Tomato tart

A recipe from cooking-ez.com

For 1 tomato tart, you will need:

• 1 1 puff or flaky pastry (pâte feuilletée)
• 2 6 tomatoes
• 3 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 3 tablespoons mustard
• 5 Salt
• 6 Pepper
• 7 Parsley (optional)
• 8 Fresh coriander (cilantro) (optional)
• Total weight: 890 grams

Times:

Preparation	Cooking	Start to finish
45 min.	35 min.	1 hour 20 min.

Step by step recipe

• 1: Preheat the oven to 210°C or 410°F.
  Pour 1 tablespoon olive oil into a tart mould or tin, spread it all over the bottom with a brush.
  Line this with 1 puff or flaky pastry (pâte feuilletée). If you have a protection paper with the puff pastry, leave it, and grease between paper and pastry.
  If needed cut around the top of the tin to remove excess pastry.
• 2: Prick the bottom of pastry with a fork all over to prevent it rising too much during cooking.
  Spread out 3 tablespoons mustard all over the puff pastry, with the back of a tablespoon or a brush.
  Leave to wait in the refrigerator.
• 3: Peel 6 tomatoes, and cut them in medium slices.
  Note: if you have the time (1 hour), salt them on both sides, and spread them out on a grid or in a strainer for aboout an hour, this draw out some of the juice could make the pastry soggy during cooking. See below on this subject.
• 4: Lay the best tomato slices around the bottom of the pastry case, as regularly as possible.
  Use a metallic spatula or a fork to place the slices, it's easier than with fingers.
• 5: Finish by filling the centre of the tart with the tomato offcuts.
• 6: Add a dash of olive oil (with herbs if possible).
• 7: If you have them, scatter some chopped herbs on the top, then put on a low shelf in the oven in the oven for approximately 30/40 minutes.
• 8: The tart is cooked when the bottom of the pastry is cooked, i.e golden brown.
  Best eaten warm.
• 9: Possible alternative:
  For a stronger tomato flavour, you can, after adding the mustard and before the tomatoes, add a layer of pizza sauce.

Remarks

The tomatoes depending on of their origin and ripeness could give off a lot of juice, which can be a bit annoying as it makes the pastry soggy. To try to reduce this there are several methods:

• Do not salt before cooking, because it's the salt which brings out the juice. Instead salt salt just after bringing out of the oven.
• Drain off as most of the juice partway through cooking, but it's a slightly delicate operation. For this Francoise uses a large plastic ex-medical syringe.
• Salt the the tomatoes and leave the juice to drain off before using (see above).

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