We were having a friend over for dinner and this friend (K) and I disagree on a great many things. Despite our being on opposite ends of the spectrum on what many would consider to be life’s most important topics, she’s one of my very closest friends, and has been for years. She’s a wonderful person, and so for her- and probably only her- would I honour a request that goes as follows:
Me: “Hey, so what should I make for dinner?”
K: “Does it sound bad if I say nothing particularly Frenchy?”
I’d say it’s a testament to our friendship that she asked so nicely :) and so I went searching about for something non-French! I also wanted to do something simple and that had a very tiny possibility of not being liked. Therefore… who doesn’t like cheese pizza? Right? I know her not to be lactose-intolerant, so I figured this one was the safest possible choice. Thankfully, she quite enjoyed it. That “mmh!” she said was wonderful to hear.
Rosemary Margherita ‘Pizza’ Tart
Adapted from David Lebovitz’s French Tomato Tart, which is in turn adapted from A Culinary Journey in Gascony
Ingredients (variation of original):
- 1.5 cups organic AP flour (King Arthur)
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 8 tablespoons soy butter
- 1 large egg (cage-free, brown, organic)
- 2 tablespoons cool water
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard (Grey Poupon)
- 4 large hothouse tomatoes, ripe (quantity will vary based on tomato size and your tomato preferences)
- 1/2 jar Muir Glen original tomato sauce
- 1 large ball fresh mozarella cheese
- 2-3 tablespoons freshly-frated parmesan cheese
- 3 tablespoons fresh rosemary
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon large grain sea salt
Process:
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
- Place the flour and salt in a food processor. Add the soy butter and mix until the butter is fully dispersed into the flour and comes to a crumbly texture
- Mix the egg with the water in a small bowl, beating thoroughly until the mixture has a light yellow colour.
- Pour the egg mixture into the center of the flour mixture and mix in to where everything holds together into a dough ball.
- Flour a work surface, flour your rolling pin, and place the dough ball onto the middle of your work surface. Roll it out and keep dusting it with flour, until there is no stickiness to the dough.
- Roll the dough onto your rolling pin and place it onto a large 9-inch fluted tart pan. Press the dough onto the sides firmly, then roll your pin across the top to remove the excess dough (which you can use to make a freeform tart, twists, or whatever you choose!)
- Brush on the mustard and arrange the sliced tomatoes over the mustard. Fill in the holes (where you can see the mustard / there are less tomatoes) with the tomato sauce, then spread whatever you haven’t used of it over the tops of the tomatoes.
- Place large slices of the mozarella over the tomatoes & sauce. Then sprinkle on the parmesan cheese, sea salt, drizzle on the olive oil…. then take some of the rosemary off of the sprigs and place over the pizza. Lastly, for decoration, place on two large sprigs of rosemary to infuse the pizza.
- Place in oven for 20-25 minutes or until the cheese has browned to a golden colour and the crust is just turning golden-brown. Allow to cool for a few minutes, then enjoy!
Yum yum yum. The sister has taken to this recipe, and it’s a very yummy one. I’m never against fresh mozarella, personally, and neither should be the general populace, because mmmmh, it’s so good! :)
