A Delightful Green Tomato Tart

Sometimes your spring garden plans don’t pan out, or, in my case, I procrastinated on planting, and here we are at the end of the season, with the fruits of my, well, lack of labor: green tomatoes for this Delightful Green Tomato Tart.

I decided to harvest all my unripe tomatoes and hope for a modern-day miracle on my kitchen counter. Well, I had spotty success, so I took action and used the damn green tomatoes some way. I could have gone the classic Southern route, breaded and fried. Pickled green tomatoes are delightful and fun, but I wanted to make a meal out of them. That’s what I had in mind when I decided to throw caution to the wind and give it a go this year, even though it was way too late. Enter A Delightful Green Tomato Tart.

Why I Love This Green Tomato Tart

The tomatoes add a meaty texture, paired with rich, creamy goat cheese, melted leeks, crispy bacon, and layered on buttery puff pastry. The hardest part of this is the puff pastry. Want a project? By all means, make your own puff pastry, but it is time-consuming and an advanced technique that is not for the faint of heart. My suggestion: buy some really good-quality all-butter puff pastry. In fact, keep some in your freezer so you can throw together a tart in the time it takes to defrost. The key to working with puff pastry is keeping it cold while working with it. As it warms, the butter will soften and start to melt; this ruins that beautiful puff it gets its name from. To prevent this, we have to manage the temperature of the dough, going back and forth to the fridge to maintain coldness. 

Make It Your Own

• Sub green heirloom tomatoes for unripe green tomatoes
• Not a goat cheese fan (I’m sorry), ricotta would be lovely here
• Forget the heat: replace Calabrian chilies with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and chopped herbs like dill and parsley
• Replace Gruyère with sharp cheddar
• Bacon can be optional
• No leeks? Any onion or shallot will work great

How To Make This Green Tomato Tart

Step 1. Bacon and Leeks: Cut the bacon into lardons (about 1/2-inch-wide strips) and place in a cold sauté pan with one Tablespoon of water. The water will help the fat render out of the bacon. This will evaporate as the bacon cooks, leaving behind bacon fat and crispy bacon. Place the pan over medium heat. Cook the bacon until it is just shy of your preferred doneness and the water has evaporated.

While the bacon is rendering, prepare the leek. Cut the dark green tops and root from the leeks. Then, cut the leek in half lengthwise. Cut each of these halves crosswise into 1/4 inch half moons. Place the cut leeks into a bowl of water and swish around to remove any sandy grit. Lift the leeks out of the water so the grit is not disturbed, and dry on a towel.

Remove the bacon from the pan and set aside, reserving the bacon fat. Strain the bacon fat, reserving about one Tablespoon in the pan. Place the pan over medium heat and add the cleaned, cut leeks. Season with 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Cook gently until the leeks are tender and become “melty”. Set aside.

Step 2. Goat cheese: In a bowl, mix the softened goat cheese and Calabrian chili paste until it is creamy and smooth. Set aside.

Step 3. Green tomatoes: Slice the tomatoes into 1/4-inch-ish slices. Lay them out on a clean kitchen towel or paper towels and gently sprinkle with salt.

Step 4. Puff Pastry: Remove the thawed pastry from the packaging onto a lightly floured surface, and unfold. If the pastry is still partially frozen, do not try to unfold it; it will break. Let it sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes until it is pliable enough to work with but not warm. Gently press to flatten the dough. If you use Dufour, it will be about 9″ x 13″, but it does not need to be exact. Using a paring knife, score around all four edges of the pastry an inch from the edge. You do not want to cut all the way through; simply score the top layers. This allows the edge of the pastry to puff up around the tart. Place on a parchment-lined sheet pan.

Step 5. Assembly: Preheat oven to 425 degrees, and place a rack in the middle position. While the oven is preheating, assemble the tart. Spread the goat cheese mixture across the middle of the tart from score edge to score edge.

Sprinkle the leeks over the goat cheese, and top with half of the Gruyère cheese.

Lay the sliced tomatoes on top. Top the tomatoes with the remaining leeks and reserved bacon.

Beat one egg and brush the edges of the pastry dough. Bake in the preheated oven for 30-40 minutes until the crust has puffed up and is a deep burnished brown, and the cheese has caramelized. Let rest for 5-10 minutes, slice and serve. May be served at room temperature.

Things You Need From Your Pantry

• Bacon
• Eggs
• Green tomatoes from your garden

Things You May Need From The Store

• Leeks
• Frozen puff pastry
• Goat cheese, chèvre
• Gruyère
• Calabrian chili paste

More Fall Recipes

• Anyday Meatballs and Sauce
• Chicken Enchiladas with Red Chili Sauce and Cilantro-Avocado Salad
• 7 Steps To Simply Roasted Chicken
• Shameless Glazed Duck with Crispy-liscious Shallot and Plum Sauce
• My Essential Blueprint for Velvety Mac & Cheese