Mediterranean Tomato and Thyme Tart

Crust (make your own): 1.5 hr // Filling: 15 min // Bake: 25 min

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It's the tomato season and this juicy fruit (or vegetable) is celebrated across our continent and especially in the Meditteranean which has the longest season (and therefore the largest produce) and biggest flavour. Living in the UK for the last few years, I came to realise that some really good tomatoes with real flavour can be also found here, the ones grown in the Isle of Wight. The climate there is fairly mild (mainly affected by the sea breeze and some warm south-westerly winds) and during summer it is blessed with lots of sunshine and generally higher temperatures than UK mainland, creating sufficient conditions for tomato cultivation.

Thyme is a favourite Mediterranean herb (along with basil), and the freshness and earthy aroma remind me of these summer rides in the Greek islands where wild thyme usually thrives.

Before you start:

I'd suggest you read this post first to get prepared for making a perfect crust for your savoury tart. For this tart, I used different varieties and colours of tomato from the Isle of Wight, but looks and tastes equally good with simple red tomatoes too!

Equipment

Mixing bowl, Frying pan, tart tin (23cm diameter).

Ingredients for the Crust:

• see this post

Ingredients for the filling:

• 3-4 large fresh tomatoes

• 150g grated mozzarella cheese (if you don't find the drier yellowish cow's mozzarella and use the white in brine instead, try reducing the amount of milk of this recipe by 20-30%)

• 150g light Philadelphia cream

• 150g feta cheese (or cottage cheese)

• 70ml milk

• 3 large (or 4 medium-small) eggs

• 2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves, finely chopped (around 12-15 sprigs)

• 1 tbsp tomato paste

• 1 tbsp honey (or sugar) - optional

• 1 garlic clove, mashed

• 1 handful fresh basil leaves, chopped

• 1 tsp Cholula or Tabasco sauce

• 5-6 sun-dried tomatoes, roughly chopped (optional)

• Olive oil (for frying)

• Salt & Pepper to taste

Substitutes

• Feta cheese > Cottage cheese. Feta has a very distinctive tanginess and saltiness which is unique so I would recommend not substituting feta. However, if you are looking for low fat options a great substitute would be cottage cheese.

• Fresh herbs > dry herbs: fresh can be replaced with dry, but make sure you add 20-30% more dry product to level up the taste.

Instructions

• Prepare the crust (the night before or 1.5 hours before you make the filling). See this 'how-to' post.

• Preheat your oven at 180c (160 fan)

• Slice 2 tomatoes in round discs and set aside. Remove the cores from the other 2 and dice the tomato flesh (core removal shown in the photo below)

• Add some olive oil in a pan and fry the diced tomatoes with some salt and pepper (add the sugar or honey to caramelize) and the garlic for a couple of minutes until the juices extract.

• Add 2/3 of the thyme (keep some for garnish), tomato paste, Tabasco and season more if needed. Lower the heat and leave them for 5 min until tomato juice thickens. Remove and let it cool down

• Crack the eggs into a large bowl and whisk them with the Philadelphia cream, milk, mozzarella and season.

• Stir in the feta cheese and the basil leaves.

• Now fetch your crust, pour the mixture in and decorate with the round tomato slices and the dried tomatoes (if using) over evenly.

• Bake at 170c (150 fan) for around 30-40 mins or until the top is slightly browned.

• Serve with a sprinkle of thyme or basil leaves

Recommended Products

Below are my favourite authentic products I used to cook and shoot this recipe. If you can't see the icons and links, please deactivate your ad-blocker and refresh the page :-)

Anti-Stick Tart Tin with removable base: I totally suggest buying a non-stick tart tin with holes and a removable loose bottom which makes the crust so crispy and easier to detach and serve. I recommend this Kitchen Kraft product from Amazon which ticks all the boxes and I have been using it for ages which exactly proves its durability and quality:

Cholula sauce: I can talk hours about this sauce that I'm using almost everywhere, like ketchup. It is similar to Tabasco, but a liiiiitle bit milder and richer and more peppery in flavour. Or if you are up to something even milder, go for the refreshing chilli lime version which is just slightly spicy, you won't even notice.