Fresh Tomato Vegan Tart

The farm stand on Hwy. 12 had some nice looking tomatoes this week, but I found that there were more in the bag than I had thought, so today I not only had some with my lunch, but I decided to make a pie or tart with some of them. They aren't heirloom, but they are a nice size and juicy and tasty, so why not?

After looking at recipes for both tomato pie and tomato tart, I decided to create my own recipe because they all seemed to depend on a lot of cheese to make the pies and tarts work...and I don't do cheese made from dairy. Fortunately Kite Hill makes an acceptable ricotta 'cheese', so I used that as part of the base for my tart. A tart seemed better than a pie because it cooks faster and only needs one layer of tomatoes. That meant that I would have a layer of pie dough, a layer of ricotta-based filling, a layer of tomatoes and, I decided, a layer of bread crumbs/pine nuts for crunch and additional nutrition.

If you are vegan, this makes a nice meal with, perhaps, grilled zucchini, and a green salad or maybe some corn on the cob. Very summery!  If you aren't vegan, it makes a substantial side with something simple, perhaps grilled chicken thighs or fish. Either way, it is delicious eaten warm or at room temperature. It's a good idea to let it cool about 20 minutes to let the filling firm up a bit before serving.

I used my favorite food processor pie dough recipe, using non-dairy 'butter' instead of real butter.  Start this one early since both the butter or 'butter' and the finished dough require chilling time.

The tomatoes need to be started early, too. You slice them 1/2-inch thick and then drain them on paper towels. A sprinkle of garlic salt both seasons and encourages the tomatoes to give up their excess juice. A too-juicy tomato can make for a soggy tart.

The filling is pretty easy. You can used the work bowl you used to make the pie dough. Just wipe it out first. A vegan egg substitute needs a few minutes to thicken or you can use an egg if not doing vegan. I have a lovely basil plant on my front steps. It doesn't take a lot to fill a 1/4 cup measure, plus it's nice to save a few small leaves for garnish. Once mixed into the filling, the basil flavor is fairly mild, but it goes so nicely with the tomato slices!

The topping is simple: dry bread crumbs mixed with olive oil. You sprinkle that liberally over the finished tart, then sprinkle on a tablespoon or two of pine nuts for added flavor and protein.

If you'd like to serve this as an appetizer, shape the tart in a rectangular tart pan. The filling will be slightly thinner, but you can then cut squares of the tart to pass on a platter.

Fresh Tomato Vegan Tart
An original Elle Baker recipe

1/2 recipe Food Processor Pie Dough - (reserve the other dough disk for another use)
see below for recipe

2 large tomatoes, sliced 1/2-inch thick
garlic salt and pepper to taste

4 oz. Kite Hill ricotta (or used regular ricotta if not making a vegan tart)
1/4 cup chiffonade (thin strips) fresh basil, packed, plus a few small basil leaves for garnish
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg worth vegan egg substitute, reconstitute if needed (...or one egg if not making a vegan tart)

1/4 cup dry bread crumbs
1 tablespoon olive oil
1-2 tablespoons pine nuts

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Place oven rack in bottom third of oven

Roll out chilled pie dough disk to a 11-inch diameter circle. Transfer to tart pan. Fold down any excess dough along the sides of the tart pan. Press dough into sides. Trim any dough at the top by running a rolling pin over the top edge. Chill until ready to fill.

Place the thinly sliced tomato slices in a single layer on a few sheets of paper towel. Sprinkle with garlic salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste. Let the tomatoes sit and exude juice while you make the filling.

Wipe out the work bowl that you used for the pie dough (or just use a clean work bowl) for your food processor. Add the steel knife and the ricotta, basil chiffonade, salt, and egg substitute (or egg). Cover with top and pulse until fully combines and the texture of mayonnaise. Set aside.

In a small bowl mix the dry bread crumbs and the olive oil.

Remove the tart shell from the refrigerator. Spread the ricotta/basil filling in the bottom of the tart shell and smooth to make it even. Place the seasoned tomato slices on top of the filling, overlapping slightly. You may have extra slices to use for another purpose.

Liberally sprinkle (I used clean hands) the bread crumb mixture over the tomato slices. Sprinkle the pine nuts evenly over the tart. Set the tart on a baking sheet.

Bake in the preheated oven for 25-35 minutes or until tart shell is golden brown and filling is set. Check after 20 minutes and cover the tart with foil tent if the bread crumbs or nuts are over-browning.

When baked, let cool for at least 15 minutes on a wire rack. Remove tart sides and serve warm or at room temperature. If desired, garnish with small basil leaves or some basil chiffonade.

Food Processor Pie Crust from Martha Stewart Test Kitchen

makes 2 disks

2 sticks unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces, divided
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup ice water

Freeze 3/4 of the butter pieces in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet until hard, at least 30 minutes. Refrigerate the other 1/4 of the pieces. The frozen pieces stay chunky after being pulsed, creating steam pockets when baked (the key to flakiness) and the refrigerated bits get worked into the pastry, giving it a tender texture.

Combine flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor work bowl. Add refrigerated butter (the smaller amount of the butter bits). Pulse to combine, about 10 times. Add frozen butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal, with some blueberry-sized clumps.

With the processor off, add the ice water. Immediately pulse until water is just incorporated, about 10 times. Squeeze a small amount of dough to make sure it holds together. Pulse a few times more if needed. When you squeeze the dough it should remain crumbly, but come together. Don't pulse it so long that it forms a ball. Adding water while the processor is running  and over-pulsing are bad ideas... could lead to tough dough.

Lay out 2 pieces of plastic wrap. Empty half the dough onto each piece. Bring edges of wrap together to gather dough and form a round mass. Press the dough this way to form a rough round mass, and press on top of the wrap to form a disk. The processed dough should resemble uneven crumbs. When you empty the mixture from the processor bowl out onto the plastic wrap, some pieces will be tiny, others will be in clumps. That is perfect! The gathered plastic wrap method of forming the disk simultaneously has you gathering the crumbs into a cohesive dough and shaping it.

Roll out disks, still wrapped in plastic, to 1/2 inch thick rounds, about 8 inches in diameter. Rounds this size will chill more quickly that hockey-puck sized ones and will soften more uniformly when removed from the refrigerator.

Refrigerate at least 45 minutes and up to 2 days. Dough can be frozen up to 1 month. (Note: I froze half of the dough for a week and a half. By the time it had thawed, it was a bit gray, but it baked up golden, flaky and gorgeous.)