Heirloom Tomato Tart a serious mouthwatering bite of sweet and savory! If you’ve never taken a chance on Heirloom Tomatoes here’s your chance to make an easy, beautiful and savory tart.
We use our famous Shortcrust Pastry for the base of this tart, it’s exceptionally tender and flaky. But if you are looking to cut your prep time, by all means, use a refrigerated pie crust.
carte du jour
How Long Does It Take to Make a Tomato Tart?
This is a super simple process and comes together even faster if you opt for the refrigerated pie crust from your local grocer. But I promise using homemade pastry makes it even better!
While the crust blind bakes, you create the rich cheese filling in the food processor, and slice and the Heirloom Tomatoes. Pull the crust to cool for a few minutes then spread with cheese mixture and layer in the tomatoes in alternating colors. Tuck in the herbs then season with sea salt and fresh cracked pepper and bake.
Why Do I Have to Blind Bake the Tart Shell?
Blind baking is super simple and keeps your crust from getting soggy while the tart bakes.
How Do I Blind Bake a Crust?
Roll the Shortcrust Pastry (or refrigerated pie crust) to ¼ thickness, drape over the tart pan, being sure to fit the dough down into the corners of the tart pan and uniformly up the sides. Trimming off the excess dough, dock the bottom of the tart liberally with a fork. Cover with parchment paper and then add baking beans. Bake for 15 minutes, transfer from the oven and lift the beans (or rice) out with the liner and return the shell to the oven for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow the shell to cool, then proceed with your tart.
Blind bake above is from our Breakfast Quiche Recipe
French Savoury Tart
Unlike other savory tarts, our heirloom Tomato Tart has no custard or cream added. It’s simply sliced tomatoes, fresh herbs, ricotta, and goat cheese. Without a rich custard, the flavor and texture of the tomatoes don’t get lost and the added lemon zest helps their flavor pop even more. You can swap out another cheese that you like, such as, halloumi, or fontina, or another fromage which melts beautifully.
What's the Difference Between Heirloom Tomatoes and Regular Tomatoes?
Heirloom Tomatoes are always the first choice for our savory tarts. But why? If you’ve noticed curious-looking tomatoes in different sizes, shapes, and colors then you’ve seen Heirloom Tomatoes.
Crossbreed or hybrid (standard) tomatoes that you find in the grocery store are chosen for their shelf life and resistance to disease. The majority of tomatoes we find at the grocer have been bred for consistency, don’t have time to ripen on the vine. Most are immature green tomatoes that are piled into a chamber and pumped with ethylene gas which forces them to turn red.
Are Heirloom Tomatoes Worth the Extra Price?
Yes, absolutely for certain dishes Heirloom is always our appointed tomato. Heirloom Tomatoes come from plant seeds that are at least 50 years old. The seeds are generational and passed from season to season and generation to generation.
This method allows farmers to select specific attributes such as color, shape, size, flavor, and juiciness.
No Genetic Modifications on Heirloom Tomatoes! SO NO GMO!
No Frankenstein tomatoes here, no DNA manipulation just real eating! Yes, they carry a higher price tag but the benefits far outweigh the smaller incremental cost. With a variety of choices, colors, textures and flavors Heirlooms make dishes exciting!
Where Can I Buy Heirloom Tomatoes for Making a Tomato Tart?
- Farmers Market
- Produce Stands
- Local CSA (Community Supported Ag) find one near you!
- Reputable Markets such as Publix or Whole Foods
- Grow your own!!
What Are the Most Common Heirloom Tomato Varieties?
The Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds catalog first began in 1998 by Jere Gettle at the age of 17! Now, and every year in December, Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds releases a huge! Free Seed Catalog.
Their seed catalog reaches hundreds of thousands of people each year and has over 1,800 varieties of heirloom seeds from over 75 countries.
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds sells heirloom seeds for vegetables, herbs, and flowers, plus they have a great selection of gardening tools and books too!
Pink Heirloom Tomatoes
These large pink tomatoes serve up classic tomato flavor the perfect balance of acid and sweetness.
- Brandywine: A sweet tomato, balanced by a notable tartness that delivers a balanced rich, home-grown tomato flavor.
- Cherokee Purple: Sometimes included in the “black” category, complex in flavor with an initial smokiness followed by a slightly sweet aftertaste. Often compared to a zinfandel wine.
- Caspian Pink: Similar flavor profile to Brandywine, earlier to arrive in the season.
- Mortgage Lifter: Known for its mildly honeyed flavor and meaty texture, this pink-fleshed beefsteak can weigh up to 2 pounds.
- Prudens Purple: Another early Brandywine variety, sweet, juicy and winsome. Does well in short-season growth regions.
Purple (or Black) Heirloom Tomato Varieties
- Black Krim: Strong, slightly salty taste.
- Paul Robeson: Widely popular with a distinguished smokey, complex flavor.
- Purple Calabash: Oftentimes compared to Cabernet. Purple Calabash has the perfect blend of sweet and tart and has a rich home-grown tomato taste.
- Japanese Black Trifele: Deep, smokey, rich chocolate flavor that has a pear shape.
- Carbon: Particularly intense and sweet flavor, and one of the darkest of the Black Tomatoes.
- Purple Russian: A Plum variety with an excellent sweet taste.
Frequently referred to as Black Tomatoes, they are more often than not Maroon or Purple Brownish in color. With a smoky complex red wine flavor.
Red Heirloom Tomatoes
Red Heirlooms are diverse in their flavor profiles and tend to be more robust, acidic and have that good old fashioned tomato flavor.
- Costoluto: Juicy tart old-fashioned tomato flavor.
- Stupice: Small with an excellent sweet character and tangy after taste.
- Carmello: Fine flavor is the pure essence of Tomato, a perfect balance of sweet and acid. The French consider the Carmello to have the perfect balance of acid and sugar.
- Druzba: Very balanced flavor that is not overly sweet or acidic.
- Legend: Amazingly sweet tomatoes with just the right amount of acidity.
- Aussie: Striking beefsteak tomato bursting with rich, candy-sweet flavor and the perfect amount of acid to balance the taste.
- Thessaloniki: Meaty, earthy classic tomato flavor.
Striped Heirloom Tomato
- Big Rainbow: One of the most beautiful and inimitable heirloom tomatoes. This meaty beefsteak tomato is known for its sweet and flavorsome taste. Golden orange in color with whirls of red and yellow.
- Pineapple: Orange and red on the outside and yellow with blushes of red on the inside. mildly sweet with low acidity, somewhat fruity, and includes a hint of citrus.
- Gold Medal: Yellow fruit that blushes rosy red and radiates in flavor too.
- Flavor Profile: Commonly described as having a super sweet flavor just the right tangy after bite.
Sometimes called marbled Heirlooms, are beautiful and tend to have a bright, juicy, super-sweet flavor that’s low in acid.
Orange Heirloom Tomato Varieties
Mild, sweet, and in low-acid. They’re the variations that will most remind you that tomatoes are fruit being sweet, with a citrus pop.
- Kellogg’s Breakfast: Vibrant and meaty with a sweet taste.
- Persimmon: One of the best flavors of all the orange tomatoes, low in acidity, creamy, and fruity.
- Juane Flamme: Plum sized juicy, sweet and low in acid.
Green Heirloom Tomatoes
Bright and acidic in flavor with varying degrees of sweetness.
- Aunt Ruby’s Green: Juicy and bright with excellent acidity, that’s the perfect ratio to sweetness.
- Green Zebra: Popular and they pop with tangy taste too!
White (or Yellow) Heirloom Tomatoes
White tomatoes aren’t really white they’re more of a soft yellow that are noticeably less acidic than red tomatoes.
- White (yellow) Heirloom: Yellow on the outside, and pale yellow on the inside. Mild in flavor with low acidity, and a hint of sweetness.
- Limmony: Bright lemon-yellow beefsteak tomatoes have a fabulous tangy flavor that is lemony, and very clean and crisp.
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How to Make an Heirloom Tomato Tart
- 1 batch Shortcrust Pastry, or (1) 9-inch refrigerated pie crust
- 1 cup (250 grams) Ricotta
- ½ cup (50 grams) Parmesan, freshly shredded
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest, approximately 1 lemon
- 2 garlic cloves, smashed + peeled + finely chopped
- 1 cup (224 grams) Goat Cheese
- 1 pound (453 grams) Heirloom Tomatoes, washed + cored + sliced ¼ thickness
- 1 Tablespoon (15 ml) Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Kosher sea salt & Freshly cracked Black Pepper, to taste
- fresh basil leaves, for garnish
- 1 large egg, organic + lightly beaten
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Preheat the oven to 400°F/204°C
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Roll the Shortcrust Pastry (or refrigerated pie crust) to ¼ thickness, drape over the tart pan, being sure to fit the dough down into the corners of the tart pan and uniformly up the sides. Trimming off the excess dough, dock the bottom of the tart liberally with a fork. cover with parchment paper and then add baking beans. Bake for 15 minutes, transfer from the oven and lift the beans (or rice) out with the liner and return the shell back to the oven for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow the shell to cool, then proceed with your tart.
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Turn the oven temperature up to 425°F/218°C
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Meanwhile, add the ricotta, Parmesan, lemon zest, garlic cloves, and goat cheese to the food processor. Blitz for 30-60 seconds until smooth.
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Assemble the tart: Brush shell with slight beaten organic egg. Then spread the filling into the tart shell and smooth with an offset spatula. Alternate the tomatoes. Drizzle with olive oil and then season with Kosher salt and pepper.
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Bake until golden brown and the tomatoes are wilted a bit and the has browned 25-35 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes. Slice, garnish with fresh basil and serve.
- Prep time is approximate.
- Best eaten after being freshly baked and pulled from the oven to cool for 5 minutes.
Love tomatoes as much as we do? Then you’ll defiantly want to check out our Vine Ripened Slow Roasted Tomatoes for some serious Tomato Nirvana!
Add a little spice to your life with a bowl of Authentic Restaurant Style Salsa!
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30 comments
How you come up with amazing recipes like this is beyond me! I have no idea that there are many varieties of tomatoes and that some are GMO. It opened my eyes on what to watch out for.
The recipe looks delicious! And it is a 5 star dining recipe. Bravo Angela!
Awww, Jane, you made my day! Savory tarts are at the top of my favorite food to make and eat! lol So glad that you like this and I was able to share some new info with you too. Most of the tomatoes you’ll find in grocery stores are in fact GMO. Thank you so much for visiting 🙂
I love heirloom tomatoes and will buy them even when I can not get organic! The flavor is amazing and I love this recipe!
Thank you so much, Tricia! I agree Heirloom tomatoes are amazing in every way 🙂
I had to pin this! I’ve been meaning to try a savory tart and this one is PERFECT! Goat cheese is one of my top two cheese, so I’m pretty much a sucker for any recipes that use it.
Thank you so much, Colleen! I adore goat cheese as well and the hit of lemon in this recipe really round the whole bite out, be sure to share your recipe creation with us! 🙂
This is absolutely beautiful! I can’t wait to serve this at my upcoming brunch in October!
Fabulous, thanks so much, Kendra! Please be sure to share some photos with us too 🙂
We have just the right tomatoes for this available right now – I can’t wait to try it! I am going to make it with feta, which is a little salty compared with ricotta, but everyone can eat it. Gorgeous setup and photo.
Great, Beth, please be sure to share your recipe creation with us! Feta is the perfect cheese for this too 🙂
This looks amazing! I love making tarts, they are so easy but really impressive to guests for social events. 🙂 I will save this and give it a try!
Thanks so much, Christen! Tarts are Sooooooo simple to make and really showy for any occasion, so glad you like ours and appreciate you stopping by 🙂
I can’t wait to try this for my upcoming event and I will be sure to let you know how it turns out!
Looking forward to hearing how it turns out, Kisha! 🙂
I love recipes and this one is awesome, I also really like the information about tomatoes you have included with this. This is our first year growing organic heirloom tomatoes and there are so many who do not know the difference, I myself did not for a long time either. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks so much for visiting, David! So excited to hear that you are growing Heirloom Tomatoes, they’re so bright and flavorful! Hope to see you again 🙂
What a stunning tart!!! Thanks for the careful instructions and the beautiful recipe!!
Thank you so much, Josi! So happy that you like it 🙂
I LOVE tomatoes with a passion and this tart looks amazing! I cannot wait to try this recipe out!!!!
Thank you, Nicole! I agree tomatoes are such a wonderful treat, please be sure to share your results when you create your own tart! 🙂
This is a wonderful post, your heirloom tomatoes are just beautiful. Your Heirloom Tomato Tart looks delicious! Thanks so much for sharing your awesome post with us at Full Plate Thursday and come back to see us soon!
Miz Helen
Thanks so much, Miz Helen! Love being a part of Full Plate Thursday!
Congratulations, your post is featured on Full Plate Thursday,450! Thanks so much for sharinig your talent with us and have a wonderful week.
Miz Helen
Thank you so much for featuring us, Miz Helen! We love being a part of your great link up 🙂
I don’t think I’ve ever had a heirloom tomato but they look so delicious! Do the different colors all have different flavors or are they about all the same? Also, we don’t like goat cheese, could we use something else like mozzarella maybe? This looks so fresh and yummy, I need to find these somewhere! We live in Japan so it may be difficult lol
Absolutely, Felicia, you can sub different cheese to your liking! Heirlooms def have different favors we’ve mentioned the contrasting flavors of each variety with the information. Thanks so much for visiting 🙂
This tart looks gorgeous. I loved all the info on heirloom tomatoes! So many things I didn’t know!
Thanks so much, Jacqueline! So glad that you found our information helpful too 🙂
Our garden is STILL giving us tomatoes so I am definitely going to give a tart a try. Thanks for the great idea!
Nothing beats garden fresh tomatoes, be sure to share your tart creation with us! 🙂