Rustic Tomato Tarts

These simple, delicious and versatile tarts are one of our summertime entertaining stand-bys. Make them in the cool of the morning and serve them at room temperature or warmed up a little on the barbeque at any time of day. We like them best on the dock in the late afternoon with a cold glass of sauvignon blanc… and one more swim before dinner.

Makes 2 Tarts. Each Tart Serves about 4 as an Appetizer

Cornmeal Dough

1/4 cup sour cream

1/4 cup ice water

1 cup flour

1/3 cup cornmeal

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup cold butter cut into cubes

Topping

6 medium tomatoes, thinly sliced

10 oz soft goat cheese, crumbled

1 big bunch basil, roughly chopped

1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated

1 tsp pepper, freshly ground

Stir the sour cream and ice water together in a small bowl.

Put the flour, cornmeal and salt in a mixing bowl and stir with a whisk.

Add the cold butter and work it into the dry ingredients with a pastry blender or your fingers, until you have a nice crumbly mixture.

Add the sour cream mixture all at once to the dry ingredients, with a fork. Your dough will form a loose ball and will probably seem too moist, but just mix it together gently and separate it into two even disks. Use some flour on your fingers to keep it from sticking.

Wrap in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least two hours.

Put the sliced tomatoes on a couple of sheets of paper towel or a tea towel to drain a bit of the moisture out of them. This will prevent your tarts from becoming soggy.

Mix together the crumbled goat cheese and the basil in a small bowl.

Roll out each disk of dough on a well-floured board. Don’t get too hung up about the shape of your dough, just roll it to about 11 inches, more or less.

Place each piece of dough onto a cornmeal sprinkled pan that has been lined with parchment paper.

Scatter the goat cheese and basil onto the rolled out dough leaving a 1 inch boarder. Arrange the tomatoes on top of the cheese somewhat prettily.

Sprinkle with the parmesan and the pepper.

Fold the edges of the tarts up to form small folds along the edge of the dough. Gently press down with your fingers. Once again don’t get too worked up about things, the look you’re going for here is rustic.

Bake the tarts in a 375 degree F oven for about 30 minutes until they are crisp and golden brown. You may have to rotate them in your oven for even baking.

Slide the tarts out onto a cooling rack and try to let them rest for at least 5 minutes before cutting into slices like a pizza.

We almost always double the dough part of this recipe and freeze or refrigerate the extra, then all you need is a few minutes effort to create any number of delicious, sweet and savoury tarts

Some of our favorites are:

asparagus and fontina cheese

caramelized onion and gorgonzola

fig, prosciutto and cambozola

pear, almond, and chocolate