Cherry Tomato Tart

Finding a decent tomato in the middle of winter probably equals hitting a lottery jackpot. Tomatoes have been gaining in appearance, but losing so much in flavor. Therefore, I decided to trade them for their sexy little cousin. I bought a pound yesterday and wasn’t quite sure what I’d do with them until I saw a great recipe in Martha’s Baking Handbook. I’ve adapted it a bit -  I used cherry tomatoes which I roasted first with some basil and olive oil, and I used whole-grain flour for the pâte brisée. I also substituted Fontina cheese with some sheep’s cheese. Final result? Wonderful…

Recipe:

For the Pâte Brisée:

For the flakiest crust make sure all the ingredients   (including the flour ) are cold before you begin.

Combine the dry ingredients in a food processor and pulse. Add the butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs, about 10 seconds. ( To mix by hand, which I did because I have pretty much everything except for a processor, combine dry ingredients, then cut in the butter.)

Add ice water slowly with the machine running. Do not overmix. Turn out the dough onto a clean work surface. Shape into flattened disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 410° F ( 210°C ). Place the garlic heads on a piece of aluminum foil and drizzle with 1 tbsp of olive oil. Fold foil to encase the garlic, sealing edges well. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half and arrange them on a baking sheet covered with aluminum foil leaving some room for the garlic heads . Drizzle with the remaining olive oil and sprinkle with salt and dried basil. Roast in the oven for 35 min. or so. Remove from the oven.

Raise oven temperature to 430ºF ( 220ºC ). When garlic is cool enough to handle, use your fingers or the handle of a knife to squeeze the cloves out of their skins and into a small bowl; mash with a fork and set aside.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a 10-inch ( 25 cm ) round. Fit the dough in a flutted tart pan with a removable bottom ( I’don t have one so I used a pyrex baking pan ) pressing into the edges. Spread the roasted garlic mash evenly on the bottom. Sprinkle with 2 tbsp of cheese and arrange the roasted cherry tomatoes on top. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Given that I had already roasted the tomatoes I reduced the baking time to 35 minutes. If you’re using fresh tomatoes, baking time should be around 50 minutes. Let cool for 20 minutes. Serve warm.