This Tomato Goat Cheese Tart is my home lockdown project.
During the pandemic lockdown, I expanded our small low-maintenance, urban perennial and shrub garden in Chicago by tucking in a few pots of tomatoes and herbs. This small pot enhancement to our garden provided a welcome diversion between streams of on-line activities.
The herbs — parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme — grew quickly and added welcome flavor to our daily meals.
The potted tomatoes grew more slowly but we diligently watered them and reveled at every green tomato appearing on the two plants.
Now two months later, it’s tomato time. Over 60 tomatoes are in various stages of ripening on the two plants. It is delightful to eat the fruit of our labor fresh off the vine warm with a sprinkling of salt, in caprese and other cooling salads. But as the pace of ripening has quickened, and ripe tomatoes are piling up, I decided to apply my vegetable pie skills to making a tomato pie.
I’ve enjoyed tomato pies in the American South and various French tomato tart versions, but as I reviewed delicious recipes, while delicious, none of them displayed the tomato’s sweet-tart taste and succulence.
Some versions are merely dried tomato slices on mustard-coated pastry; in others, tomato slices are set in a layer of melted cheese or coated by thick browned cheese which obscures the tomato’s flavor; and in still others, juicy tomato slices float in the pastry shell making it soggy. Most recipes advise pressing the juice from the tomato slices on paper towels which, in my opinion, extracts and discards the flavor essence of the tomato. Eliminating the tomato’s juiciness leaves only tomato pulp!
This Tomato Goat Cheese Tart remedies some of the shortcomings of other tomato pie or tart versions. My goal was to create a tomato tart that preserves the tomato’s flavor and moistness without becoming soggy. Here is what I did:
I started with Christopher Kimball ‘s Milk Street No-shrink Pie Dough* recipe as the base for 10-inch (26 cm) tart shell which I blind-baked. This recipe adapts the Japanese tangzhong method in which a flour (or starch)–and-boiling-water paste hydrates the dough while retarding gluten development. This pastry dough assembles easily in a food processor, even several days in advance if necessary, and produces a flaky and resilient crust capable of containing the creamy goat cheese filling and ripe and seasoned tomatoes.
The combination of soft goat cheese-sour cream-egg filling flavored with fresh thyme, parsley, garlic and Parmesan creates a smooth savory filling that complements the tomatoes. A thin coating of Dijon mustard, spread in the pastry shell as done in many French tomato tarts, adds a subtle tanginess to the creamy, herby filling.
To retain tomato juice and prevent tart sogginess, I briefly marinated the sliced tomatoes in a purée of thyme, parsley, garlic, olive oil with a tablespoon of ClearJel, a modified corn starch used by commercial bakers for fruit pie filling.**
Since tomato is a fruit, it seemed logical that it could be treated like other fruits in pies and tarts. Using regular, cook-type Clearjel has several advantages. When heated, it quickly absorbs, gels and retains juices macerating from the tomatoes. It is a crystal clear, flavorless thickener, not murky like flour, corn starch or tapioca, which does not change color when heated, nor diminishes the tomato flavor while retaining the tomatoes’ juiciness without sogginess.
This Tomato Goat Cheese Tart makes a generously flavorful, end-of summer meal. It captures freshly picked tomato colors and artfully combines their smell and taste with creamy goat cheese, herb-flecked layer in a buttery crust. The savory result is moist and succulent.
This recipe celebrates nature’s bounty and is a fresh lunch or dinner addition when served with a green salad or a green bean vinaigrette, and even works well as part of a wine and cheese spread.
This Tomato Goat Cheese Tart should be served warm or at room temperature. My spouse thinks that it tastes better the second day when re-warmed.
Tomato Goat Cheese Tart
For the dough:
3 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 cup (5 oz./155 g) plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons sugar
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
10 tablespoons (5 oz./155 g) cold salted butter, cut into ½-inch (12 mm) pieces
1 tablespoon sour cream
For tomato topping:
4 medium fresh tomatoes, regular or heirloom, ripe but firm, about 1½ pounds (680 g)
1 clove garlic, peeled, crushed and minced
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
¼ cup (15 g) flat-leaf parsley leaves, lightly packed
¼ cup (60 ml) extra virgin olive oil
¾ teaspoon granulated sugar
1 tablespoon Clear Jel, cook-type**
For goat cheese filling:
14 ounces (380 g) soft goat cheese
1 tablespoon flat-leaf parsley
3 tablespoons fresh thyme, stemmed with leaves minced
2 cloves garlic, peeled, crushed and minced
1 large egg
½ cup (61 g) sour cream
⅓ cup (30 g) Parmesan cheese
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
For garnish:
Additional herbs
Preparing dough: In a small microwave-safe bowl, whisk together water and cornstarch. Microwave until set, 30 to 40 seconds, stirring once halfway through. Chill in freezer for 10 minutes.
Once the cornstarch mixture is chilled, combine flour, sugar and salt in a food processor and process until blended, about 5 seconds. Add chilled cornstarch mixture and pulse until it is evenly distributed, about 5 pulses. Add butter and sour cream and process until the dough forms a ball around the blade, 20 to 30 seconds. Pat dough into a 4-inch (10 cm) disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 2 days.
When ready to bake, arrange a rack in the middle of the oven and pre-heat to 375˚F (190˚C). On a well-floured counter, roll dough into a 14-inch (36 cm) circle. Drape dough over a rolling pin and transfer to a 10-inch (26 cm) pie or tart pan. Gently ease dough into the pan by lifting edges while pressing down into the pan corners. Trim the edges, leaving a ½-inch (12 mm) overhang, then tuck the remaining overhand under the dough so it is flush with the pan’s edge. Chill in freezer for 15 minutes.
To blind bake, line the chilled crust with aluminum foil and fill with pie weights or dry beans. Bake until the edges are light brown, about 25 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the cooking time.
Remove the foil and weights and bake until the bottom of the crust just begins to color, around 5-7 minutes. Let cook on a wire rack for 1 hour before filling. (Once baked and cooled, the crust can be wrapped in plastic wrap and kept at room temperature for up to 2 days.) Makes one 9-10-inch (23-26 cm) pastry shell.
Preparing tomatoes: Cut tomatoes into ½ -inch (2 cm) slices and place them in a large, flat bowl. Combine parsley, garlic, thyme, salt and pepper in a food processor and pulse until finely minced. Combine sugar and Clear Jel and add to the mixture in the food processor and pulse until smooth. With the machine running, slowly pour in olive oil and process until incorporated. Pour herb mixture over tomatoes. Set aside for 15 minutes while preparing goat cheese filling.
Marinating tomatoes
Preparing goat cheese filling: Combine goat cheese, sour cream, garlic, egg, Parmesan, salt and pepper in a food processor bowl and pulse until smooth. Stir in chopped parsley and thyme. Set aside until ready to bake.
Assembling and baking tart: Preheat oven to 400˚F (205˚C). Line a sheet pan with parchment paper if using a loose-bottom tart pan to catch spills.
Spread Dijon mustard in a thin layer over the room temperature pastry shell.
Then spread goat cheese filling evenly over the mustard.
Carefully transfer tomato slices, arranging in overlapping circles on the goat cheese filling, spooning a few tablespoons of the marinating juices over the tomatoes.
Assembled, ready to bake
Place tart pan on the parchment-lined sheet pan and bake for 60 minutes or until the top starts to brown and bubble, rotating the tart once during the cooking time. Remove from oven and cool on a rack to warm or room temperature before cutting. Sprinkle with additional herbs before serving.
Serves 6-8.
*Recipe from Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street at https://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/christopher-kimballs-no-shrink-pie-dough.html
**Clear Jel is a modified cornstarch used by many commercial bakers in their fruit pie fillings. It is available on-line from Amazon.
Clear Jel is easy to use. It works well with acidic ingredients and can tolerate high temperatures. It makes a fruit filling that’s clear and not cloudy. It has no floury, pasty or starchy flavor. It can substitute flour 1 for 1.
Clear Jel comes in two versions. The regular (cook-type) version requires cooking to trigger the jelling. Instant Clear Jel thickens upon contact with liquid, with additional thickening upon heating.
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