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Tomato tart a delicious option for brunch

Recipe: Goat cheese and mustard are supporting players in this summer star

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Kathy Morrison PUBLISHED AUG 10, 2018

Tomatoes in a tart -- now that's summer.
(Photos: Kathy Morrison)

If your counters are covered with tomatoes, homegrown ones or a local farmer’s, you’re probably on the lookout for new recipes this time of year.

I recently ran across a good one from Martha Rose Shulman of the New York Times, a tomato and goat cheese tart that looked perfect for brunch. Plenty of herbs, and an intriguing mustard layer under the tomatoes -- those were great, but that yeasted pastry she used had to go. I don’t do complicated crusts when it’s meltingly hot outside.

Solution: Refrigerated rolled pie crust (Pillsbury being one option). These premade crusts usually are a little too salty to me for fruit pies, but they work fine for a savory dish.

Tomato slices give up their wateriness
when placed on paper towels.

My other adaptation for this tart came from a technique in a Parade magazine recipe. You slice the tomatoes, then spread them on a baking sheet covered with paper towels, and lightly salt them. After about 30 minutes, the paper towels mostly soak up the watery parts of the tomatoes that can make a tart mushy.

The herb options here are many. I went for fresh thyme, a little more subtle than fresh basil for a brunch entree. (Believe me, I use plenty of basil in other dishes.) I think the tart is best served slightly warmer than room temperature, but you can refrigerate leftovers and enjoy them cold or reheated.

Easier tomato and goat cheese tart

Adapted from the New York Times
Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

½ package (1 roll) of a refrigerated pie crust, allowed to sit out at room temperature for 15 minutes

3 tablespoons Dijon mustard

4 or 5 ripe medium-to-large tomatoes (a mix of colors is nice)

Salt and freshly ground pepper

2 to 3 tablespoons of fresh herbs (chopped parsley, marjoram or basil, or a mix) OR 2 to 3 teaspoons fresh thyme or chopped rosemary

2 eggs

4 ounces plain goat cheese, crumbled

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, plus more for oiling pan

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Oil a 9- or 10-inch tart pan and line it with the unrolled crust. (Trim the dough if necessary.) Put the tart pan in the refrigerator to chill while you prepare the tart filling.

Cover a large rimmed baking pan with several layers of paper towels. Slice the tomatoes about ¼-inch thick and place the slices in a single layer on the paper towels. Sprinkle lightly with salt. Let stand 30 minutes, turning tomatoes over about halfway through. Pat tomatoes dry, removing any large clumps of seeds (optional).

Dijon mustard on the crust adds a savory layer of flavor.

Remove tart pan from the refrigerator. Brush the mustard over the bottom of the crust. Arrange the tomato slices over the mustard in concentric circles, overlapping them slightly. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and the herbs you chose.

In a small bowl, beat together the eggs and goat cheese. Season with salt and pepper and pour over the tomatoes. Drizzle on the 1 tablespoon olive oil.

Place tart in the oven and bake 30 to 40 minutes, until the top is nicely browned and filling is set. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving. Serve hot, warm or at room temperature.

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RECIPE

A recipe for preparing delicious meals from the bounty of the garden.

Keywords:

recipes tomatoes gardening Sacramento vegetables herbs farm to fork

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Flowers in My Back Yard Series

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June 16: Daylilies are perfect for water-wise gardens (and a lot more)

June 9: Grow coneflowers for pollinators -- and yourself

June 2: Sunflowers capture Sacramento's summer attitude

May 29: Are your roses going 'blind'?

May 26: Zinnias are the summer flowers every garden needs

May 19: Plant dahlias now for late-summer flower power

May 12: Know your coreopsis from your bidens

May 5: Mums the word on Mother's Day weekend

April 28: Majestic Matilija poppy is worth a look

April 21: Celebrate roses, America's favorite flower

April 14: Small flowers with outsized impact

April 7: Calendulas do double duty

April 3: Make Easter lilies last for years to come

March 31: In praise of a pollinator magnet (small-leaf salvias)

March 24: Azaleas brighten shady spots

March 17: The perfect flower for beginners? Try zonal geraniums

March 10: Keep camellias happy for years to come

March 3: Fruit tree blossoms are a fleeting joy

Feb. 27: Are your roses looking rusty?

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Garden checklist for week of Aug. 16

During this break in the heat, feed your garden. Make sure to water before and after applying fertilizer.

* In the garden, direct seed beets, carrots, leaf lettuce and turnips.

* Plant potatoes.

* Harvest tomatoes, beans, squash, pepper and eggplants to prompt plants to keep producing. Give your plants a deep watering twice a week, more if planted in containers. Also, give them a boost with phosphate-rich fertilizer to help fruiting.

* Watch out for caterpillars and hornworms in the vegetable garden. They can strip a plant bare in one day. Pick them off plants by hand in early morning or late afternoon.

* Feed citrus trees their last round of fertilizer for the year. This will give a boost to the fruit that’s still small.

* Mulch can be your garden’s best friend – it conserves moisture while blocking out weeds. But don't let mulch mound around stalks, stems or trunks. That can promote rot.

* Camellia leaves looking a little yellow? Give them some chelated iron. That goes for azaleas and gardenias, too.

* Pick up after your fruit trees. Clean up debris and dropped fruit; this cuts down on insects and prevents the spread of brown rot. Then feed fruit trees with slow-release fertilizer for better production for next year.

* To prolong bloom into fall, feed begonias, fuchsias and container plants. Always water before fertilizing.

* Fertilize fall-blooming perennials, too. Chrysanthemums can be fed until the buds start to open.

* Prepare for a fall full of flowers by paying a little extra attention to your garden. Cut off spent blooms from roses, annuals and perennials, then give them a boost of fertilizer. Make sure to water plants before feeding. Roses will rebloom about six to eight weeks after deadheading.

* Indoors, start seedlings for fall vegetable planting, including bunching onion, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, radicchio and lettuce.

* Sow seeds of perennials in pots for fall planting including yarrow, coneflower and salvia.

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