Oh, goodness, this was a yummy one. H and I were searching through potential victims for our weekly cooking date and I had happened upon this one on David Lebovitz (he’s one of my culinary idols, for his post on the boiled tart crust, if nothing else) earlier that week and was in love. (sorry, boyfriend, but no worries, I’m not leaving you for tomato and goat cheese!) Plus, this was a fabulous opportunity to break out three birthday presents- the food processor from the boyfried (!!!), the silpat from H; and the lovely ceramic tart dish from my parents. :) Opportunities to use exciting new gifts? Yes, please!
We followed it really quite precisely according to the recipe, and it was delicious. We had leftover ingredients and thus used the silpat to line the bottom of a sheet pan with the leftover dough made free-galette style, basil-less because the sister tends to not be too crazy about fresh basil and I didn’t want her missing out on the tart. Because, really, no one should miss out on this sort of thing. Mmmmh.
Tomato & Goat Cheese Tart
Following David Lebovitz’s French Tomato Tart, adapted from A Culinary Journey in Gascony
Ingredients (because ours differed slightly):
- 1 1/2 cups organic AP flour
- 9 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled, cut into cubes
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg, cage-free, brown
- 3 tablespoons cold water
- 1 1/2 cups (210 g) flour
- 1.5-2 tablespoons Dijon mustard (we used Grey Poupon)
- 8 large roma tomatoes, ripe (quantity will vary based on tomato size and your tomato preferences
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- a large amount of fresh basil (we chopped it, came out to probably around 4 tablespoons)
- 8 ounces fresh goat cheese, sliced into rounds about 3/4-inch thick (we used Montchevre)
- 2 tablespoons clover honey for drizzling
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Process:
Visit David! (Recipe at the very bottom- we followed the same process, save for using the food processor to mix the tart dough; adding basil in stead of other herbs (both below and on top of the goat cheese- see pictures below for process); etc.
We glazed both tarts- the galette and the traditional one- with clover honey prior to baking. We also greatly abused the large one with fresh basil, throwing on gobs of it (I adore basil, and definitely got this from my mother. Best herb ever, hands-down) so feel free to switch it up (David used thyme and a few other herbs in its stead). The sister keeps asking for a repeat performance of this one and the boyfriend didn’t get to taste since he wasn’t hanging out with us that night, which means this one is very likely to happen again in the near-future (as in today or tomorrow… which means I’ll be 7 behind for here, I think…. aye.)
In other news, I’ve discovered that there’s a large, bountiful rosemary plant right outside my building, on the corner. I have plans to go down sneakily around midnight, clad fully in black, and secretly snip a sprig or two to use in my next night of culinary inspiration…or to use for making rosemary skewers… just don’t tell anyone, please. Shhhhhhh.
