Tomato Tart is one of those easy dishes that can be made even easier by using a shop bought shortcrust pastry. I make my own pastry with a shortcrust recipe from Stephanie Alexander's book The Cook's Companion. For the filling use quality ingredients like the best cherry tomatoes you can find, Maille mustard, good olive oil, Maldon salt, and freshly ground pepper.
It was only after I put the tart in the oven, I googled tomato tarts to see how long they should be cooked, when I discovered most recipes blind bake the pastry shell before adding the topping. I didn't and the tart was perfectly okay.
Filling
2 punnets of cherry tomatoes, cut into halves
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
Olive oil
Flaked salt and freshly ground pepper
Pastry
240 grams plain flour
pinch of salt
180 grams unsalted butter
3 tablespoons water
Sift flour and salt onto the work bench
Chop butter into small cubes and rub into flour
Make a well in the centre of the flour and add water
Use a pastry scraper to blend ingredients into rough lumps
Gather together to form into a ball, dust with flour, flatten to a disc and wrap in cling film
Place in fridge about 20 minutes
Remove pastry from fridge, roll out and line tart pan with a removable base
Spread mustard over base of pastry
Top with halved cherry tomatoes
Sprinkle with salt and pepper and drizzle with a little olive oil
Bake at 200 degrees about 30 minutes or until pastry is browned and tomatoes have caramlised.
