Maggie Monday: Puff Pastry Tomato Tarts

Um….when Maggie gets to cooking, she really gets to cookin’. There are times when she will send me a bunch of posts all together and I schedule them out for each Monday. As you can tell from her first words below, this was written earlier in the year. My bad Maggie. Hopefully you have the last of your tomatoes coming out of the garden, if not, there are plenty at the store….

This time of year so many folks are pulling tomatoes from their gardens. I am always the happy recipient of “extra” tomatoes. Can’t get enough of them. This recipe came across my Cooks.com feed, and is originally from Food and Wine magazine. I had to try it right away- at least as soon as someone brought a big bag of free tomatoes!

I can’t say this recipe was quick. There are some steps it called for that I don’t typically do. Like blanche the tomatoes and peel them. I usually just leave the skin on and deal with it. But, I opted to add the step of the blanche and peel. It was good, but I think it would be OK with the skins on. (Peaches can be blanched to peel them too- works really well!)

This also takes time as the tomatoes need to sit and drain awhile after they are peeled, seeded and seasoned. Then, you have to prepared the puff pastry, and bake it alone for 20 minutes before placing the tomatoes and cheese on the puffs and bake again.

I served this with the Crispy Squash Casserole that has already been posted. Yummy summer meal.

Totally worth it. These were awesome. It was a lot of work for a very simply dish. When I make this again, I am going to leave the skin on the tomatoes just to test the difference. My husband even asked specific questions about the preparation… maybe he’ll make the next batch! Haaahaaahaaaaa!

Puff Pastry Tomato Tarts

What you need:

1 1/2 pounds large heirloom tomatoes, cored

2 teaspoons light brown sugar

Salt

All-purpose flour, for dusting

1/2 pound chilled all-butter puff pastry

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

1 tablespoon chopped basil

What you do:

Preheat the oven to 400°. In a saucepan of boiling water, blanch the tomatoes until the skins start to curl, 30 seconds; transfer to a plate and let cool. Peel the tomatoes. Halve them crosswise and squeeze out the seeds, then slice the tomatoes 1/2 inch thick. Sprinkle the tomatoes on both sides with the sugar and season with salt; transfer to a rack and let drain for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the puff pastry 1/8 inch thick. Using a 6-inch round plate as a template, cut out four 6-inch rounds. Transfer the rounds to the prepared baking sheet and freeze for 5 minutes. Bake the rounds for 20 minutes, until golden brown and puffed.

Pat the tomato slices dry with paper towels. Sprinkle the pastry puffs with half of the grated cheese and arrange the sliced tomatoes in a circle in the center of each pastry round, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Dot the tomatoes evenly with the butter and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.

Bake the tarts for 10 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 350° and bake for 20 minutes longer, until the pastry is richly browned and the tomatoes have shrunken slightly. Let the tarts cool for at least 5 minutes, garnish with the basil and serve.