NYCulinarian

Yesterday, in preparation for leaving for Japan, I looked into the fridge to see what would not survive our 10-day absence. My inventory: fresh rosemary and thyme, a few eggs, some cream, the last bit of Beecher’s flagship cheese that we brought back from Seattle, along with two pints of mini heirloom tomatoes that I picked up on my most recent Fairway run.

My thoughts immediately ran to making a tomato tart. I started looking on the Internet for recipes but none of my usual recipe sites had anything that I wanted. Finally, I stumbled upon another food blog with a recipe that I liked, but I still made a bunch of changes to it. The most significant change I made was the addition of caramelized onion to use up my last onion.

If you’re someone who is intimidated by the thought of making your own crust dough, this is a good recipe to start with as the egg in the crust makes it a very forgiving one that is easier to work. Make your crust by mixing the wet ingredients into the dry and stirring until it comes together.

Knead it a few times and form it into a ball. Done. Wrap in plastic and let it rest.

While your dough is resting you want to marinate your tomatoes and caramelize your onions. Do the tomatoes first as they’re simple and you want to maximize the time they have to sit and soak up flavor.

As for the onions, you want to cut them into the thinnest rings possible (the sharper your knife the better). Do this by cutting off the non-root end, peeling the onion, and then slicing with the grain of the onion towards the root. After you cut the rings, you want to separate them out as much as possible and put them in the biggest saute pan you have (the more they crowd the pan the longer it will take them to caramelize).

In order to get color on the onions you want to use a minimal amount of oil, and don’t add salt right away as this will draw water out of the onion and hamper caramelization. Let the onions sit and do their thing, stirring occasionally to evenly brown them. They will gradually begin to shrink down and brown.

Once your onions are done you can set them aside for the remainder of the time that your dough has to rest. Once the dough is ready for use, roll it out and drape it into a tart pan or ring. I don’t own either so I use the ring from my 9-inch springform pan placed on a cookie sheet with a piece of parchment on it.

Once the dough is in the pan you can mold the edges and trim them with a paring knife so you have an even edge to your crust. Add the cheese and onions, then arrange your tomatoes on top.

Finally, whisk together your custard and pour it over the tomatoes.

The tart is pretty quick to bake (about 35 minutes) and can be enjoyed right out of the oven.

Dave and I dug right in.

If your mom likes tomatoes, this is another good option for Sunday brunch. I would pair it with a nice green salad.

Tomato and Caramelized Onion Tart
Serves 4 as an entree, 8 as a small appetizer

Crust ingredients:
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 springs rosemary, leaves removed and minced
salt
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup cold water
1 large egg

Filling ingredients:
1 1/2 – 2 pints mini tomatoes, cut in half
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
a few sprigs of thyme, leaves removed
1 teaspoon agave (use sugar if you like)
salt and pepper
1 large onion, thinly sliced into rings
olive oil for caramelizing
1/2 cup grated cheese of your choice (I used Beecher’s, the original recipe calls for Pecorino)
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 large egg

Procedure:
1. In a large bowl mix together the  flour, rosemary, and a pinch of salt. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the olive oil, water, and egg and pour the mixture over the flour. Stir with a wooden spoon until the dough comes together. Dump the dough onto a work surface and knead a few times. Shape dough into a ball and wrap in plastic. Let rest, unrefrigerated, for one hour.

2. Mix together the tomatoes, mustard, garlic, thyme leaves, agave, and salt and pepper to taste. Set aside to marinate.

3. Caramelize the onions over medium heat in a small amount of olive oil.

4. Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a tart pan (or tart ring set on a baking sheet covered with parchment). Roll out the dough and drape it into the tart pan. Cut off any overhang. Sprinkle half the cheese into the tart shell. Add the onions. Arrange the tomatoes, cut side down, over the onion. Discard the garlic cloves and reserve the marinade.

5. Whisk together the remaining cheese, cream, egg, and 1-2 tablespoons of the marinating liquid from the tomatoes. Pour evenly over the tomatoes. Bake until browned and set, about 35 minutes.