Tarte tatin is first and foremost a dessert of French origin. It is an upside down cake made with a shortcrust (brisée) pastry shell and fruit. There are, however, also delicious savory versions and, in fact, what I propose you today is a savory tomato tarte tatin with cherry tomatoes stuffed with breadcrumbs and aromatic herbs. It is an excellent savory pie, very easy and fast to prepare, that you can serve as an appetizer or you can bring outside for a picnic.
How to make shortcrust (brisée) crust
Shortcrust pastry, or brisée pastry, is an excellent base for savory tarte tatin and in general for savory pies.
It is prepared starting from cold butter, so you don’t have to remember to recover the butter from the refrigerator in order for it to soften at room temperature (as it happens when you prepare sweet shortcrust pastry and you start mixing softened butter and sugar).
The cold butter, cut into small pieces, must be worked with flour to create the so-called “sand”: the two ingredients must be mixed with fingertips until the butter has been completely absorbed by the flour and there will be no visible pieces.
In order to simplify this procedure, you can also use a food processor: pour the flour and the butter cut in small pieces into the container, blend until you will obtain the sand and there will be no visible pieces of butter.
The most important thing to keep in mind, whether you are working by hand or using the mixer, is not to heat the dough: the butter, as a matter of fact, must not melt and release fat. If your hands are too hot, wash them under cold water in order to lower the temperature.
Once the sand is obtained, add water (chilled) and salt. If you like, you can replace the water with the same quantity of chilled milk.
Alternative to brisé for tarte tatin
For your tomato tarte tatin you can replace the shortcrust pastry with puff pastry, but keep an eye on the cooking time because it may be slightly shorter.
If, on the other hand, you’re looking for a gluten-free and vegan alternative to make the base of this savory tomato tarte tatin, I recommend to check out a variation with buckwheat flour, rice flour, water and oil.
Easy
4 servings
30'
20'
INGREDIENTI
FOR SHORTCRUST PASTRY (BRISÉE)
- 250 g of plain flour
- 125 g chilled butter
- 5 g of salt
- 62 ml of chilled water (or milk)
FOR FILLING
- 18 cherry tomatoes
- 60 g di breadcrumbs
- mixed aromatic herbs (rosemary, sage, marjoram)
- 1 small garlic clove
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Salt
- Granulated sugar
PREPARATION
- Sift the flour into a large bowl and add the cold butter cut into small pieces.
- Knead the butter with the flour using your fingertips so that it is completely absorbed and you obtain a so-called “sand”.
- Add the water and salt, continue to knead and then transfer the dough on the pastry board.
- Form a loaf, avoiding overworking the dough in order not to heat the butter.
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 45-60 minutes.
- Meanwhile, cut the cherry tomatoes in half and empty them with a teaspoon (keep the pulp aside to make a sauce, don’t throw it away!).
- Salt them inside and turn them upside down on a cutting board so that they lose some of their vegetation water.
- Mix in a bowl the breadcrumbs, herbs and garlic finely chopped, one or two tablespoons of oil and a pinch of salt.
- Line the bottom of a tart pan with baking paper and sprinkle with granulated sugar.
- Fill the cherry tomatoes with the breadcrumbs and herbs mixture and arrange them as you wish either with the filling up or down. I alternated between the two. I would make at least one or two rounds with the filling facing up so that at the end, when you flip the pie over, you can see the red of the tomatoes.
- Roll out the shortcrust pastry to about 4-5 mm thick and lay it on top of the cherry tomatoes. Trim the edge following the edge of the cake pan and tuck it back into the cake pan to form an inverted shell.
- Bake in a ventilated oven at 180 °C for about 20 minutes.
- Remove from the oven, turn the tomato tarte tatin out onto a serving plate and remove the baking paper.
- If the tomatoes do not turn out well roasted, transfer the cake (not inverted) back to a plate and place it under the grill for a few minutes
