TOMATO TART…An eventful tart!

“A world without tomatoes is like a string quartet without violins.”
Laurie Colwin

I had a Tomato Tart on my mind. Was it Tuesdays with Doris? Was it Mondays with Martha? It wasn’t Saturday Snapshots @ Cook Sisters as that’s a non-foodie post, it wasn’t the Friday snapshot at Dhanggits‘ as that is a sweet one. Was it the book Tuesdays with Dorie…or is it just old age approaching? Saw a pie I fell in love with the minute I set my eyes on it, but couldn’t find it in my bursting bookmarked folder.

It was a tomato tart & a lovely one…one without eggs in the filling & it sang to me. Eventually, armed with memories & the ever dependable Cook’s Bible from Le Cordon Bleu I set forth making the tart.

Had 3 things in mind…
1. It’s a pie & it’s savoury…so it’s got to get to Ivy’s Savoury Pie Event @ Kopiaste…deadline the 30th of September!

2. It’s Tomato – reminds me of the ‘O’ foods Event for Ovarian Cancer. If you haven’t heard about it, then do check out Michelle’s blog here at Bleeding Espresso for event rules & many ‘O’ posts. Rush coz the event ends at the end of the month! You can find the rules on my Potato Canapes with Cheese & Sage post here too.
3. It’s a bookmarked recipe, at least for the base, from the Cook’s Bible, so it’s also headed for Ruth’s Bookmarked Event. Phew…so armed with all this, I set off to make my TOMATO TART.The basic shortcrust is from ‘The Cook’s Bible’, & I made 2 pie shortcrust bases out of this portion. I used one immediately & put the other into the freezer for use later. Used the second one yesterday & it worked as good as fresh. The bases were thin crust, like I like them, held beautifully, & had less fat. If you want a richer & more indulgent crust, make a single crust out of this portion. Am sure it will guiltily taste yummier!! Yes, there was an egg in the pastry, but egg-o-phobic me didn’t mind it, nor taste it, coz the pie was so delicious.
Pâte sucrée [paht soo–KRAY] A French term for a rich, sweetened short pastry used for desserts such as pies, tarts and filled cookies. Pâte brisée [paht bree–ZAY] A French term for “short pastry,” a rich flaky dough used for sweet and savory crusts for dishes such as pies, tarts, quiches & barquettes. Once worked into a ball, refrigerate dough for 30 minutes to allow it to relax – this helps prevent shrinkage during baking.

TOMATO TART

Pâte brisée … Savoury Shortcrust Pie Recipe
Ingredients:
Plain flour – 200 gms ; sifted
Salt – 1 tsp
Unsalted butter – 100 gms; diced
Egg – 1 ; lightly beaten
Chilled water – 1-2 tbsp
Method:
  • Put the plain flour + salt + butter in a processor & work in short bursts to make into a breadcrumb texture. You can also do the same by hand by rubbing the butter in with your fingertips.
  • Shake the dough to aerate it. Make a well, add the egg & work the processor till the dough begins to come together. Take out the dough into a bowl, & add a little water, only if required, bring the dough together & shape into a rough ball. DO NOT overwork the dough, or the pastry will be tough.
  • Wrap in cling wrap & chill for 30 minutes.
  • Divide into 2 if you want a thin crust. Roll out & line your pie dish. To prevent baked pastry from shrinking, take care not to stretch the dough when rolling it out & fitting it into the tin.
  • Chill the shell for at least 30 minutes.

For the filling:
Roasted garlic paste – 2 tsps (I love the flavours & use this wherever & whenever possible)
Cottage cheese – 200gms ; grated (use whichever cheese you fancy)
Sweetcorn – 1 cup (I like to make mine fresh)
Roasted bell peppers – 1 red & 1 yellow; sliced fine
Cheddar – 50-100 gms for topping
Tomatoes 6-8 ; sliced thick
Fresh basil leaves – a good handful
Method:

  • Brush the base generously with the garlic paste.
  • Top with cottage cheese, followed by corn, roasted peppers & season with salt & freshly grated pepper. Generously grate cheese over the top. Line the whole pie with tomatoes slices.
  • Bake at 180 degrees C for about 30 minutes; till done.
  • Sprinkle with finely chopped fresh basil. Enjoy.
  • Note: I made the other crust into a Chicken & Mushroom savory pie…will post that one soon.

This post is double-bookmarked!! I just found the tart recipe while browsing blogs. The evasive tart was traced to Mimi on the Move! Hurrah…what a relief! Do check out her blog when you have the time. It has great recipes, & does throw up interesting bits of wisdom from Mr Mimi as well. In addition, there’s a brilliant lot of photographs she clicked in Africa a while ago!

This post featured on

Posted by Deeba @ PAB

Published by

Deeba @ PAB

About me: I am a freelance food writer, recipe developer and photographer. Food is my passion - baking, cooking, developing recipes, making recipes healthier, using fresh seasonal produce and local products, keeping a check on my carbon footprint and being a responsible foodie! I enjoy food styling, food photography, recipe development and product reviews. I express this through my food photographs which I style and the recipes I blog. My strength lies in 'Doing Food From Scratch'; it must taste as good as it looks, and be healthy too. Baking in India, often my biggest challenge is the non-availability of baking ingredients, and this has now become a platform to get creative on. I enjoy cooking immensely as well.

34 thoughts on “TOMATO TART…An eventful tart!”

  1. Hola Deeba! It seems that your tart is a traveller tomatoe tart!!!! Going to all this different places at once 😀

    It looks beautiful to me, and you know I love tomatoes ;D

    Reply

  2. How positively grand! There’s even a delicious surprise waiting under the tomatoes! Lovely tart, Deeba 🙂

    Reply

  4. What a great way to use the last of summer tomatoes! Thanks for your entry to Bookmarked Recipes.

    Reply

  5. I can’t help it, I am salivating. What a delicious tart. I love all the ingredients you’ve used. I’ve read in other posts about the Indian cottage cheese you use but as that’s impossible to find, I think that feta will also be great in this tart.

    Reply

  6. P.S. I got carried away, dreaming of your tart. Thanks for adding this one as well to the Savory Pie Event.

    Reply

  9. Looks v good. I once made a tomao and goats cheese tart, but the pastry was ready rolled supermarket rubbish.

    Reply

  14. Wow, it’s just beautiful, I mean it really is…the tomatoes look gorgeous! I love it.

    Reply

  15. This is excellent Deeba,I am tart lover and cottage cheese filling sounds too good.Beautifully photographed.

    Thanks for the lovely notes and I am idle at google and will buzz u later.Take care and have a good day

    Reply

  18. Gorgeous Deeba, and delicious, I’m sure. Thank you so much for all you’ve done to spread the word 🙂

    Reply

  20. Oh Deeba, what a fantastic tart! Love the vivid colours. I had almost forgotten about this event – will have to see if I can rustle up somethign tonight. I know how you feel about trying to find things in a bluging bookmark folder!!

    Reply

  21. I would love a slice of that beautiful tomato tart for my lunch. It’s so full of delicious ingredients. This tart sounds amazing, Deeba.

    Reply

  24. What a fantastic looking tart! How awesome that you were able to enter it into 3 blogging events!!

    Reply

  27. You are one busy lady Deeba entering all of these events with this delicious tomato tart:D

    Reply

  28. I ve never made a tomato tart. But hey there s always the first time eh ? This looks delicious.

    Reply

  31. thanks so much for the shout-out, so sweet! your tart came out looking absolutely gorgeous. love the addition of cottage cheese.

    Reply

  33. A magnificent tomato tart Deeba and what a great entry for all those wonderful events!!

    Rosie x

    Reply

  34. another great recipe from you. I wonder if all these exotic herbs (basil leaves, Kreuter etc.) are available in indian markets :|.

    I'll try this over weekend.
    Thanks for sharing.
    -Pankaj

    Reply

Thank you so much for stopping by. I'd love to hear from you.Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Please wait...

Subscribe to my newsletter

Want to be notified when the article is published? Do enter your email address and name below to be the first to know.
SIGN UP FOR NEWSLETTER NOW
Exit mobile version