TOMATO TARTE TATIN

Puff Pastry, add that butter!

Ready for Pastry topping!

Tomato Tatin

Well I must say I had a lovely day…my kids were out (on someone elses boat ~ yay Sharon!) and my husband is in China, and the thought of a day pottering at home alone was pretty exciting. I know right? I need to get out more…but that’s just it, I need to stay in more! Headed off to the Poynter Farmers Markets first up, a new discovery in my local area. I am always inpsired by fresh fruit and veggies and today was no different. I said hi to the Thermomix girls who were selling up a storm of slushies for the local P & C, (well done girls), bought a rhubarb and raspberry tart from Brioche, an artisan baker who has no shop front and only does farmer’s markets, (frankly just as well for my hips!), bought some beautiful sweet grape tomatoes, a pile of fresh basil and stunning garlic, which is so amazing I am now planning other posts using it. Buying garlic is a tricky business these days, and to find a fresh locally grown product was exciting…but I digress…

So came home, whipped up a batch of butter puff pastry and made a Tarte Tatin. Now ‘strickly’ speaking…Tomato Tarte Tatin, is just an upside down Tomato Tart…with a bit of a poncy name! I did not do anything magical to the tomatoes first, nor did I caramelise them prior to cooking…they do that all by themselves. Cue the salad and wow, fantastic lunch, brunch, light dinner…or just crazy good afternoon tea! Can I just mention? DIVINE! Little bit of pastry stickage to the pan, loved it…smacking my lips as I write…This is a keeper!

NEED:

Pastry;

130g + 120g unsalted butter

80g lard

250g cake flour (low gluten, usually been sifted)

pinch sea salt

2 tsp lemon juice

50g icy water

Topping;

Few fresh basil leaves

3-4 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped

200g grape, cherry tomatoes

generous pinch sea salt

generous pinch raw sugar

generous drizzle EVOO

Balsamic vinegar to taste

DO:
Make your pastry by placing 130g butter into Thermomix bowl and chopping for 2-3 sec/speed 5. Place into the freezer on a plate or shallow bowl.

Place remaining pastry ingredients except water into Thermomix bowl and blend for 5 sec/speed 6. You should have a breadcrumb look.

Add water and blend for 10 sec/speed 7. Remove dough and roll out into a rectangle on floured Silpat mat.

Fold each end of the pastry over on top of itself in thirds. Turn the pastry so that the folded edges are on each side of your mat.

Roll again and repeat this process 3-4 times. If the dough becomes sticky at any point, stop, wrap and place into the fridge until easy to work with again. The dough should eventually be in a beautiful even brick shape. Wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Remove butter from freezer and pastry from fridge.

Roll pastry out again as above, but between each folded layer, sprinkle the frozen chopped butter. You should divide the butter into approximately 4 to do this process, so you get 2 turns of the pastry block, with butter in between each layer! (This is called laminating and cannot be underestimated. This is your key to awesome puff pastry…the more layers with butter in between, the better your ‘puff’ will be!)

Return pastry to the fridge for at least another 3o minutes.

Preheat oven to bread setting 220°C.

Using a flan tin with a removable base would be the easiest for this I think…which is what I did.

SO; Place a few basil leaves top side down into the flan tin. Add the chopped garlic, all the tomatoes and then sprinkle with salt and sugar. Drizzle with EVOO and Balsamic Vinegar.

Roll pastry to fit the flan tin, tucking in all edges so that the tomato topping will not escape!

Bake for 40-45 minutes until the pastry is puffed and golden…maybe even a little darker than golden as you really want all the crispy layers happening.

Allow to cool slightly after removing from the oven, but not long enough to go soggy. Turn upside down onto serving dish and throw on a few more fresh basil leaves.

Try not to lick the tin, at least while it’s hot…slice and serve hot…warm…or cold….but I’m betting it won’t make it to cold! I am off to have another piece! It has received the ‘Tenina’ Calendar tick of approval….oh hell….this is good!