Tomato Caprese Tart Recipe
This recipe turns the popular Tomato Caprese Salad into a Tart. The pesto included in the recipe uses both parsley and basil, but feel free to simplify by using your favorite store-bought basil pesto.
Servings: 4 people
Ingredients
- 1 10" pie crust, store bought or homemade
- 2 pounds tomatoes, ripe but firm
- 1 ½ cups fresh basil leaves, lightly packed
- 4 garlic cloves, peeled, smashed and chopped
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, coarsely chopped
- ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 5 ounces mozzarella, sliced ¼" thick
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated Parmesan cheese, (optional)
Instructions
- If making your own crust, line a tart pan with a removable bottom with the pie dough, and par-bake it following these instructions.
- While the crust is baking, core and slice the tomatoes ¼" thick. Lightly salt, and let them drain on paper towels or a cooling tray nested in a baking sheet. Make a pesto using the basil, garlic, parsley, salt, pepper and olive oil. (See below) Drizzle the pesto over the tomatoes.
- Making the pesto: The most flavorful way to make pesto is to use a mortar and pestle. The quickest most flavorful way is using a mini-chopper. Add the basil, garlic, parsley, salt and pepper into the mini-chopper and chop it to a fairly fine consistency. Add the olive oil, and whirl again to mix it. A food processor can be used in a pinch, but it tends to create an inconsistent texture, with some basil pieces much larger than others.
- When the crust is finished par-baking, lower the oven temperature to 375˚F. Cover the bottom of the crust with most of the ¼" thick slices of mozzarella, retaining a couple of slices. If needed, slice the mozzarella pieces to fit, instead of overlapping them. The cheese creates a barrier between the crust and the tomatoes, preventing the crust from becoming soggy. Layer the tomatoes on top of the cheese, overlapping them.
- Bake for 15 minutes. Remove the tart from the oven and tuck the remaining slices into the top of the tart, between the tomatoes. Bake for another 15 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the tomatoes begin to give off liquid.
- Cool on a cooling rack for 15 minutes before slicing into individual appetizer squares. Serve with sturdy toothpicks.
Notes
Tips For Making a Winner Tomato Caprese Tart
- Since there aren't a lot of ingredients to this recipe, the quality of each ingredient needs to shine.
- The tomatoes should be ripe but firm. Pass up the soft ones for this recipe. They'll completely fall apart when baked.
- Drain the tomatoes. But if you're in a hurry, this isn't as critical as you might think. The mozzarella layer does a great job of protecting the crust from tomato juices.
- Don't slice the tomatoes too thick. Slicing them ¼" thick is perfect when creating bite-sized pieces when the tomato tart is baked.
- Be sure to par-bake the crust before add the filling.
- If you use your own pesto, it should have more oil than you normally use, so that it can be drizzled over the tomatoes and baked. The herbs will dry a bit during baking, making it easy to serve on small bite-sized pieces.
- A mini-chopper is the best quick way of making this pesto. A food processor and blender both result in unevenly chopped basil and parsley.
- Cool for 15 minutes before slicing, to allow the cheese to firm up a little. Use a sharp chef's knife to slice them.
- This recipe is designed to be an appetizer, but I've also served it as both a side dish and vegetarian main with a large kale salad (freshly picked from my container garden on the deck!)