Rustic Tomato Tart

I have a confession to make.

Okay....breathe...you can do this...

Here goes....

I love garlic.

There! I said it! And you heard me!

I.

Love.

Garlic.

I can't help myself. I don't care how many dates I may have ruined in the past. And anyway, I done caught my man so I can eat as much garlic as I want to and there's nothing he can do about it. He has to love me anyway.

Phew. I feel so much better that I got that off my chest.

You are probably wondering where all this came from. And if you aren't? I'm going to tell you anyway.

See...I've been trying to play catch up in my Google Reader. I have been so busy this past week that I just didn't have time to read anything. I barely eked out the posts for this blog, let alone my other one.

And let me tell you, when way behind on your friend's posts, it may not be a good idea to add more blogs to your already too long list. But sometimes, I run across a great new find and I have to stick around!

That's what has happened with Baking and Creating with Avril. This blog is new to me and I'm so glad I found it. Especially since I read her recent post about this dish I'm about to share with you. I literally ran out that day to get the finishing ingredients so I could make this meal that very night.

All I needed was the cheese so I'm telling you now...you probably already have most of the ingredients for this dish in your kitchen. It was easy and SO delicious.

I made this on a night that The Hubble had class because his usual response for things like this is "where's the meat??" However, I forgot that the meat was missing from this meal...it was THAT good.

I enjoyed this meal on my own with a glass of merlot and it was heaven.

However, as I said...I love garlic, so I often change the "salt and pepper" to "garlic salt and pepper." Why am I mentioning this now? Because I realized my obsession was a problem when I was making this dish. I realized that almost every time a recipe calls for "salt and pepper" I will change it to "garlic salt and pepper." See what I'm saying? It's a problem. And not everyone may share this love with me...but I don't care. It's GEWD!

Okay. Enough talking. Let's get cooking.

First, we start by making the crust. Grab some flour, salt, butter (cold) and an egg. I actually used salted butter for this but you can do either. I did not find it too salty either. And no...I did not change this one to garlic salt...silly!

Take a pastry cutter (or two knives) and work the butter and flour together until it resembles a cornmeal type substance.

At this point you are supposed to take a separate bowl and dump in the egg and water, beat it lightly, make a well in the flour and butter mixture, then gently work it all together. Unfortunately, I didn't do that. I cracked the egg into the flour mix then dumped in the water. THEN I read the directions and realized my mistake. So I took the pastry cutter and kind of blended the egg and water in the center of the flour...it was salvaged.

See??? You mix the egg into the flour then I ended up kneading a bit with my hands to make a ball of dough.

I then rolled the ball into a 14 inch "circle" onto a piece of parchment paper. When the dough was rolled out I transferred the whole thing (parchment and all) onto a baking sheet.

Now for the innards! You will need 2-3 large tomatoes (I used 2 1/2), some olive oil, mozzarella cheese (the good kind), stone ground and dijon mustards (sorry the dijon isn't in the picture), some basil (or other herbs of your choosing), pepper and...you guessed it! Garlic salt!

For this part I was planning on just using the stone ground mustard but I found out I didn't have enough. So I made a mix of dijon and stone ground mustard. Spread the mustard onto the unbaked tart shell.

Now slice the tomato and pile it up in the center of the shell.

At this point I decided I wanted to add a little balsamic vinegar because it's SO good with basil and tomato.

So you drizzle a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar over the tomatoes.

Then sprinkle on some garlic salt, pepper and basil.

Slice up the cheese and place it on top of the tomatoes.

Add a bit more garlic salt, pepper and basil.

Fold up the edges of the crust over the sides of the tomatoes and cheese. At this point I considered using an egg wash because I was worried about the crust. But, I followed the directions and just left it like this.

Toss it in the oven for 30 minutes. The crust becomes golden brown and the cheese gets all gooey, brown and bubbly. Oh my!

Let it cool for a bit, then slice it with a pizza cutter. Serve and enjoy!

Please, please, please go out and get the stuff to make this tonight. I promise you will hear the angels sing upon your first bite and you will find yourself exclaiming "who needs meat!!!". I know I did! Yum!

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Rustic Tomato Tart
Slightly adapted from Baking and Creating with Avril

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Ingredients:

For the crust:

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 4 Tablespoons chilled butter, cut into cubes
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg
• 2-3 Tablespoons cold water

For the Filling:

• 3 Tablespoons stone ground or dijon mustard (use a mix of both if desired)
• 2-3 large fresh tomatoes
• 2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 2 Tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar
• 2 teaspoons dried basil
• 8 ounces good quality mozzarella cheese
• garlic salt and pepper (to taste)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

For crust:

1. Mix salt and flour in medium bowl. With pastry cutter (or using two knives) cut in chilled butter until mixture has a cornmeal consistency.
2. In separate bowl, lightly beat egg; add 2 Tablespoons water.
3. Make a well in center of flour mixture and pour egg mixture in the well; mix until well incorporated and a non-sticky dough forms. (During this process, if dough is still too dry, add third Tablespoon of water).
4. Knead dough into a ball, transfer to parchment paper; roll out into a 14 inch circle. Transfer parchment paper and dough to a baking sheet.

For Filling:

1. Spread mustard over the unbaked crust until well covered.
2. Slice tomato and arrange in center of crust circle.
3. Drizzle tomatoes with olive oil and balsamic vinegar; sprinkle with garlic salt, pepper and basil.
4. Top with sliced mozzarella; sprinkle with a bit more garlic salt, pepper and basil.
5. Bring edges of crust up over the edges of tomato and cheese.
6. Bake in oven for 30 minutes until crust is golden brown and cheese is brown and bubbly.
7. Allow to cool about 10 minutes, slice with pizza cutter.
8. Serve and enjoy!