Tomato Tart with Goat Cheese & Parmesan

It’s Sunday night and the end of a very busy weekend of socializing from which I’m exhausted. With a very light schedule of walking the dog and tidying up the apartment I had plenty of time to go to plan dinner and go to the grocery store. As I’m writing this I realize I would have make an excellent 50s housewife.

Byron had gone to the farmers market yesterday so I already had a few fresh and delicious ingredients to work with. I decided that I definitely wanted use the sweet potatoes, tomatoes and kale tonight, and with that, made a raw kale salad, a tomato tart, and lamb chops with sage mashed sweet potatoes. It was a very successful dinner, and it’s always nice to make someone happy (lamb chops are Byron’s favorite). Because it’s Sunday and because I’m tired, I’m going to focus on one aspect of tonight’s dinner: the tart.

Tomato Tart with Parmesan & Goat Cheese

Serving Size: 6

Skill Level: Easy

Equipment:

An oven

Cutting Board

Rolling Pin (or a wine bottle)

A sharp knife

A baking sheet

Ingredients:

Tomato (or another vegetable of your choice) Sliced thinly

One Sheet Puff Pastry (you can find this in the frozen food section in the supermarket)

One egg

Goat Cheese (at least 2 oz)

4 oz Parmesan, grated

Procedure:

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees.

Defrost your puff pastry. Once it is soft, roll it out into a rectangle. If you are only making this tart for 1 or 2 people you can use half or one third of a sheet, but make sure you remove the section you want while it’s still frozen. Puff pastry can’t be refrozen. You might need to put some flour down on your counter and on your rolling pin before you roll out your dough to prevent sticking. Roll it out so its even and fairly thin. (less than 1/8 inch thick) Trim your edges so you have a uniform square or rectangle.

Puff pastry, as its name implies, rises and puffs up. Your tart topping will hold this down a bit, but to ensure that your tart has a puffed and uniform edge, take a sharp knife and GENTLY draw a rectangle about 1/2″ to 1″ inside of your tart. You dont’ want to cut through because this will remove this edge completely. Then, with a fork, poke lots of shallow holes to make sure that only the border of your tart rises. Place the dough on a baking sheet.

SliceBrush your entire tart with and egg wash. Place your tomato slices inside your border in one layer. Season lightly with salt and pepper. The cheese will add salt as well. Sprinkle the tart with goat cheese then top with grated parmesan. I used these cheeses because I had them in my fridge, but you can use which ever cheese you prefer.

Place your tart in the oven and bake for 15 minutes, then check it. Again, everyone’s oven is different, so 15 minutes for me could mean 10 or 25 for you. Here are a few ways to tell that your tart is done:

The tomatoes look dehydrated

The crust is a golden brown color

The goat cheese has browned slightly.

Once your tart looks like this, remove it from the oven. Let it cool for 5 minutes and then carefully, which a spatula, remove it from the baking sheet. Serve immediately. I don’t eat flour, but Byron said it tasted great and was the perfect pre dinner snack. I would definitely suggest trying this recipe, it’s almost as easy as putting a frozen meal in the microwave! Now go enjoy your Sunday night tv!