Fresh Tomato and Mozzarella Tart #recipe from Molly MacRae

 

As promised, here’s the tart recipe that goes with the basil garlic crust recipe I posted last Saturday, 8/24/24. We dream of this tart all winter but make ourselves wait for summer-ripe tomatoes. They make all the difference. The tart is just as good cold as it is warm from the oven. If you want supper on the table fast, skip the basil garlic crust and use an ordinary store bought, ready-made crust. I’ve also made this with pepper Jack cheese in place of the mozzarella.

 

Fresh Tomato and Mozzarella Tart

(adapted from The Complete Italian Vegetarian Cookbook by Jack Bishop)

 

Ingredients

1 recipe basil garlic tart dough (or a ready-made crust from the store)

8 ounces mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced

2 large, ripe tomatoes (about 1 pound), cored and thinly sliced crosswise

Salt and pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Fit dough into a 10-inch tart pan. Line bottom of tart shell with the mozzarella slices. Arrange tomato slices over the cheese, slightly overlapping them, in a ring around the outer edge of the tart and a second ring in the center. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and drizzle with the olive oil.

Bake until crust is golden brown and cheese has started to brown in spots – 35 to 40 minutes. Cool on a rack for at least 5 minutes before slicing.  

 

The Boston Globe says Molly MacRae writes “murder with a dose of drollery.” She’s the author of the award-winning, national bestselling Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries and the Highland Bookshop Mysteries. As Margaret Welch, she writes books for Annie’s Fiction. Her short stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and she’s a winner of the Sherwood Anderson Award for Short Fiction. Visit Molly on Facebook and Pinterest and connect with her on Twitter  or Instagram.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Basil Garlic Tart Dough #recipe from Molly MacRae

 

This is a beautiful, light green, and very flavorful tart dough that comes together easily in a food processor or just as easily when mixed by hand. We use it for a fresh tomato and mozzarella tart. I’ll post the recipe for the tart Friday, 8/30/24. Well-wrapped, the dough will keep for a week in the refrigerator or a month in the freezer. If you freeze it, defrost it in the refrigerator rather than on the counter.

Basil Garlic Tart Dough

(adapted from The Complete Italian Vegetarian Cookbook by Jack Bishop)

 

Ingredients

1/3 cup fresh basil leaves

1 garlic clove

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 8 to 10 pieces

4-5 tablespoons ice water

 

Directions

Put basil and garlic in the work bowl of your food processor. Process until finally chopped, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.

Add flour and salt to the work bowl and pulse several times to combine.

Add butter to the work bowl. Pulse until mixture resembles pea-size crumbs. 

Add water, a tablespoon at a time, pulsing several times after each addition. After adding 3 tablespoons, process dough for several seconds to see if it’s coming together in a ball. If not, add another tablespoon and check again. You may or may not need a 5^th tablespoon of water. When the dough seems to be coming together, continue processing until it comes together into a ball.

Remove dough from the work bowl and flatten into a 5-inch disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Take dough from refrigerator and roll it out on a lightly floured surface until it’s an inch bigger around than the rim of your pie or tart pan. Use for a fresh tomato and mozzarella tart (recipe coming Friday 8/30/24) or any other savory pie or tart for which a basil garlic crust sounds good.

 

The Boston Globe says Molly MacRae writes “murder with a dose of drollery.” She’s the author of the award-winning, national bestselling Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries and the Highland Bookshop Mysteries. As Margaret Welch, she writes books for Annie’s Fiction. Her short stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and she’s a winner of the Sherwood Anderson Award for Short Fiction. Visit Molly on Facebook and Pinterest and connect with her on Twitter  or Instagram.