Heirloom Tomato Tart with Mascarpone and Fresh Basil

You know what I love more than anything? A good garden party with my girlfriends. We’ve all put a tremendous amount of effort and research into ensuring our vegetable gardens were a success during this extremely hot and dry summer, and the fruits of our labor (pun intended!) are definitely starting to pay off!

What better way to celebrate a bounty of vegetables than by having a garden party! Not only is it a chance to spend time with your friends and neighbors, its a great opportunity to try out new recipes that make good use of your veggies.

That’s exactly what I did for this beautiful heirloom tomato tart dressed up with mascarpone and fresh basil.

I started by harvesting that morning, and when I took a full inventory of my little harvest, I saw that I had an abundance of Brad’s Atomic Grape tomatoes, and one beautiful Berkeley Tie-Dye tomato I had been dying to try. I’ve also been growing a rather large Thai Sweet Basil plant all summer that goes will with just about anything.

I am especially proud of my vegetable garden this year for two reasons: number one being that this is the first garden I have started completely from seed. In addition, every seed that I grew was of a rare heirloom variety.

We purchased all of our seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds this year. If you haven’t checked them out, run, don’t walk to their website and you will be in total awe of the beautifully colored heirloom varieties they offer.

I love making tarts because you can be totally creative with what you choose to put on it. (They’re also really easy to make.) I use a store bought puff pastry like this one, found in the freezer aisle, that comes in sheets. I chose mascarpone for the spread of this tart, but I often use goat cheese, Parmesan, and several other types of cheeses as well.

The atomic grape tomatoes were just the right size to halve, and I cut the Berkeley Tie-Dye into really thing slices. Also of note, before I decorated my tart, I patted my slices of tie-dye tomato dry with a paper towel and let sit for about 10 minutes so they would not make my tart soggy.

This is one of my favorite creations of the summer thus far, and I’m looking forward to trying lots of other vegetable and flavor combinations before it’s over! Comment down below some of the delicious recipes you’ve created with your vegetable bounty this year.

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Heirloom Tomato Tart with Mascarpone and Fresh Basil

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Servings 6 people

Ingredients

• 6 oz cherry tomatoes
• 1 large tomato
• 3 oz mascarpone
• 1 box puff pastry sheets
• 1 bunch fresh basil

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees farenheit. Pull the puff pastry from the freezer and let sit at room temperature while you prep your tomatoes, about 20 minutes.

2. Halve the cherry tomatoes. Thinly slice the full sized tomatoes. Pat away any excess liquid with a paper towel and let sit for about 10 minutes. 

3. Pull the basil leaves from the stems. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Spread the puff pastry sheet flat on the parchment paper. Using a knife, score the edges of the pastry, about 1/2 inch on all sides. 

   

4. Cover the tart with a thick layer of mascarpone. Arrange the tomatoes on the tart, evenly spaced, then top with course sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. 

5. Bake at 425 degrees for 25 minutes until edges are brown and tomatoes are fully cooked. Add the basil during the last 5 minutes so it does not burn. Serve warm in slices.