Tomato Basil Tart
This is a recipe that my mother originally gave me and I have been fortunate to receive all the praises from friends and family for it ever since HAHA. ( Don't look at me that way, of course I tell them its her recipe!)
In the photos I decided to make this recipe two ways, small tartlets and a large tart as well. I only took pictures of the finished small tartlets (probably because I ate the large tart before I could take a picture of it) regardless if you like the way the small ones look, the large tart is soooo much prettier!
Its actually pretty simple to make...
Ingredients for 1 large Tart
4-5 Roma Tomato's sliced
1 cup mozzarella
1 cup Italian cheese
1 Pillsbury pie crust dough ( find in the dairy section next to all the biscuits)
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup Parmesan
3 Tbsp. Fresh Basil Chopped
2 Tbsp. Garlic chopped (about 3 cloves)
Directions;
1) Preheat oven to 425 degrees
2) I like to use a spring form pan as shown in the picture because during the baking process the crust slightly pulls away from the sides and makes it so easy to spring the tart out of the pan without risk of mutilation. You could also use an aluminum pie pan of the disposable sort, a shallow cake pan, a regular pie pan etc. Just make sure its around 8-9 inch round.
3) Unroll your dough, lay it in to your pan as shown and poke holes in the bottom of the crust as shown.
4) Bake crust in the oven for approximately 15-20 min or until golden, you do not want to overcook this crust it will happen quickly.
5) While your crust is baking, slice tomatoes and chop garlic and fresh basil ( for the garlic and fresh basil I use a food processor or you could chop by hand) drain tomatoes on paper towels to get rid of access moisture.
6) Once crust is cooked, immediately spread 1 cup mozzarella on crust which helps to prevent the crust from getting soggy once you put the tomatoes down. Put crust and mozzarella back in oven just long enough to melt the cheese (2-3 min)
7) Layer Tomatoes on top of cheese
8) Sprinkle 1 cup Italian cheese on top of the tomatoes.
9) sprinkle basil and garlic mixture on top of Italian cheese.
10) Mix together mayonnaise and Parmesan mixture until combined.
11) Now, by the spoonful, drop the mayo/parm. mixture on top of the tomatoes (don't try to spread) put it in the oven for about 5 minutes, then take the tart out for a minute and spread a little, it will spread on its own while cooking so don't worry about it too much.
12) Put the tart in the oven for approximately 20-25 minutes at 425 degrees until bubbly and golden brown.
13) Try not to eat it all at once!
Variation for small bite tartlets (recipe makes approximately 12 mini tartlets):
For small tartlets, cut out dough rounds with a cup and place over the back of muffin pan as shown, poke holes in dough and cook for approximately 15 min. until golden brown. Flip over and put on a cookie tray.
2) Layer cheese and a single tomato slice into the tartlets as told above in the original recipe. Add Italian cheese, garlic and basil mixture, mayo/parm mixture. Cook for an additional 20 min. until golden brown.
Enjoy!
Kari
.jpg)
