SHARE a slice of summer with this savory, easy-to-make Cherry Tomato Tart.
Cherry Tomato Tart – Summer’s Bounty
I love the bounty of summer! Gardens and farmer’s markets are bursting with fruit and vegetables. With just a little effort and inspiration, they can be transformed into delicious dishes. A big thanks to my cousin Dianne, a great cook and accomplished host, for passing on this recipe. It all started when she shared this mouth watering picture on Facebook.
Of course I had to know what she made and request the recipes. Dianne had whipped up a crustless mushroom quiche and an Heirloom Tomato Tart (which uses full-sized tomatoes) for her recent pickle making party. I think it’s wonderful that Dianne (along with others in our family) are carrying on the legacy of our Grandma Knudtson’s pickles!
For this post, I opted for the cherry tomato version of this tart, which has a few differences from the other recipe. That’s because I had some monster-sized yellow pear tomatoes from the garden of our friends Rick & Tracey. I cut the pear tomatoes in half to match the size of the cherry tomatoes, which caused them to cooked down a bit faster. But no worries. They still provided a nice color combination and tasted great. I did have a good chuckle when I noticed the perfectly round cherry tomato at the tip of my tart slice. It looks just like Rudolf’s red nose!
Easy as Pie!
A refrigerated pie crust makes this recipe very easy. The filling is a simple mixture of goat cheese, mascarpone, Parmesan and fresh thyme. I used a lemon flavored goat cheese (from HyVee) which married well with the tomatoes and thyme. If your not a fan of goat cheese, you can substitute cream cheese.
Once the filling is spread into the cooled crust, top with a colorful array of small tomatoes, bake, then cool to room temperature. So easy! This versatile tart would be great as an appetizer, served as part of a brunch or as a light lunch with a salad.
Cucumber & Zucchini Recipes
Zucchinis and cucumbers were also plentiful at our house recently, thanks to our friends Donna and Bill. It’s great to have generous friends with gardens! If you are looking for recipes to to use up an excess of these veggies, try Two Easy Cucumber Salads, Marinated Grilled Zucchini and Zucchini with Basil & Feta.
I hope you enjoy these recipes for summer’s bountiful harvest.
Cherry Tomato Tart
Ingredients
- 1 sheet of refrigerated pie crust 1/2 of a 15 oz. package
- 5 oz. softened marscapone
- 5 oz. softened goat cheese I used lemon flavored
- 1/4 c. finely grated Parmesan
- 2 tsp. minced fresh thyme plus additional for garnish, if desired
- kosher salt & freshly ground pepper to taste
- 1 1/2 lbs multi-colored cherry tomatoes
- 4 tbsp. Italian breadcrumbs
- 1 1/2 tbsp. melted butter
Equipment
- 9 ” tart pan with removable botton
- parchment paper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Unroll pie crust and fit into a 9″ tart pan with a removable bottom, Prick bottom with a fork, Place a 13″ square piece of parchment over dough; fill with pie weights or dried beans (I used some nuts & bolts – I am a seriously resourceful girl.) Bake for 20 minutes.
- Remove parchment and pie weights. Bake for an additional 5-7 minutes or until bottom is golden and set. Cool on wire rack. Reduce oven to 350 degrees.
- In medium bowl, combine goat cheese, mascarpone, Parmesan and thyme. Season with salt & pepper. Spread in bottom of cooled tart crust. Arrange tomatoes over filling, packing closely together so the tomatoes touch. Note – I was working with pair-shaped tomatoes and couldn’t pack them quite as closely, so I didn’t use all 1 1/2 lbs. Bake for 35-40 minutes. Note – My tart leaked a lot of moisture from the tomatoes so put a baking sheet on the oven rack below the tart to catch the excess liquid.
- Mix breadcrumbs and melted butter and sprinkle on top of tart. Bake for 20 minutes or until tomatoes start to burst (mine took about 30 minutes.) Cool completely on wire rack. Sprinkle with additional minced thyme if desired.
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