It was Dana’s turn to venture down to the southeast burbs for Blogging Night, of course Nina (Dana’s dog) came along as well because I prefer if Nina joins when Dana visits. Dana found this recipe for a tomato tart from the Pioneer Woman, and we (and by “we” I mean Dana) made one adjustment that coincidentally made things a little bit easier.
This would’ve been a perfect recipe to make a few weeks earlier when tomatoes were in peak season from the garden since Dana had more cherry tomatoes than she knew what to do with. A couple great things about this tomato tart are 1) it’s called a tart, but it is a lot like a pizza and 2) it’s probably more like an appetizer, but as Dana and I found out, it makes a great dinner.
The one thing we changed is substituting the pizza crust for a puff pastry crust, this saved us from making a pizza crust and Dana thought it would be even better with a flaky crust that you get from the puff pastry. This also allowed us to skip the egg washing step. So, using our version, here is what you need:
The puff pastry dough needs about 40 minutes to thaw on the counter, so get that out and thawing right away and move on to preparing the rest of the ingredients.
Caramelizing the onions takes the longest amount of time, so start there. Start by cutting the onions hot dog-style (down the length of the onion) then slicing them into thin crescent shapes, by slicing hamburger-style (across the short end). We also skipped the butter involved in caramelizing the onion, all we did was add about a tablespoon of olive oil to and then piled the onions into a non-stick skillet allowing them to soften and turn the caramel brown color. It takes about 30 minutes, stirring the onions around occasionally.
While the onions are doing their thing, we grated the three cheeses. We used Monterey Jack, Parmesan, and Gruyere. Gruyere is possibly the greatest cheese ever, I like to think of it as a grown-up Swiss cheese, and also goes great on sandwiches.
You can also cut the basil up while the onions are caramelizing. Again, Herb Scissors
(#EarnsCommission) come in really handy here!
When the onions are about done, you can get the crust ready; just gently stretch the puff pastry out over a baking sheet (we sprayed the sheet with cooking spray). We ended up using one whole pastry, and pieces of the other, piecing them together so it fit the baking sheet.
Now it’s just a matter of layering on all of the ingredients, starting with the three cheeses, then the onions.
Now the tomatoes.
Now we bake it for 15-18 minutes at 450. I recommend checking in on the crust after awhile, as you can see in this next picture, this crust has a tendency to bubble. If that happens, just stab the crust tumor with a fork so it deflates and continue baking.
When the crust is a nice golden brown, and the tomatoes look wrinkly, the tart is done. Then you sprinkle the basil on top. As hind sight is always 20/20, we realized that balsamic would have been a nice addition drizzled on top as well. Oh well, it tasted great on the leftovers.
You’ll want to eat this with a certain degree of caution, the tomatoes have a tendency to explode when you bite into them, if you are inpatient like me, this can result in scalding hot tomato juice spraying the inside of your mouth.
I can say from experience that this also makes delcious left overs!
- 2 large onions, cut into thin slices
- 1 package of puff pastries (let them come to room temp)
- 1½ cups Monterey Jack cheese, grated
- ¼ cup Parmesan cheese, grated
- ¼ cup Greyere cheese, grated
- 1½ cups golden grape tomatoes
- 1½ cups cherry tomatoes
- ¼ cup fresh cut basil
- salt and pepper to taste
- Start by caramelizing the onions: heat the onion slices with some salt and pepper in a non-stick skillet for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they are soft and golden brown
- While the onions are cooking, grate the 3 cheeses and cut up the basil leaves.
- Spread the puff pastries onto a greased baking sheet, gently stretching it to fill the whole sheet, you may need to use part of a second pastry.
- Layer on all of the ingredients except for the basil. Starting with the cheeses, then the onions, and finally the tomatoes.
- Bake the tart for 15-18 minutes, checking on it occasionally for bubbles in the crust. If bubbles appear, just stab them with a fork or knife.
- When the crust is golden brown and the tomatoes look wrinkly, pull it out, allow to cool for a few minutes and sprinkle on the basil.
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