Sunday 13 July 2014

Tomato tart tatin

Tomato tart tatin

I don’t make many savoury bakes, but this tomato tart tatin is delicious! 

I made this tomato tart tatin for the first time a couple of weeks ago and I was surprised how well it turned out! I had friends and family visiting for the day and wanted to make something tasty to accompany the buffet lunch I was putting together. 

I used a mix of medium tomatoes and cherry tomatoes: de-seeding them all took quite a while – but trust me, the faff is worthwhile! I didn’t really know what I was looking for when cooking the tomatoes, but if you keep an eye on them, you can tell when the tomatoes have softened all the way through. You can chuck all the tomatoes in the pan at the same time, but you will need to take the smaller ones out much before the bigger ones. I expected there to be quite a bit of juice, but there wasn’t very much at all – not sure if this was due to the tomatoes I was using. However, I deglazed the pan with the sugar and vinegar and drizzled these juices over the tomatoes. 

Having watched people bake tart tatins on Great British Bake Off and MasterChef, I fully expected the turning out of the tart to be really difficult! I was very pleasantly surprised to find the tart came out easily and looked really quite pretty! 

Overall, I was really impressed with this tart. It was simple, but a little time-consuming to make, and the completed tart was really delicious – light, crisp pastry topped with sweet and slightly sour tomatoes! It was perfect for a light summer lunch, and would be great as a vegetarian offering at a barbeque, or for a summer picnic. A great idea to use up a glut of home-grown tomatoes!

Tomato tart tatin

Ingredients

  1. 25g butter
  2. Splash of good olive oil
  3. 800g medium and small mixed tomatoes, halved across the middle and seeds roughly scooped out
  4. 1 tbsp light soft brown sugar
  5. 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
  6. 1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves or oregano, plus extra to serve
  7. 375g block all-butter puff pastry
  8. Plain flour, for dusting

Method

  1. Pre-heat oven to 200C. 
  2. Melt the butter with a splash of olive oil in your widest frying pan. 
  3. Add the tomatoes, skin-side down, in a single layer (you can do this in 2 batches if they won’t all fit) and cook over a low heat until they have softened and have released their juices. 
  4. Lift out with a slotted spoon and rearrange in a tart tin (roughly 23cm), skin-side down – cram them in as they will shrink a little and you don’t want any gaps. 
  5. Add the sugar and vinegar to the pan, and cook until the pan juices are reduced and syrupy. 
  6. Drizzle the juices over the tomatoes in the tin.
  7. Scatter with the oregano or thyme and season.
  8. Roll the pastry out on a lightly floured surface to a good 25-26cm round. Lay on top of the tomatoes, and tuck the edges down. Use a fork to prick holes all over the pastry – this will help the steam to escape.
  9. Sit the tart tin on a flat baking tray and bake for 30 mins or until the pastry is golden brown and crisp. 
  10. Let the tart sit for 10 mins, then run a knife round the edge to release the pastry. 
  11. Carefully flip the tart over onto a serving plate or board and scatter with more herbs to serve.


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