Wednesday, August 4, 2010

TOMATO TARTE TATIN

Who'd a thunk... using tomatoes for a sweet treat? Not me for sure! This is the other recipe that caught my attention in Bon Appetite magazine. After thinking about it, why not? Tomatoes are actually a fruit not a vegetable, and we make pies, tarts etc. out of fruit so it stands to reason. Most of us think of tomatoes in savory dishes so this is a revelation. It is sweet but not too sweet and still has a tomato taste along with the caramel and buttery richness. It is different and quite good. I didn't think Charlie would like it because he's not fond of out of the ordinary things but he liked it. It is easy to make and a one skillet, 5 ingredient recipe.

Tomato Tarte Tatin

13/4lbs plum tomatoes or Roma (about 8 large)regular tomatoes are too juicy
3Tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
3/4 C sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed (but cold) and cut into a 9-10 inch round- be sure to refrigerate your pastry after cutting it into a round..the pastry has to be kept cold until use.
sweetened whipped cream

serves 8
preheat oven to 425 degrees

Bring a large pan of water to a boil, cut a small X on the bottom of each tomato. Drop the tomatoes into the boiling water for 1-2 minutes or until the skin at the X begins to peel back. Transfer the tomatoes into a large bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. Peel the tomatoes. Cut each tomato in half (lengthwise) cut out the core and scoop out seeds.
Spread the butter over the bottom of an 91/2 inch,2-3 inch deep oven proof skillet. Now I used regular salted butter because I like that little bit of saltiness. I find it goes well with sweet flavors.
Sprinkle the sugar evenly over the butter. Arrange the tomatoes, rounded side down in concentric circles in the skillet fitting tightly together, fill completely.
Place the skillet over medium heat, cook until the sugar and butter are reduced to a thick dark amber colored syrup, about 25 minutes. Shake pan occasionally to prevent burning, especially near the end of the cooking time.
notice along the edge the syrup is becoming an amber shade

Remove skillet from the heat and immediately drizzle the vanilla over the tomatoes.
Top with the pastry round and tuck in the edges using a knife or small spatula.
Cut 2-3 slits in the crust.


Place the skillet in the oven and bake about 24 minutes or until the pastry is a nice golden brown. Cool the tart in the skillet for about 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edges to loosen the pastry. Place a large plate or platter over the skillet, using oven mitts or pot holders hold the plate firmly against the skillet and quickly invert. The tart should drop onto the plate. Let it settle a few seconds before removing the skillet. Rearrange any tomatoes that may have become dislodged.
Serve warm or at room temperature with some of the whipped cream.

I had a little trouble getting my tart to loosen it's self from the skillet. I used a knife to gently slide under the tart and loosen it all the way around. Invert and it should come right out, rearrange any tomatoes that have fallen out of place.
Beautiful, nice and caramelized. Amazing flavors.
So, when you get tired of making sauce or salads with your plum tomatoes..here is a great change of pace recipe.

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