david lebovitz's french tomato tart

Having a full three days off to spend in the city was wonderful. In addition to the barbecue and fireworks, other weekend highlights included a decadent brunch at Nopa, some new shoes purchased on Maiden Lane, some outdoor beer-sipping at Zeitgeist, a trip to Four Barrel Coffee and window shopping along Valencia, and an impromptu picnic in Dolores Park with sandwiches and cupcakes from Bi-Rite. There was lots of walking and enjoying the sunny (if windy) weather. I also did a bit of cooking, most notably strawberry shortcakes (consumed too quickly to be photographed) and this tomato tart.

David Lebovitz's French tomato tart is, to my mind, the perfect summer dinner. If you have pate brisee on hand (I usually make a double batch and keep some in my freezer), it comes together in under 10 minutes. You simply roll out the dough and place it in your tart pan, brush the bottom with some good mustard, then spread out a layer of thickly sliced heirloom tomatoes over the mustard. You sprinkle chopped herbs over the tomatoes, followed by the addition of a few rounds of goat cheese, and finally another sprinkling of herbs. And then you bake. 

The tomatoes turn soft and fragrant and the goat cheese browns around the edges. The resulting tart is bright and delicious, getting just the right amount of acidity from the tomatoes and the smoothness from the goat cheese. I added some fresh basil before serving and would recommend that you do the same. It is pure summer.

You can find the recipe here; the only change I made was to use Martha Stewart's pate brisee recipe rather than the tart dough recipe provided by Mr. Lebovitz and it turned out swell. Either way, I don't think you can go wrong.