Tomato Tarte Tatin

Mar 24

Mar 24 Tomato Tarte Tatin

That joy you get when a recipe you know is going to be fabulous, turns out even better than you anticipated. This mouthwatering, savory riff on a classic tarte tatin is from Erin Jeanne McDowell's cookbook The Book on Pie, and is one of the best dinners I've had in recent memory. (And that's including this absolutely scrumptious French Onion Tart.) I mean, will you just look at that caramelization? Pounds of cherry tomatoes are cooked down with fresh herbs, balsamic vinegar, and sherry then baked in puff pastry crust until the tomatoes char and the pastry turns a crackly golden brown. It's quite literally bursting with flavor from all directions. If you have the book, it's her alternate version of the Red Onion Tarte Tatin.

I made a few adjustments/substitutions based on my own equipment and what was available at the store, so here's how I made it in case you run into similar hiccups.

The pan: The recipe calls for a 12-inch cast iron pan, I used my 10-inch and the only volume adjustment I needed to make was to the quantity of tomatoes. I purposefully overcrowded the pan, knowing that they would cook down and I'm glad I did. I also had to trim the crust down a bit to get it to fit in the pan after I rolled it out. Save those scraps and keep reading!
The tomatoes: I couldn't find any cherry tomatoes (!?!?) so I used grape tomatoes, and as you can see it all worked fine. Grape tomatoes aren't quite as sweet as cherry but they do have a lot of flavor, even when tomatoes aren't in season. Just stand them on end when you first add them in the pan so you can fit in as many as possible.
Cooking the tomatoes: I didn't have any sherry, so I used some dry vermouth and it blended beautifully with the other flavors, and used McDowell's suggestion of fresh thyme and oregano vs rosemary.
The crust: Instead of a traditional puff pastry, I used her golden cheese pie dough with 2 ounces of grated parmesan and 2 ounces of crumbled feta and I swear I'm never going to use another pie crust again. SO GOOD. I saved the extra dough that I had from trimming the crust and made cheese straw with it. Just twirled them up and baked them for 20 minutes right after the tart came out of the oven.

The tart does take a little time, but it's mostly time spent waiting for the tomatoes to cook down. There's nothing particularly complicated about it, so I hope you'll give it a try and let me know what you think.

PS. I also recommend this Peanut Butter Banana Cream Pie from the same book.