I first posted this treat in 2012. Every fall, Suzi and I go to the North Fork of Long Island to pick pumpkins and get some pies from Briermere Farms [look it up, go, eat!]. We will buy food out there, but we will take along the core of a beach-side picnic. This is the ideal dish for a fall feast.
The recipe calls for semi-confit tomatoes and a tart shell. You’ll find great recipes for both by search this blog. Search using “semi-confit” and “Roux” to find the two recipes you’ll need for construction. Yes, there is some time require for the confit and the pate brisée but you’ll find this recipe one you return to over and over again. Elegant and sparkling in flavor.
Semi-Confit Cherry Tomato Tart
Yield: serves 6
Ingredients:
- 9 ounces pate brisée [recipe to be blogged tomorrow from Pierre Roux]
- 4 tablespoons white rice
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- 6 tablespoons strong Dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream, lightly whipped
- 18 ounces semi-confit cherry tomatoes [see blog post from yesterday]
- 6 basil leaves, snipped.
Preparation:
Roll out the dough to a circle, 1/8 inch thick and use to line an 8-inch diameter, 1 ¼ inch deep tart ring. Chill for 20 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 375⁰F. Prick the base of the pastry shell. Bake the shell blind for 40 minutes, or until fully cooked. [Note: to blind bake, cover the pastry top with wax or parchment paper. Fill the shell a full layer of beans, covering every square inch of the pastry.] For the last 15 minutes of baking, remove the parchment paper and beans and lower the oven temperature to 340⁰F.
Lift off the tart ring, transfer the pastry shell to a wire rack, and let cool.
In the meantime, cook the rice in boiling salted water for 18 minutes. Refresh under cold running water and drain thoroughly. Tip the cooked rice into a bowl and mix with the mustard and then the whipped cream. Season and spread the rice mixture in the pastry shell. Arrange the tomatoes on the rice, placed shoe still with stalks in the center.
Sprinkle on the snipped basis and serve at room temperature. When serving, offer some French sea salt and crushed pepper on the table to sprinkle on the tart.
The tart is best eaten at room temperature. You can make a day ahead, and then allow to warm up. The filling is mellower on Day 2.
Source: Pastry by Michel Roux