Like a lot of other people, I've been eagerly awaiting tomato season and it's officially here. Besides eating them fresh, we enjoy baking them into our favorite savory summer tart. The tart is full of different kinds of easily obtainable, local, fresh vegetables.
Oh, there's one more veggie in there. Celery. Before the ols challenge, I never knew you couldn't just drop by our farmers' market in July and buy celery. I had no clue celery requires a colder climate than ours, and is, apparently, a fickle plant to grow. Finding a local version, I came realize, was probably not going to happen.
I really wanted to make this tomato tart as part of an all-local dinner. So what to substitute? Swiss chard stalks! The first swiss chard I've ever bought. As I was considering my options at the farmers' market, this one presented itself, and in this recipe, it works great as a substitute for celery.
It's a little hard to tell the swiss chard stalks from the onion in this pic, but it's in there, looking rather celery-like.
To round out our meal, we cooked fresh corn on the cob and tossed some greens with a fresh honey-mustard vinaigrette (local honey, local mustard--McCutcheon's--and local vinegar) using a recipe straight from The Joy of Cooking.
This tomato tart is based on a luscious one from the trusty Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. It's a super easy two-step recipe (you make the crust, then the filling) but because the veggies stew for an hour and you need to pre-bake the crust, you need a couple of hours (with lots of down time) to do it right. Don't bother buying your pie crust from the store, and skip the step of rolling the crust--just press it straight into the tart plate.
I used 100% stone-ground red whole wheat flour from the Burwell-Morgan Mill, and it gave the crust a nutty flavor that complemented the filling very well. This tart is also delicious as leftovers, although the crust gets a little soggy after the first day.
Savory Tomato Tart (adapted from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone)
To make the dough:
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons white all-purpose flour or 100% whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), room temp, cut into small pieces
3 tablespoons of ice water
(the cookbook calls for sugar, even for the savory tart, but I omitted it)
Stir flour and salt in a bowl, then work the butter into the flour with your fingers until you get fine crumbs (but short of being smooth). Stir in the water, a tablespoon at a time, continuing to work the dough until it just pulls together. Wrap and place in the fridge for 5 minutes (the cookbook says 15, if you'd like to roll your crust).
Press the crust evenly into a 9-inch tart plate (unless you've rolled your dough). (Make sure the dough is even and not too thin--but you do want it to come up at least 3/4" to 1" high (thicker on the bottom than the sides) to hold all the filling. I prefer a 1.5"* deep tart plate because my "regular" tart plate nearly didn't hold the filling the last time [you can press the crust so it rises above the tart plate in order to hold the filling in, per the cookbook]).
Place the tart pan in the freezer for at least 15 minutes.
Pre-bake your shell while the veggies for the filling are cooking (see next recipe). Bake the tart crust in a 400 degree pre-heated oven for about 25 minutes. (The tart also bakes at 400 degrees so you might want to leave the oven on if it takes a while to heat up again.)
To make the filling:
Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a pot. Add:
2 small swiss chard stalks (or celery stalks), chopped
1 carrot, finely diced
1 1/2 pounds of tomatoes, coarsely chopped
1 onion, finely diced
1 minced garlic clove
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
5 basil leaves
You'll also separately need for later: 3 well-beaten eggs
Heat the vegetables to a low boil and reduce the heat to low. Cook on low for one hour. Stir occasionally. (The recipe says to add water if it seems dry, but that's never happened to me.)
Puree the veggies. (Please, if you've never tried to puree hot liquids in a blender or food processor, BE CAREFUL. Volcanic explosions may ensue. I prefer to use an immersion blender and puree it right in the pot.)
Season the puree with salt and pepper. (The recipe calls for at least 1/2 tsp salt but I've found that's too little. I'll go out on a limb and say 1 tsp, plus lots of fresh ground pepper.)
Next, stir your beaten eggs into the puree. Pour the filling into the crust and bake in the 400 degree oven until a toothpick comes out clean, 25 to 35 minutes (I typically have to cook it the full 35 or even slightly longer--you will notice the middle becomes firm instead of soupy).
Cool at least 10 minutes (or more) before serving.
*corrected from first posting
