So, it seems that I am easily stirred by what my peers are cooking and this week it is savoury tart. With the abundance of Australian vibrant spring fruits and vegetables. I guess I didn't have to look far for inspiration! 😄 I think I am appreciating Spring even more now since we have finally opened up again after three long months. 😭
I have been procrastinating on making a savoury tart for my blog for a while now and the hero of this tart, in my humble opinion, is actually the tart pastry that is filled with aromatic rosemary and finely shaved cheese.
I hope you enjoy this tart as much as I do and I can't wait for the next bake!
To make the Ricotta and Heirloom Tomato Tart
ROSEMARY SHORTCRUST PASTRY
INGREDIENTS | QUANTITY |
Plain Flour | 200g |
Unsalted Butter - cold | 100g |
Salt | 4g |
Rosemary powder | 2g |
Full Cream Milk | 50g |
Olive Oild | 10g |
Manchego cheese - finely grated | 30g |
CHEESE AND TOMATO FILLINGS
INGREDIENTS | QUANTITY |
Parsley - finely chopped | 10g |
Dill - finely chopped | 6g |
Mozzarella cheese - shredded | 70g |
Ricotta cheese | 250g |
Feta Cheese - crumbled | 200g |
Whole Egg | 1 |
Heirloom Tomatto - assorted | 2 - 3 |
Tomato Berries | qs |
Sea Salt Flakes | qs |
BASIL OIL
INGREDIENTS | QUANTITY |
Olive Oil | 100ml |
Fresh Basil Leaves - Chopped plus extra for garnish | 1/2 cup |
Sea Salt Flakes | pinch |
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Method
Cheese Pastry
1. Place flour, cold butter and salt in a mixer bowl. With the tip of your fingers, rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles a coarse crumb. At this point, you will see chunks of butter in the dough and this is exactly what you want. Add in the rosemary and grated cheese and mix.
Add in olive oil followed by the egg, mix with your hand gently until they just come together and there are no dry bits of flour in the dough. Do not at any point knead the dough as this will cause the butter to blend into the other ingredients and compromise on the flakiness of the pastry.
2. Gently press the dough down to a flat square, cut the dough to half. Top one half of the dough on top of the other half, press down to flatten. Repeat this process two more times. Flatten the dough to a flat square then wrap with a food wrap. Place into the fridge to rest for at least two hours or ideally overnight.
3. When the dough is ready, remove it from the fridge and leave at room temperature for 10 minutes or so or until is soft enough to roll but not too soft that it can post difficult for the task.
4. Pre heat the oven to 170˚C. Roll the dough to approximately 10 mm in thickness and wide enough for it to line the tart ring.
5. gently place the dough over and line the tart pan. Trim off any excess dough that may be overhanging around the top.
6. Scrunch a piece of parchment paper then place it over and on top of the tart case, ensuring that it is push all the way in and over the sides. Fill the top of the scrunched parchment paper with rice all over to the top.
Blind bake the tarts in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes. Remove the rice carefully, then place the tart back into the oven and bake a further 5 to 10 minutes. You want to make sure the base of the tart does not feel raw. You are not required to fully bake the tart to colour at this point as we will be baking it further once we have filled it with the cheese filling.
7. Once the tart case is ready and semi baked. Leave to cool while proceeding to preparing the cheese filling.
Ricotta and Cheese Fillings
Place the ricotta and feta cheese into a mixing bowl and mix until well combined. Add in the eggs and mix followed by the mozzarella cheese.
Finally add in the chopped parsley and dill then season with sea salt flakes and ground black pepper.
Assembly
Pre heat the oven to 170C.
Slice the tomatoes to 1 cm thick, sprinkle with some salt and set aside in a bowl for 15 minutes.
Spread the ricotta and cheese filling into the base of the tart. Strain the excess water from the sliced tomatoes then line them on top of the fillings and scatter the top with some tomato berries.
Mix together the olive oil and chopped basil and se salt flakes to make the Basil Oil. Drizzle the oil on top of the tomatoes.
Bake the tart in the pre heated oven for approximately 45 minutes or until the top of the tomato starts to wrinkle.
