Cooking for Alan – Dinner #9 Tomato Tart
Since my part-time work requires travel, usually lasting one week at a time, I’ve been trying to create a special “Cooking for Alan” dinner on the weeks that I’m home. This week I was able to tackle another dinner that included three new recipes. I’m delighted to report that I’ve now prepared 44 of Ina Garten’s recipes from her Cooking for Jeffrey book!
Menu
Artichokes with Lemon-Thyme Aioli
Anna’s Tomato Tart
Fish and Lobster Cakes
As usual, I took several liberties with parts of the recipes in terms of ingredients. So as you scroll through the photos and captions I’ll be sure and point out the differences from Ina Garten’s original and Belinda’s adaptation. Simply click on the highlighted links to find Ina’s original version. I plan to feature each one of the recipes from the menu above in 3 separate blog posts. So stay tuned for the others to come out within a few days.
Anna’s Tomato Tart
A few years back we were on vacation in Charleston, SC…an amazing food city. One morning we went to a tiny little breakfast place where I was served an amazing tomato pie. I’ve been hooked on them ever since. Lately I’ve been on a kick of making a variety of tomato pies. My vegetable garden is in high production, so I’ve got loads of juicy red and yellow tomatoes just begging to be enjoyed. .
For the flakiest pastry, be sure to use COLD butter and COLD water.
This pastry takes several steps – so plan ahead to give yourself enough time. It takes chilling, rolling and 2 bakes before you let it cool and top it with the tomatoes and cheese.
Ina uses Gruyere and Parmesan…but I chose a few of my favorites and went with Gouda, Fontina and Parmesan. I liked the smokiness that the Gouda added and the Fontina melts beautifully.
I struggle with baking…but have learned that when you’re making pastry…it’s important to do your first bake with some kind of weight on top of the dough. This prevents it from bubbling up in spots and cracking. I used another sheet pan – as Ina recommends.
While the pastry bakes, I slice the tomatoes. Using the same size and slicing the same thickness is important. Since I have a huge pot filled with fresh herbs on my back porch, it was easy to go harvest the parsley, basil and thyme that this recipe requires.
After placing the tomato, herb mixture and cheese on top…its ready for it’s final bake in the oven. As you can see, my pastry got a bit browner than I’d like on the second bake. Even though I turned the oven down lower than the recipe requires and shortened the baking time…it got a little over done on the edges. The most important thing is to watch the pastry closely and make your own adjustments when needed.
Would I make it again? Absolutely. I see many potential adaptations to the original recipe. What I may try next time is to brush the partially cooked pastry with a blend of mayonnaise and dijon mustard…since we love our mayo! I also might introduce some freshly browned bacon pieces. Who doesn’t love combining tomato and bacon? Since I’ve not met a cheese I don’t like…I think I might experiment with different varieties.
A final tip: plan ahead. Making your own pastry takes time. Since this is delicious served at room temperature I will make it early in the morning and put it in the fridge. Then just pull it out a hour or so before dinner to allow it to get to room temperature. I always like to prepare as many dishes in advance. This allows me to minimize the rush to the finish line of enjoying a special meal with my guy.
