Tomato tarts all summer

Do you need anything more than a freshly cooked tomato tart in this one little life? Probably, but a tomato tart might keep you satisfied for just an end-of-the-summer moment.

There’s a lot of ways you can get this done - you can buy a ready-made crust, you can make your own press-in tart crust with basically just some flour and butter via this very simple recipe, you can do it proper with ice water and eggs, or you can just buy a puff pastry, slice some tomatoes, add some olive or sunflower oil, herbs, salt and pepper to your liking, and bake.

PREPARE YOUR CRUST

As per whatever instruction - most crusts need a bit of an oven treatment before being loaded with toppings.

ADD SOME EXTRAS

Some folks like a mustard and olive oil glaze or an egg wash on the crust before adding tomatoes, yummy but not necessary with all the liquid you’ll get from the ‘maters. Some folks like some sort of cheese - ricotta, mozzarella, chevre, gruyere, muenster - any cheese will be great - spread on the crust. Some folks are happy with just the tomatoes and the olive oil and maybe a bit of garlic. Go ahead and add some slivered onions, or caramelized onions are great, too.

ADD TOMATOES

Slice ‘em, halve ‘em, or keep ‘em whole. The bigger the tomato, the longer it will take to cook. Best to cut with a serrated knife for easy cutting. Try and ensure they’re all about the same size for a more even bake. Salt and pepper. Salt them well, don’t be shy. Drizzle everything with olive or sunflower oil.

BAKE

Yep, that’s it. Enjoy! Timing will depend on your oven and the size of your tart, but about 1 and a half hours at 350 degrees is a good baseline.