoes. A variation on this tart is often the first thing after a tomato salad I make once the tomatoes show up. I love the idea of the goat cheese on top! I usually sprinkle gruyere/comte on top of the mustard underneath the tomatoes, acting as a moisture barrier. Also, a tip I love is to put the tomatoes on paper towel as I'm getting everything together to soak up a little bit of the moisture. This really is the perfect French lunch!
This does look like a great tart. One question for this home cook, who has made many a quiche and tarte salée: why the egg in the tart crust? I've always just done butter/lard, flour, salt, bit of water. How does the egg change the taste/texture?
I want to be your friend. I want to be at that table, making friends with everyone there, with a slice of that beautiful tart and a chilly glass of rose in front of me. Sigh.
This looks so delicious. I wish it were tomato season already! I'm not going to be able to wait. My adventuresome 13 year old foodie would be in heaven. She is recently in love with goat cheese. Thx. for the wonderful post.