Simple French Cooking

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Tomato Tart

Sometimes the best dishes are those that you do not really have to think too much about. In fact, I would argue the simplest dishes are always the best dishes. A few days ago I was out in my overgrown, weed-infested garden picking tomatoes wondering what to make with them. I remembered a half-finished jar of olivade and a semi-thawed sheet of all-butter puff pastry sitting in my fridge. And viola, the tomato tart was born.Watch my video recipe for Tomato Tart and please subscribe to my YouTube Channel! tomato tartI posted my creation on FaceBook and received a lot of inquiries of how to make it. I suspect a lot of folks are like me and currently are sitting a pile of homegrown tomatoes wondering what else to make.

Tomato Confit (aka oven-dried tomatoes)

tomato confit Tomato confit is a foundation element in my cooking. I love the way tomato flavors intensify and sweeten after long, slow cooking. They marry beautifully with almost everything, from lamb, chicken, fish to pastas and goat cheeses. As a consequence, they find their way into a lot of my dishes. I use the same technique for all tomatoes, whether they are sweet cherry tomatoes or the meatier Romas.

Tomato Confit

Slow roasted tomatoes are a foundation element in my cooking. Tomato flavors intensify and sweeten after long, slow cooking and marry beautifully with almost everything, from lamb, chicken, fish to pasta and goat cheeses.

  • 6 Roma tomatoes (see notes at end)
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 2 teaspoons herbes de Provence
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 2 teaspoons sea salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 sprig thyme
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 sprig savory (chopped)
  • 10 basil leaves (chopped)

Whole Tomato Version

  1. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Put tomatoes into a saute pan. Pour olive oil over. Season with herbes de Provence, onion powder, garlic powder, sea salt, black pepper, and herbs. Bake for two hours, or until tomatoes will look wrinkled, blistered and slightly reduced.

Sliced Tomato Version

  1. Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. Slice the tomatoes half-inch thick and lay on a silpat covered sheet pan. Drizzle with olive oil, then season with herbes de Provence, onion powder, garlic powder, sea salt, black pepper, and herbs. Bake for two hours, or until the tomatoes have shrunk and lost a lot of moisture.

I make three variations of tomato confit depending on what tomatoes I have. You can use tomatoes on a vine for a beautiful presentation where you are serving the slow-cooked tomatoes as an accompaniment. If I have larger tomatoes then I slice and make tomato confit as I used in the tomato tart recipe.

Tomato Tart

Please enjoy my simple recipe for tomato tart and sure to hashtag us at #PistouAndPastis so we can see how your tart came out!

Tomato Tart

A quick and recipe summertime recipe to make when tomatoes have overrun your garden (or the farmers market).

  • 1 recipe sliced tomato confit
  • 1 sheet puff pastry (If possible, find an all-butter version.)
  • 3 tbsp olivade (or tapenade)

  1. Cut the puff pastry sheet into a 9-inch circle. I used a springform pan as my guide,

  2. Spread olivade on base, leaving a one-inch border free and clear of anything.

  3. Fan oven-dried tomato slices in a concentric circle over the olivade.

  4. Bake at 400 until golden brown, about ten minutes.