Cherry Tomato Puff Pastry Tart
June 19, 2010 
Puff pastry is your friend. And if you don't know that yet, let me introduce you by making this quick and easy summer appetizer.
Frozen puff pastry is one of the greatest things you can keep in your freezer. You can make last minute appetizers with it, desserts, breakfast pastries and use it to top pot pies. You can certainly make your own puff pastry, but it is very time consuming and the commercial version in the grocery store is very good. I like making these very easy appetizers with puff pastry. You just lay out a sheet of the pastry, top it with cheese and a vegetable and bake.
In this version, I used cherry tomatoes. I have made this tart with very thin raw asparagus, just laid on top, whole. It is very pretty. And I have joined two sheets of puff pastry together to form one long rectangle and trimmed it to fit perfectly into one of my favorite rectangular serving platters. See how adaptable it is? It's so easy to use. And any leftover trimmings can be put back in the freezer and used for something else (how about nice little croutons for your soup or salad?).
When thawing frozen puff pastry be sure to give it time. Do not try to lay the flaps out until it is thawed, or it will crack. You can thaw the sheets, wrapped, overnight in the refrigerator or just lay it out on the counter for about 30 minutes. If you are in a rush you can put them in a very slightly warm oven (I use the "proof" setting on my oven) to just take the chill off.
You can use any cheeses you like with this recipe.
Cherry Tomato Puff Pastry Tart
serves 6
for a printable recipe, click here
Ingredients:
- 1 sheet of frozen Puff Pastry (I used Pepperidge Farms)
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes
- olive oil, salt, pepper
- 1/4 cup chopped herbs (I used basil and oregano)
- 1 tablespoon good quality mustard of your choice (I used one that had horseradish in it)
- 1/3 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1/3 cup grated Gruyere cheese
- 1/3 cup grated Parmigianno Reggiano cheese
Instructions:
Thaw the frozen puff pastry by either putting it in the fridge overnight or laying it out on the counter, wrapped, for about 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Meanwhile, cut the cherry tomatoes in half and place them cut side down on a double thickness of paper towel and allow to drain for about 30 minutes. Toss in a bowl with some olive oil, salt, pepper and the chopped herbs.
Place a sheet of baking parchment (or a Silpat) on a baking pan.
Place the thawed puff pastry on a lightly floured counter. Unfold the flaps. Lay a sheet of plastic wrap on top of the pastry and, with a rolling pin, just slightly roll the dough so the seams are not so prominent. Transfer the dough to the baking sheet.
With a very sharp small knife, score the puff pastry all along the sides about 1/2 inch, to just make a small border. Inside the border, dock the pastry with a fork. Very thinly spread the mustard on the pastry. Sprinkle the cheeses on the mustard and top with the tomatoes (make sure the cut side of the tomatoes are all facing up so that their juice doesn't make the pastry too soggy).
Bake for 15 - 20 minutes until golden.
Want to try some more great puff pastry recipes?
Apple Tart from The Pioneer Woman Cooks
Plum Tart from The Cooking Photographer
Asparagus Tart from What's Gaby Cooking
Apple Turnovers from Simply Recipes
Reader Comments (31)
Wow, Elaine. That is a gorgeous and perfect summer appetizer. And another great idea for all those cherry tomatoes that are going to be ripening soon. Bravo!
Puff pastry, tarts and summer tomatoes are part of my imaginary last meal. But, it would have to look as beautiful as yours.
Perfect for this time of year. I'm sure it tastes as good as it looks.
I can just imagine how delicious this is with all those cheeses and the freshest cherry tomatoes.
This looks fantastic. I bet it was delicious and flavorful!
This is very nice. I use puff pastry a lot when preparing party antipasti for clients.
This looks so good!
Help! what did I do wrong? Just made this, tastes fantastic, but veeeerrryyyy soggy!
From The Italian Dish:
Spirit2go: I wonder if the tomatoes were not all upright when you placed them on top and their juice made the pastry soggy. I should specify in the recipe to make sure your tomatoes are all cut side facing up. Maybe that is what happened. I will fix that in the recipe!
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I stumbled upon your blog via Pepperidge Farm on Twitter and your food looks amazing! Love this recipe for this Cherry Tomato Tart. When my Cherry Tomatoes are ripe later this summer, I will definitely make this dish. I looks so YUMMY!!!
What you make is just i like! I love the snack,such as cakes,pastries, dessert . But i cannot make any snack by myself.
I made this for dinner last night. It tastes just like summer! Very delicious.
Tasty tasty tasty! I wonder what it would be like with a Pecorino variation - or smoked scamorza.
I'm going to have to try this one.
That looks divine! Beautiful pictures! Thanks for this great post and great directions! This is so perfect for summer!
xxMK
Delightful Bitefuls
Love your blog! My darling two teenagers and I made this recipe this evening. Got everything all prepped and realized I had bought phyllo dough and not puff pastry! Oopps! On to Plan B. Followed the recipe as given using phyllo . It was easy, delicious and not a crumb left. Next time, I'll check my ingrediants better. You can bet this is going in the recipe box.
This looks fabulous! And what gorgeous photos!
Sounds perfect and so delicious!!
Love,
Lia.
I like eating snacks. so what you do is what I like. I admire your cooking.
I tried making it and it was a success, one thing I tried on the suggestion of a friend was to sprinkle salt on the tomatoes and letting the sit during the preparation time (about 30 minutes) to sweat out the excess juices to avoid sogginess.
I regularly make a similar tart using asparagus and occasionally heirloom tomatoes -- I like your cherry tomatoes! A suggestion to avoid the soggy crust issue: I always parbake the pastry (and brush it with a bit of roasted garlic...), which can be done ahead, then bake it again with the cheese and veg. No sogginess!
Hi Elaine,
I have made this tart but put Pesto on the bottom with the Tomatoes no cheese it is deliciuous, discovered this site via a roubxe cooking school it is amazing made the tomatoe soup yesterday it was gone before I could even make the Parmesan crisps a real hit, now for the no knead bread and the homemade pasta, have a attachment for my kithen aid but never used it but your recipes really makes one want to make pasta.
I thank you as going to really enjoy your recipes.
yum- I tried this and it was delicious-except I didn't have any mustard so I didn't use any-and I used ordinary cheese-also I rolled the tomatoes in olive oil, as well as white wine vinegar, red wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, garlic and salt.
...and also basil and oregano
Lovely. It was a successful recipe the first time. I felt like a pro. Thanks!
I just made this for dinner- my husband and I were so impressed with the beauty and deliciousness!
Thank you for this easy and delicious recipe! I used a combination of Swiss and gruyere and sliced heirloom tomatoes, including pineapple. It was simply delicious!
Elaine, I had a group of knitting friends over for a knitting and wine party. I made this tomato tart and it sure was the hit of the party along with your peanut butter and chocolate no-bake cake. People are still talking about it!! Thank you so much. I give you credit for making me look good in the kitchen. :)
Lovely recipe idea. I used sundried tomato pesto, rather than mustard; and a topping of cherry tomatoes, baby asparagus, and a few Swiss brown mushrooms, along with fresh basil and oregano. I chose gruyere, emmental and grana padano cheeses. Finally a little drizzle of garlic-infused olive oil went on top. The only thing I would warn others about, and which marred my otherwise perfect dish, was that you need to grease the baking paper before you put the pastry on it - or else end up with baking paper firmly stuck to the bottom of your tart, as we did! (Or maybe it's just the baking paper we used?)
Currently living outside of Pordenone and have had an abundance of cherry tomatoes this year. SO excited to try this this week! Thank you for your site- you make Italian cooking so much more manageable!
This was a huge hit! I was concerned about the tomatoes making the pastry soggy so I roasted them with the basil and oregano prior to putting on the tart. I should have made two it went so fast!