Ricotta and Tomato Tart

This is a tart I normally only make in the summer for some reason, but hey, I had some ricotta and some really woolly tomatoes that needed to have something done to them to make them interesting. 

The original recipe comes from one of my favourite cook books, Sydney Food by Bill Granger, which I found about 20 years ago in the bargain bin of a book shop in Scarborough on a very cold January afternoon. This was well before Bill Granger was really known outside of Australia. It’s a book that’s been on my shelf ever since and is very well used.

I didn’t have all the ingredients for this, so I improvised.

Firstly, here are the ‘proper ingredients’ in case anyone wants to make it in its ‘official’ form, as opposed to my ‘needs must’ interpretation.

• 2 ripe tomatoes, finely sliced and salted
• 1 quantity of rough puff pastry (200g flour and fat for quantities)
• 2 cups ricotta
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• ¼ cup finely grated Parmesan
• ¼ cup cream
•  Pinch of ground nutmeg
•  Fresh ground pepper
• 1 cup finely shredded rocket
• 1 egg yolk, lightly beaten for glazing
• 2 tablespoons, chopped parsley for garnish

I had no inclination to make puff pastry (rough or otherwise), so I made short crust using 4oz flour, 2 oz fat proportion. I make pastry very, very badly, as you can see, I had to do a lot of patching. (if you’re using rough puff, you roll it out and roll up the sides to make the pastry into its own walls to contain the ricotta mixture)

Rather than use an extra egg for egg wash, I just used a bit of the main recipe beaten eggs before they got folded into the main tart mixture (saved on an egg in these frugal times). Pricked the short crust, egg-washed it and put in the oven to bake blind for about 10 minutes at 375F. Take it out to cool.

Slice and salt the tomatoes and put in a colander to drip. Mix the two beaten eggs with the ricotta, grated Parmesan, cream (I used sour cream because that’s what I had and it worked a treat), nutmeg, salt and pepper.

At this point you are supposed to add rocket (arugula) to the ricotta mixture, but as I didn’t have rocket, I added a few sprigs of fresh oregano because that’s what I had and it went well with the ricotta and tomatoes.

Pour the ricotta mixture into the pasty case and top with the tomatoes. Bake at 400F for about 35 mins depending on your oven.

If you have any, garnish with chopped parsley. I didn’t have any, so I didn’t.

It doesn’t look pretty, but I have to say it tasted bloody good. And we have two slices of tart left over, so there will be no marital battles for leftovers. A result all round!