Summer Means Tomatoes – and a Tomato Tart, from Leslie Budewitz

LESLIE BUDEWITZ:  Summer means fresh tomatoes, whether you grow your own, prowl the farm stands, or stand dolefully at your neighbors’ gate with your garden basket in hand. 

This kind of tart, made with a folded crust instead of in a pie plate or tart pan, is immensely popular in France, where it is often called a galette. Crusts are sometimes made with buckwheat flour; this one combines all-purpose flour with cornmeal. David Lebovitz, whose recipe I’ve adapted here, says you can use any grind of polenta or cornmeal, or substitute more all-purpose flour or buckwheat if you’d rather not use the cornmeal. To my mouth, the cornmeal gives a sturdier texture that holds up well with the tomatoes.

The recipe calls for chilling the dough, and you should do that, to let the gluten relax – really, who wants tense gluten? It makes the dough easier to roll, and allows the dough to more fully hydrate, meaning it will shrink less in the oven. You will have to let it sit on the counter 20-30 minutes before rolling, so factor that into your dinner plans. You can make the dough up to 3 days in advance. 

When I saw Lebovitz call for tucking “slices” of ricotta into the tomatoes, I feared what he was using is ricotta salata, a drier, firmer version of the ricotta we all know, which comes in little plastic tubs or balls. 

I added fresh herbs before and after baking, borrowing from a household favorite, Tomato Camembert Pie. Use whatever you have; here, it was a mixture of oregano, basil, and parsley. Tarragon and savory are very French, and very yummy, if you want to add a spring or two. 

The mustard forgot to show for its closeup. Lebovitz says he prefers Dijon while his partner prefers the grainier variety. We love both, so I spread Dijon over the dough and added a little whole grain, sometimes called old-style or country mustard. 

A while back, Mr. Right spotted a tomato knife in a kitchen shop – a serrated blade with a hook on the end for popping the core. We started using our bread knife for slicing tomatoes. You’re welcome. 

Serve with lightly dressed salad greens, crusty bread, and a glass of a crisp white wine for a trip to France, no shoes or airplane needed!

Bon appetit! 

PS: I finally figured out how to embed a PDF of the recipe for easy printing. 

Scroll down to the 💕 for the link. 

Summer Tomato Tart

For the dough:

1-1/4 all-purpose flour

1/4 cup polenta or cornmeal

2 teaspoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cubed

5 tablespoons ice water, plus more if necessary

For the tart:

1/4 cup Dijon or whole-grain mustard, or a combination

3 medium slicer tomatoes (about 1-1/2 pounds)

kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper

6 ounces (roughly) whole-milk ricotta

1-1/2 tablespoons melted butter

1/4 cup mixed fresh herbs, chopped (such as oregano, parsley, and basil)

2-3 tablespoons Parmesan, grated

To make the dough:

In your stand mixer or large food processor, combine the flour, polenta, sugar, and salt. 

Add the cubed, cold butter and mix until pieces the size of peas begin to form. Add the water and mix until the dough starts to come together or “gather.” 

Add a little water, 1 teaspoon at a time, if needed. Shape it into a disk with your hands. Wrap in plastic or your favorite alternative and chill at least 1 hour. (The dough can be made up to 3 days in advance.)

To make the tart:

Heat oven to 400 degrees. 

Lightly flour a piece of parchment paper or a silicon baking sheet, at least 14 inches across. Unwrap the disk and place it on the parchment. Allow to rest 20-30 minutes or more, until you can easily roll it out, working from the center, into a 14 inch circle. 

Place the dough and parchment on a baking sheet. Spread with mustard, leaving 2-3 inches around the edge, to fold over the filling. 

Slice the tomatoes about 1/3-inch thick. Layer, starting on the outside, overlapping the slices. Sprinkle with a little salt and freshly ground pepper. Fold the edges of the dough over the tomatoes to make a cute round envelope. 

Spoon ricotta into the tart, slipping it under, over, and between the tomatoes. Spread about half the herbs on top. Brush the edges of the dough with melted butter and sprinkle Parmesan over both tomatoes and crust. 

Bake until the tomatoes are soft and cooked through and the crust is golden brown, about 40-45 minutes. Top with the rest of the chopped herbs. Slide the tart onto a wire rack and let rest about ten minutes before serving.  

Cut into 4 or 8 slices. 

What's your favorite way to enjoy summer's fresh tomatoes?

💕 Click here for a free printable PDF! 

At Seattle Spice Shop, owner Pepper Reece has whipped up the perfect blend of food, friends, and flavor. But the sweet smell of success can be hazardous . . .  

Spring is in full bloom in Pike Place Market, where Pepper is celebrating lavender’s culinary uses and planning a festival she hopes will become an annual event. When her friend Lavender Liz offers to share tips for promoting the much-loved—and occasionally maligned—herb, Pepper makes a trek to the charming town of Salmon Falls. But someone has badly damaged Liz’s greenhouse, throwing a wrench in the feisty grower’s plans for expansion. Suspicions quickly focus on an employee who’s taken to the hills. 

Then Liz is found dead among her precious plants, stabbed by a pruning knife. In Salmon Falls, there’s one in every pocket. 

Pepper digs in, untangling the tensions between Liz and a local restaurateur with eyes on a picturesque but neglected farm, a jealous ex-boyfriend determined to profit from Liz’s success, and a local growers’ cooperative. She’s also hot on the scent of a trail of her own, sniffing out the history of her sweet dog, Arf. 

As Pepper’s questions threaten to unearth secrets others desperately want to keep buried, danger creeps closer to her and those she loves. Can Pepper root out the killer, before someone nips her in the bud?

Available at Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Books-A-Million * Bookshop.org * and your local booksellers!

ALL GOD'S SPARROWS AND OTHER STORIES: A STAGECOACH MARY FIELDS COLLECTION, now available in in paperback and ebook 

Take a step back in time with All God's Sparrows and Other Stories: A Stagecoach Mary Fields Collection of historical short mysteries, featuring the Agatha-Award winning "All God's Sparrows" and other stories imagining the life of real-life historical figure Mary Fields, born into slavery in 1832, during the last thirty years of her life, in Montana. Out September 17, 2024 from Beyond the Page Publishing.  

“Finely researched and richly detailed, All God’s Sparrows and Other Stories is a wonderful collection. I loved learning about this fascinating woman . . . and what a character she is! Kudos to Leslie Budewitz for bringing her to life so vividly.” —Kathleen Grissom, New York Times bestselling author of Crow Mary

Available at Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Books-A-Million * Bookshop.org * and your local booksellers!

Leslie Budewitz is the author of the Spice Shop Mysteries set in Seattle's Pike Place Market, and the Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries, set in NW Montana. As Alicia Beckman, she writes moody, standalone suspense, most recently Blind Faith. She is the winner of Agatha Awards in three categories: Best Nonfiction (2011), Best First Novel (2013), and Best Short Story (2018). Her latest books are To Err is Cumin, the 8th Spice Shop Mystery and All God's Sparrows and Other Stories: A Stagecoach Mary Fields Collection, in September 2024. Watch for Lavender Lies Bleeding, the 9th Spice Shop Mystery, on July 15, 2025.

A past president of Sisters in Crime and former national board member of Mystery Writers of America, Leslie lives in northwest Montana with her husband, a musician and doctor of natural medicine. 

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