Secret Recipe Club Reveal: Rustic Tomato Tart

It's that time of the month that I look forward to every month. Secret Recipe Club Reveal Day.  I have been a part of this club for awhile now and I really, really enjoy it. Each month our hostess from The Secret Recipe Club sends each blogger an "assigned secret blog". We are to keep this blog under wraps until our reveal day. We usually have close to a month to browse the blog, and try desperately to narrow down the choices to one recipe that we will feature. I've been guilty of making two, sometimes three recipes from my assigned blog...it's just that hard to decide. For me, I'm incorporating these meals in to our everyday eating so I usually don't have time for glamorous food staging and sometimes barely get a picture of the finished product before everyone wants to dig in. I just love it.

This month my assigned blog was Baking and Creating with Avril. Avril loves to bake, cook and craft. Gee, those are all things I love to do too. I had a hard time deciding but since we were trying to keep the sweets down I decided to go for savory...though at the time of the typing of this blog post I may make one more...her Glazed Maple Oat Pecan Scones...they just sound so yummy. I did however make her Rustic Tomato Tart which was even eaten by my youngest who at first turned her nose up to it (she's not a tomato fan). 

This was really, really good and light. I think I needed to season it a bit more..after I had it put together I remembered I had some pesto in the fridge and thought that might be a nice addition to the tart. I did have a bit of a fiasco...two actually....

Fiasco #1: I rolled the dough out on my board and then proceeded to top it with all the filling ingredients...realizing that, uh, it needed to still get on to the baking pan. After some wrestling and help from my daughter I managed to get it on my beloved Pampered Chef pizza round, which led to Fiasco #2.

Fiasco #2: I failed to remember that the Pampered Chef Stones are not recommended to use over 400 degrees, and I will say, they are correct. But I was just thinking of how pretty this tart would be on top of the stone. I walked out of the kitchen after a bit and heard a "pop" type noise. We weren't sure what it was so I ignored it, only later to go back in and discover my stone had split in to about 5 big pieces...AAARRRGGHHH

We managed to lift the tart off the split round, checking the bottom for any loose pieces (thankfully it was a clean break), transfer tart to another pan and sorrowfully dispose of my pizza stone. Looks like I'll be having a Pampered Chef party this summer. 

Okay enough of the drama and on with the recipe. Like I said, I think I needed to season it just a bit more, really maybe only a little more salt. The other thing I think I need to do is let my tomatoes sit on paper towels for a bit to absorb some of their juices because they were so juicy that the bottom of the tart was a little soggy, but still good. 

Ingredients: 

For Tart Crust:

1 1/2 c. flour
4 Tbs. butter, cut in cubes
1/2 tsp. salt
1 large egg
2-3 Tbs. water

For Filling:

3 Tbs. Dijon or whole grain mustard
2-3 large fresh tomatoes
2 Tbs. Olive oil
Salt and Pepper
2-3 Tbs. fresh herbs of your choice (I used fresh Basil and parsley...you could use dried but use only 2 tsp.)
8 oz. fresh Mozzarella (I probably used closer to 12oz.. I.LOVE.CHEESE)

Instructions:

For the pastry: *Note: I used my Food Processor which worked like a dream but you could do it however you normally choose to make crust. 

In a bowl, mix together flour and salt. Add in butter. Using a pastry blender or other method of your choosing, cut in butter until it is incorporated and crumbly. Beat egg and then add 2 Tbs. of water. Make a well in middle of dough and add water and egg mixture. Combine these together until a nice dough forms. Add more water if necessary. I used 3 Tbs. 

 Gather dough into a ball and roll out on to a floured surface. Roll until it measures 14" across. Transfer dough to baking sheet. Spread dough to outer edges with mustard. Add tomatoes and sprinkle with herbs. Top with mozzarella cheese then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Fold up the sides of the dough, overlapping slightly. Bake in a preheated 425 degree oven for 30  minutes. Enjoy!

I think this is such a versatile recipe. I really wished it was summer and I had access to good old heirloom tomatoes. I also think this would be good using pesto, or even thick cut ham and cheese. And so quick to put together for a fast lunch! Thanks again Avril for the great recipes.

Check out the links below for more Secret Recipe Club reveals.

An InLinkz Link-up

With Joy UNquenchable,