Tomato Tart on Puff Pastry
This tomato tart on puff pastry recipe is so easy to make but looks so beautiful! It has a layer of goat cheese, fresh sliced tomatoes, manchego cheese, and fresh basil. This is a crowd pleaser and so absolutely delicious. I seasoned the goat cheese with fresh garlic to balance out the goat cheese “tang”. I made this tomato tart for Allison’s birthday and I was so happy with the results. It came out looking so professional and it took less than 30 minutes to prep and bake. Here is my video of my Tomato Tart on Puff Pastry!
Do you have to pre bake the puff pastry?
No. I know that some recipes out there will have you pre bake the puff pastry, but you do not have to do that with my recipe. The only thing you have to remember is to thaw the puff pastry the night before. This will ensure that your pastry thaws evenly and does not crack while baking.
Should you egg wash puff pastry?
The point of an egg wash is to create a nice shine and ensure even browning when it bakes, however I do not use one in this recipe. In this recipe, I created a 1″ border and I rubbed the border with olive oil instead of making an egg wash. Sometimes when I make an egg wash, I end up wasting a lot of the egg, so instead of doing that, I used olive oil.
How do you soften Goat Cheese to spread?
I like to add my goat cheese to a microwavable bowl and then pop it in the microwave for 30 seconds. Then I carefully remove it from the microwave and mix it around. If there are still some firm clumps, add it back to the microwave for another 10 seconds. This is my favorite method because warmed up goat cheese spreads like butter! However, if you do not have a microwave, you can add a couple of tablespoons of milk to the goat cheese and mix it until creamy.
Why did I make this recipe?
New Jersey takes their tomato season very seriously. I went to the farmer’s market last week and everyone was selling the most incredible looking tomatoes. I knew I wanted to make something to show off those tomatoes without turning them into a soup or sauce. I love puff pastry, and I had some leftover in my freezer so I knew I wanted to try out making a Tomato Tart with Puff Pastry.
If you like this recipe, you may also like:
Tomato Tart on Puff Pastry
Ingredients
- 1 roll Puff Pastry thaw overnight in the refrigerator
- 4 Ripe Tomatoes I used tomatoes on the vine, but any tomato will work
- 5 oz Goat Cheese see notes for how to soften
- 1 tsp Fresh Garlic minced
- 4 oz Manchego Cheese
- Fresh Basil about 5 large leaves
- Black Pepper
- 1 tbsp Olive Oil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400F
- Roll out your puff pastry on a piece of parchment paper in a baking sheet that is much larger than your puff pastry.
- Flatten the puff pastry sheet carefully so that it become a larger rectangle.
- Using a butter knife, create a 1" border around the rectangle because extremely careful not to cut all the way through. You just want to make a nice indentation, but you do not want to cut all the way through. See my photo above that shows my border. I did this free-handed and slowly, but you can use a light ruler if you do not trust your skills just yet. Try to make as straight of a line as possible
- Put some olive oil in a bowl and then either using a pastry brush or your hands, apply a nice layer of olive oil to the border(crust) of your puff pastry.
- Warm up your goat cheese and mix it so that it is super spreadable. I pop it in a microwave for 30 seconds and then an additional 10 second if needed.
- Add garlic to the goat cheese mixture and mix. Add this to the inside area of your puff pastry, not adding any to the border. Spread it nice and evenly. Give this a generous sprinkle of black pepper
- Slice your tomatoes into circles. I like them about a 1/4" thick. Add the tomato circles on top of your goat cheese mixture, covering most of the goat cheese. Leave some areas where the goat cheese shows as this looks nicer when baked.
- Using a microplane or a fine cheese grater, grate the manchego cheese all over the tart, even on the crust. I like to use a lot but this is up to you. It should not be completely covered as you want the color of the tomato to pop, but you want to add at least a 1/2 of a cup.
- Before you add it to the oven, poke several holes in the tart using a fork. You should poke through the pastry. This will allow air to come up while the pastry cooks and avoid causing a bubble.
- Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven, let is cool for about 3 minutes on the pan and then carefully add it to the a cutting board to continue cooling.
- Top with basil, more black pepper, and more manchego cheese
I skipped the cheese on this and used tofutti mixed with alot of chopped garlic and softened to spread. Yum!
Ooh, that’s a good idea! I’ve never tried tofutti!
This looks delicious and beautiful.
Do I need to prebake the puff pastry?
No, I did not prebake the puff pastry for this recipe. I did brush it with olive oil and also poked holes in it once the toppings were on it.
Looks so appetizing! How do you find this compared to a slice of pizza?
This feels a bit fancier and I would serve this as a side dish. Pizza is a meal on its own.