Thursday, January 14, 2010

Roasted Tomato-Goat Cheese Tart

My grandma and I made this fantastic tomato-goat cheese tart for my parents' anniversary dinner.  The tart is easy to put together and extremely delicious!  The acidity of the tomatoes goes perfectly with the rich goat cheese and the buttery puff pastry.  I'm sure this would be even better with homemade puff pastry, but it was amazing even with store-bought.  This is a great winter recipe because the roasting elevates winter tomatoes and makes them tasty and deeply flavored.  Some of the tomatoes/cheese stuck a bit to the pan, but they easily scraped off onto the top of the tart and it was none the worse for the wear.  Since this is a rich dish, I'd suggest serving it with a crisp green salad on the side.



Roasted Tomato-Goat Cheese Tart (adapted from Dinner with Julie, original recipe here)
Serves 4 as a light dinner

2 pints cherry tomatoes, halved
Olive or canola oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
8 ounces soft goat cheese, either plain, with herbs, or a combination
1 package frozen puff pastry, thawed

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Arrange the cherry tomato halves in one layer in a 9x13 rectangular baking dish sprayed with oil.  Don't worry about crowding as the tomatoes will shrink as they roast, but do keep it to one layer - you may have a few extra tomatoes left over to toss in a salad.  Drizzle the tomatoes with oil and season with salt and pepper.  Roast for about 45 minutes.
2. Roll out the puff pastry to the size of your pan.  You may need to use one or two sheets, depending on the brand you're using.  Set aside.
3. Crumble the goat cheese over the roasted tomatoes and top with the puff pastry.
4. Bake 20 minutes, until the pastry is golden.  Let sit 10 minutes, and then invert onto a serving dish.  Cut into squares to serve.

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