Tomato Tartlets!

Submitted by Jollygrinch

Uploaded by Toast

First and foremost, here's a picture of the final product. Keep reading if you're interested in the process, if you're not, thanks for looking.

Dough

Let's get the dough out of the way first, I won't post pictures of making it since it's a pretty basic process I assume most people are familiar with.

Ingredients

• 1.5 cups flour
• 11 tablespoons cold butter
• 0.5 teaspoons salt
• 3oz cold milk
• 1 egg yolk

Method

• Cut the butter into the flour and salt with a pastry cutter. Mix the milk and egg in with a fork until the dough begins to pull together. Form a ball with the dough and refrigerate at least 20 minutes, wrapped in plastic.

• Many tartlet recipes call for puff pastry, I actually like this better, but if you want to make (or buy) puff, go right ahead.

Filling

Ingredients

• 2.5 lbs tomatoes
• Garlic (to taste, I use almost a whole head)
• Fresh rosemary and basil and almost any other herb you'd like.
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• olive oil

Method

• First we need to get the skins off the tomatoes. Clean and core them then slice them in half. Oil a baking sheet (lined with foil for easy clean-up) and place the tomatoes sliced side down.

• After 20ish minutes they'll look like this, and you can pluck the skins right off. I find that roasting them somehow intensifies their flavor as well.

• Next, heat some olive oil in a pan. When it's hot, throw in your onion, garlic, fresh herbs, and just for fun I've got a shallot in there too.

• When the onions are soft and translucent, put in the tomatoes and the juice that leaked onto the pan. Mash the ever-loving shit out of them until it looks like a chunky puree.

• Let that simmer until almost all the water is reduced and you're left with essentially tomato paste. It'll look about like this.

• Now, if you're not a fan of the rustic look, or are serving picky eaters or children, now is the time to run that through your food processor, or even better, an immersion blender. I personally like the rustic look, so we're leaving it.

• Toward the end of your reduction you should be rolling out your dough and putting it in tart trays. Spoon the filling in.

• Pop those in the oven at 425 until the edges are golden brown (20ish minutes, but watch it close).

• It was noon when I did these, and I don't have a pet, so here's a picture of a stuffed tooth hanging out with a bottle of Knob Creek. His name is Lenin. He leads the proletariat molars in their uprising against the bourgeois incisors.

• The tarts will look about like this when they're done.

Serving

• Serve them however you like. Plain is fantastic, but sauteed mushrooms, sliced cherry tomatoes, feta cheese, and/or fresh basil all make fantastic toppings. A garlic/balsamic vinaigrette would be good too.

Happy eating!