This is just a note to say that I will be taking off the month of August through Labor Day and will return to you on September 9. August is one of my busiest and most exhausting months, as well as being a hard month for me personally, so I am anticipating very little time to write as I try to balance the summer harvest while also planning and planting the fall harvest.
Apologies to all of my readers but we are deep into tomato season here and I am still absolutely obsessed. Each summer this fixation crystallizes into my annual side quest where I continue on my hunt for the perfect tomato tart. What do I do with an unexpected day off after our market is cancelled because of all the rain and storms? Do I decide to clean my very messy house? Can I be a normal chill person and take it easy? Absolutely not! Instead, I decide to make not one but two tomato tarts. Folks, it would not shock me at all if I attempted a third by the end of today. Over the past few weeks, I have been making tomato tarts whenever I can find a spare minute. It would be a goddamn sin to let all those beautiful heirloom tomatoes go to waste. I am using the truly ugly ones, the ones with all the cracks and crevices and scars that will never sell but their flavor still screams to be used:
The first tart I made features a layer of Dijon, then caramelized leeks & rosemary, heirloom tomatoes, finished off with gruyere. Encased in a simple butter and egg crust. A glass of rosé feels mandatory with this one. The flavors are simple yet sophisticated, this is something that you'd be served in a little bistro in France.
For the second one, I went with something a bit more traditional: a free form tart with the same crust but a layer of basil pesto, heirloom tomatoes, topped with Petit Basque. Think pizza party in tart form. A bitter green salad pairs perfectly with both tarts and I love a chilled Grüner Veltliner to compliment the pesto.
There are infinite variations that you can experiment with when it comes to the vegetables, herbs, cheese and fillings. Last weekend I made a tomato tart with a sweet & smoky mustard I had on hand, thickly sliced heirloom tomatoes and fontina cheese because it's what I had in the fridge. It was amazing and my husband declared that it put my pesto/tomato version to shame and he's the biggest fan of pesto I know.
There are two crust recipes for tomato tarts that I am particularly fond of. This one from David Lebovitz is firm and dry, holding the moisture of the tomatoes nicely. It is simple and plain, allowing the flavor of the tomatoes and whatever fresh herbs to shine through. It has become my go to crust recipe that I use for both a free form galette and a traditional tart ring with a removable bottom. Another favorite crust recipe is this one by Deb Perelman on Smitten Kitchen. This is far more moist, but I love the tanginess that the addition of yogurt lends to the flavor. If you cut and dry the tomatoes on paper towels before adding them and make sure to use a dry cheese, like ricotta salata, I find that the moist crust doesn't turn into a soggy disaster but I'd be careful adding much more moisture in your ingredients if you go with this crust. I've also done a lovely eggplant, summer squash and pesto galette with this and my husband prefers it to my favorite tomato version. Just make sure to salt the eggplant and summer squash/zucchini an hour beforehand to remove as much of the water content as you can.
After five, six tomato tarts total over the past couple weeks, you might ask, which is my favorite? It seems slightly unfair to say because despite having the common ingredient of tomatoes, they are all so different. My husband is constantly urging me to write it all down, "Do it now before you forget!" I like to cook with whatever is in season, whatever I have growing at any given moment, all the herbs and vegetables right at my fingertips, which results in a lot of innovation and fun but not necessarily replication. I move onto the next recipe, the next experiment as soon as the next vegetable comes into season. Aside from a jumble of notes, all the failures and triumphs are lost to the next harvest. This can be frustrating when I've happened upon a smashing success, but my cooking is seasonal and I never have any doubts that next year a new obsession and along with it, a new triumph will take hold once again.
Cheers xxx
Natalie
What’s Growing
We have reached the end of July and the eggplant (soon peppers too!) are exploding. Over the past couple weeks, we received over five inches of rain which is highly unusual for this time of year and has been both a blessing and a curse. After a prolonged dry spring that turned into a drought, our pastures desperately needed all this rain. I don't know if I've ever seen our eggplants as lush and loaded with so many fruits and flowers. The very first substantial harvest of eggplant went to our CSA members this week, but I also made the first eggplant tart of the year as well to enjoy with a few friends this past Saturday evening. Meanwhile, my husband is begging for the first baba ganoush of the season and of course, I am somehow out of tahini, which never happens.
These tomatoes are truly special so I wanted to highlight them. Garden peach tomatoes are some of the most unusual tomatoes I grow. They are fuzzy just like a peach and blush a lovely light pink when ripe. Most people at markets think they are a nectarine or a peach. Despite appearances, they are a tomato that has a very tropical, fruity, almost pineapple guava like flavor. They are very mild and low in acid, making them perfect for folks who can't eat your traditional red, acidic tomatoes. A local bakery makes them into the best tomato jam which they incorporate into their version of a peanut butter and jelly hand pie, an absolute revelation the first time I tried it!
Tomato tarts are the absolute best! ❤️❤️❤️
...wanders off to wipe drool from keyboard...