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Cheese & Tomato Tart

Source of Recipe

by Giovanna, from Julia Child


Recipe Link: messageboards.ivillage.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=iv-fdcooking&msg=6269.1

List of Ingredients

1/2 recipe of tart dough (recipe below)
2 ounces Monterey Jack cheese
2 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, torn or cut into strips
2-3 firm but ripe plum tomatoes, cut into 1/4 inch slices (I've used regular tomatoes and it's been fine!)


Recipe

Postion a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat it to 400.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Put the dough on a lightly floured work surface and roll it into a 11-inch circle that's about 1/8 inch thick. The dough is very soft so you'll need to lift it now and again and throw some flour under it and over the top. Roll the dough up around your rolling pin and unroll onto the prepared baking sheet.

For the filling:
Toss the cheeses and basil together in a small bowl, then scatter it over the rolled out dough, leaving a 2-3 inch border. Place the tomatoes in a concentric circles, one slice slightly overlapping the last, on top of the cheese. Fold the uncovered border of dough up over the filling, allowing the dough to pleat as you lift it up and work your way around the tart. Because you're folding a wide edge of the dough onto a smaller part of the circle, it will pleat naturally as you go around the tart.

Baking the Tart:
Bake the tart for 35-40 minutes, or until the pastry is golden and crisp and the cheese is bubbly. Transfer the baking sheet to a cooling rack and let the tart rest on the sheet for 10 minutes. Slip a wide spatula under the tart and slide it on to the cooling rack. (parchment paper is a huge help here use it if you have it!) Serve it warm or at room temperature, sprinkled with more basil.

Tart dough (whole recipe):
3 Tbsp sour cream or yogurt or buttermilk
1/3 cup (around) ice water
1 cup flour
1/4 cup cornmeal
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
7 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into 6-8 pieces

Stir the sour cream and 1/3 cup ice water together in a small bowl and set aside.

Put the flour, cornmeal, sugar, and salt in a large bowl and stir with a fork to mix. Drop the butter pieces into the bowl, tossing them once or twice just to coat them with flour. With a pastry blender, work the butter into the flour, aiming for pieces of butter that range in the size from bread crumbs to small peas.

Sprinkle the cold sour cream mixture over the dough, 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing the fork to evenly distribute it. After you've added all of the sour cream the dough should be moist enough to stick together when pressed; if not add additional cold water, 1 teaspoon at a time. With your hands, gather the dough together. Turn the dough out of the bowl and divide in half. Press each piece into a disk, wrap in plastic and refigerate for at least 2 hours.
The dough can be kept in the frige for a day or two or wrapped well and frozen for a month.