I love the abundance of tomatoes this time of year. I only had room to plant one heirloom Paul Robeson tomato plant and an heirloom black cherry tomato plant this year, so whenever I need more tomatoes than what I can produce at home, I just pick some up at the farmers market. This past Saturday I bought 8 quarts of Roma tomatoes and roasted them all. I made sauce out of half of them and froze the other half for soup or sauce later in the fall or winter. I have been wanting to experiment with making an heirloom tomato tart with some of the tomatoes coming from my garden and some from the farmers market. After making the delicious pea and goat cheese tart this spring using Gluten Free Girl’s delicious tart shell recipe, I couldn’t wait to make another beautiful and tasty savory tart with it.

I wanted many layers of fresh flavors, so rather than an egg/dairy based tart like the pea tart I made, I decided to start by roasting a whole head of garlic to spread on the bottom of the tart shell before laying on the tomatoes, I then added a handful of flavorful, freshly cut herbs from the garden (I am trying to use those as much as possible, while I still can). I finished the tomatoes with the light, creamy and tart goodness from the goat cheese, that gets slightly browned and crisp on top, while retaining the soft center (thanks for the wonderful idea David Lebovitz) and I also decided this would be the perfect time to make another balsamic reduction syrup to drizzle over the top of it all. You could also take a tip from David Lebovitz and just drizzle a good honey in place of the balsamic reduction.

The only thing I regret about this tart is that because I made it on a weeknight when I was done with work, by the time I roasted the garlic, blind-baked the shell and finished the tart, it was far too late and dark out, to take a good quality photo of the tart as a whole. I knew that my silly little light box and lighting would never do all the beautiful colors justice, so rather than setting it all up, getting frustrated and delaying dinner, I decided I would have to settle for a photo of a single slice of the tart the next day. Small price to pay, but I think you can see from just that one slice just how beautiful and colorful this tart was and you can also see how deliciously crumbly and flakey the gluten-free tart shell is.

* A note about this tart shell recipe: For those of you that are gluten-free bakers, I know most of these gluten-free baking recipes can at first seem daunting because of the seemingly long list of flours that you have never heard of, compared to a traditional recipe that just has one type of flour and that’s it. That being said, after you start baking more and more, you just learn what flours you like to bake with and those that you will use over and over, so you should always have them on hand in your pantry. I now have my go-to flours and as soon as I run out of one, I pick it up on my next grocery trip, so they are always on hand, it’s as easy as that. It can get pricey the first time you make something and have none of the items on hand, but thereafter they run out at different paces and you are just picking one type of flour up, here and there. No biggy. I actually had all of these flours on hand, since I always do, so this recipe was super simple. Also, in a lot of ways, this tart shell recipe is easier than the traditional since without the gluten you can’t over work it and you can easily mend any tears with your hand, no harm done. I really cannot recommend it enough, even if you don’t make it with this tart recipe, you should try it out.

Gluten-Free Heirloom Tomato and Goat Cheese Tart
serves 8-10

Tart Shell
adapted Gluten Free Girl and The Chef – A Love Story (I added in the cheese for this particular recipe)

1/2 cup (63.5g) sorghum flour
1/2 cup (60g) tapioca flour
1/2 cup (96g) potato starch
1/2 cup (102g) sweet rice flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) frozen organic butter
1/4 cup Parmigiano Reggiano, grated
1 large local farm fresh brown egg
1/4 cup of ice-cold water

(if making a sweet tart, instead of savory, include 2 tablespoons sugar and 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon)

Sift the sorghum flour, tapioca flour, potato starch, and sweet rice flour into a large bowl. Stir in the salt (sugar and cinnamon if making a sweet tart). Sift into another bowl.

Grate the frozen butter directly into the dry ingredients. The butter will fall into the flours in soft swirls and start to melt in as soon as you stir. Add in the Parmigiano Reggiano. Work with your hands to mix everything, until the dough feels like cornmeal or large pieces of sand.

In a small bowl, whisk the egg and water together with a fork. Make a well in the center of the flours. Stir in the liquid, working from the inside out. Feeling the dough for soft suppleness, instead of stiffness or sogginess. Feel free to use your hands at the end.

Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour, or overnight if possible.

Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Butter and flour an 11-inch tart shell, I used sweet rice flour as the original recipe suggested. Pull the dough from the refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature, about 1 hour. While your tart dough is coming to room temperature, and your oven is preheated to 375º, roast your garlic. Place garlic on a piece of aluminum foil. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon oil. Wrap to enclose garlic in foil, and place on the rack in the center of your oven. Bake until soft, the outside will be golden brown and the flesh will be soft, about 45 minutes. Remove from oven; set aside.

Roll out the dough between 2 pieces of parchment paper, to the approximate shape of the tart pan. (this way you don’t have to flour your countertop and add more flour to the dough).If the dough falls apart or breaks a bit, don’t worry – there is no danger of the crust becoming tough by overworking it, which can happen with gluten dough. Press the dough into the pie pan and repair it that way.

Place the tart shell into the freezer until the crust is frozen, approximately 1 hour.

Butter a piece of aluminum foil approximately the size of the pie crust. Place it butter side down, onto the tart crust and fit snuggly against the sides. Bake pressing down any puffed up spots with a spoon until the shell has a good color, about 15 minutes. The tart should look and feel flaky, rather than sticky. Prepare the filling while the tart is blind baking.

Tomato and Goat Cheese Tart Filling

1 large head of garlic
1/2 cup Parmigiano Reggiano, grated
2-3 large ripe heirloom tomatoes (I like to use a variety of colored tomatoes, since it is just all so beautiful together)
2 tablespoons olive oil
a large handful of chopped fresh herbs, I used basil, chives and oregano
8 ounces fresh goat cheese, sliced into rounds
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon organic light brown sugar
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

Preheat your oven, roast your garlic and blind bake your tart shell, all the details can be found above with the tart recipe. When the garlic is cool enough to touch, with either your hands or a utensil, squeeze the cloves out of their skins and into a small bowl; mash with a fork, and set aside.

In a small saucepan over a medium-high heat bring the balsamic vinegar and sugar to a boil, constantly whisking to prevent burning. Continue cooking until it is reduced by half, stirring often. Remove from heat, allow to cool.

After the tart comes out from being blind baked, evenly spread the roasted garlic over the tart shell’s bottom. Sprinkle the Parmigiano Reggiano over the garlic. Slice the tomatoes and arrange them over the garlic and cheese in a single, even layer. Drizzle the olive oil over the top, season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the fresh herbs over the tomatoes, reserving some to put on top. Arrange the slices of goat cheese rounds over the tomatoes. Drizzle the balsamic reduction overtop of everything and sprinkle the remaining herbs on top.

Bake the tart for 30-45 minutes or so, until the dough is fully cooked and slightly browned, the tomatoes are tender, but retain their shape and the cheese on top is nicely browned. Transfer to wire rack to cool for 15-20 minutes, serve warm with a bit more freshly chopped herbs and a bit of freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano, if you wish.