An upgrade on pizza: the tomato and cheese tart

It’s hard to believe that it’s almost the end of May. However, with how incredible the weather has been out here in Vancouver it feels like summer! The end of May marks the opening of all the farmer’s markets around Vancouver. Some of the markets are open throughout the year, but most run from May to September-October. I’m fortunate enough to have one every Saturday at a park that’s about 300m from my house. That means every weekend after Saturday track practice I can hit up the market and stock my fridge with locally sourced produce, bread and other tasty morsels. It’s dangerous to go straight from practice as I end up buying twice as much as I need only because I’m ravenous!

Last weekend there was a special on cherry tomatoes – both red and orange ones. They are perfect little bursts of sweetness with a nice crunch as you bite through the skin. Due to the weather being on the warm side, I’ve been making loaded salads for dinner most nights. The other day I found that I had one roll of puff pastry left in the fridge that I thought would make a perfect tart base. Keeping the ingredients simple, and restricted to what I had in the house, I decided a tomato and cheese tart would be an excellent addition to my massive salad. Only taking 25 minutes to bake means that the kitchen doesn’t get to warm from having the oven on. This fancy variation on pizza is a relatively healthy dinner treat for after a workout.

Tomato and Cheese Tart

Ingredients:
1 sheet of puff pastry, rolled to 12”x12” square
1 pint of cherry tomatoes
2 tsp olive oil
2 tsp minced garlic
¼ cup parmesan, shredded
¼ cup feta, crumbled
¼ cup gruyere cheese, grated
½ tsp basil,
½ tsp oregano

Directions:
1. Thaw the frozen puff pastry by either putting it in the fridge overnight or laying it out on the counter, wrapped, for about 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Meanwhile, cut the cherry tomatoes in half and place them cut side down on a double thickness of paper towel and allow to drain for about 30 minutes. Toss in a bowl with some olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic and the herbs.
3. Place a sheet of baking parchment on a baking pan. Place the thawed puff pastry on a lightly floured counter. Transfer the dough to the baking sheet.
4. Fold the edges of the pastry to make a 1” border. Inside the border, dock the pastry with a fork. Very thinly spread the mustard on the pastry. Sprinkle the cheeses on the mustard and top with the tomatoes (make sure the cut side of the tomatoes are all facing up so that their juice doesn’t make the pastry too soggy).
5. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden.