Tomato Tart Tatin, a godsend for the time poor

 

Foodie’s food for the stressed & time poor!

Want to know how much energy it takes to work full time, study 2 nights a week, attempt to go to the gym 3 times a week & maintain relationships with your boyfriend, friends, family…LOTS!

And how much energy do I have left over for making delicious gourmet dinners to eat alone on the couch while watching neighbors & practicing wiring? ZILCH!

Truss tomatoes are so good right now you can smell them before you see them. I must have eaten 4 of them before I managed to even get a few in the oven! I paired ripe tomatoes with sumac & basil to create this fragrant tart tatin that would be a perfect starter or light lunch with a salad. It does take a while to roast the tomatoes & then cook the tart but while you’re waiting you will have enough time to wash sheets, fold laundry, stack the dishwasher, lay out all your homework in preparation to do it later & remove the cork from a bottle of wine.

Sprinkle sugar, salt, pepper, sumac, garlic powder & olive oil over your tomato wedges.

Line your skillet

Gently arrange your tomatoes in the skillet..mine are upside down

Add copious amounts of sliced basil

 

Dot with caramelized onions

Add shaved cheese…this is what happens when you don’t check price tags

 

I used 2 kinds of cheese Bake me but please don't break me!

Pastry is a wonderful thing. When it looks like this it is done!

 

Tomato Tart Tatin

Ingredients:

• 3-4 Large ripe truss tomatoes
• 6-10 slices Shaved cheese (I used Aussie cheddar & French mimolette)
• 2 tsp ground sumac
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp ground white pepper
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp caster sugar
• 1 sheet good quality all butter puff pastry, thawed
• 1 tbsp thinly sliced basil
• 1 tbsp caramelized onion
• 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 150c and line a baking tray with baking paper & a sprinkle of olive oil
2. Cut tomatoes into 1/8 wedges, arrange on the baking sheet & sprinkle with salt, pepper, sumac, garlic powder, sugar & remaining olive oil
3. Bake for 20-30 mins, remove from the oven & increase heat to 180c
4. Cut a piece of baking paper to line the bottom of a oven safe 25cm skillet or frying pan
5. Place baking paper in pan, arrange tomatoes sprinkle side down on the paper & follow with basil, caramelized onion, cheeses & top with a circle of pastry
6. Place pan in oven & bake for approx 20 min until pastry is well puffed & golden
7. Hastily consume in between gulps of wine & phone calls

 

YUMMMMM!

I got just a little too exited over this one

White bread rolls with sage & caramelized onions

How could I be afraid of something so beautiful? For the longest time, making bread has terrified me..you need to use yeast! you need to knead dough, you need science on your side! Inspired by some of my lovely fellow bloggers though I have finally triumphed over my fear of bread making & as it turns out…it’s not all that difficult.

All you really need is a warm place, a bit of time & 1 hungry boyfriend to feed it to.

The all the bread dough recipes I have read say to get rid of the seams if you roll them into balls for bread rolls but I really liked that they kind of pulled apart & got pieces of filling stuck in the gaps. I used an electric hand mixer to stir in the flour & kneaded the dough by hand but if you have one of those fancy shmancy kitchenaid type mixers with the dough hooks,  satellite TV & a spare tire…First of all I am very jealous of you & secondly I guess you could use that to do all the work for you too.

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp (15ml) active dried yeast
• 1/4 cup warm water
• 2 tbsp caramelized onions + extra(I just used the kind from a jar)
• 1 large bunch of sage chopped roughly
• 25g butter + extra
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 cup buttermilk  at room temp
• 6-8 cups strong white bread flour
• 1 cup skim milk at room temp
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp olive oil

Method:

1. Combine the water, yeast & 1 tbsp of sugar in a small bowl & leave in a warm place for 15 minutes until frothy.
2. In a small saucepan heat the butter & sage until butter is on the verge of colouring. Take off the heat.
3. Pour the milk into a large bowl. Add the remaining sugar, the butter, caramelized onions & salt.
4. Stir in yeast mixture then using an electric hand mixer add the sifted flour 1 cup at a time. My dough only took on about 6 cups of flour before it started to look dry so I stopped there.
5. Transfer your dough to a well floured surface & knead the dough until smooth & elasticy. You should be able to pull it in to big rubbery strands.
6. Put half the oil in the bottom of a large clean bowl, roll your dough into a ball & place in the bowl to proof. Cover with cling film & a tea towel & put in a warm place to double in size (about 2-3 hours)
7. When dough is nice & puffy, knock back the dough by punching it (good for frustration)
8. Preheat your oven to 190c. Oil a biscuit sheet with the remaining olive oil & shape into 10 even balls. Place evenly on the sheet, cover with cling film & a tea towel again & leave to rest for a further 20 mins.
9. Bake rolls for 10 minutes then remove from the oven & generously brush tops with  a mix of caramelized onion & melted butter.
10. Bake rolls for a further 20-25 minutes & have a lovely burnished colour.

I gotta tell you, everything they say about freshly baked bread is true. It’s heaven. These would be great with some parmesan grated into the dough or even diced sun dried tomatoes…hmm sun dried tomatoes. I think I want to make some of those!

I probably gobbled up 5 of these by myself, store the rest in the freezer as they’re only really good the day they’re made. I left mine out & well..I guess I’ll be making croutons out of mine.