Tomato Tartlets

Ingredients:

Let’s get the dough out of the way first, I won’t post pictures of making it since it’s a pretty basic process I assume most people are familiar with.

Dough:
1.5 cups flour
11 tablespoons cold butter
0.5 teaspoons salt
3oz cold milk
1 egg yolk

Cut the butter into the flour and salt with a pastry cutter. Mix the milk and egg in with a fork until the dough begins to pull together. Form a ball with the dough and refrigerate at least 20 minutes, wrapped in plastic.

Many tartlet recipes call for puff pastry, I actually like this better, but if you want to make (or buy) puff, go right ahead.

For the tomato filling you’ll need:

2.5 lbs tomatoes
Garlic (to taste, I use almost a whole head)
Fresh rosemary and basil and almost any other herb you’d like.
½ cup chopped onion
olive oil

First we need to get the skins off the tomatoes. Clean and core them then slice them in half. Oil a baking sheet (lined with foil for easy clean-up) and place the tomatoes sliced side down.

Step 1:

After 20ish minutes they’ll look like this, and you can pluck the skins right off. I find that roasting them somehow intensifies their flavor as well.

Step 2:

Next, heat some olive oil in a pan. When it’s hot, throw in your onion, garlic, fresh herbs, and just for fun I’ve got a shallot in there too.

Step 3:

When the onions are soft and translucent, put in the tomatoes and the juice that leaked onto the pan. Mash them until it looks like a chunky puree.

Step 4:

Let that simmer until almost all the water is reduced and you’re left with essentially tomato paste. It’ll look about like this.

Now, if you’re not a fan of the rustic look, or are serving picky eaters or children, now is the time to run that through your food processor, or even better, an immersion blender. I personally like the rustic look, so we’re leaving it.

Step 5:

Toward the end of your reduction you should be rolling out your dough and putting it in tart trays. Spoon the filling in.

Pop those in the oven at 425 until the edges are golden brown (20ish minutes, but watch it close).

Step 6:

The tarts will look about like this when they’re done.

Step 7:

Serve them however you like. Plain is fantastic, but sauteed mushrooms, sliced cherry tomatoes, feta cheese, and/or fresh basil all make fantastic toppings. A garlic/balsamic vinaigrette would be good too.