So it’s taken us two weeks to get the blog back on track after a mid-week all-nighter, canning tomatoes. It got so late, we couldn’t get through them all, and their subsequent superabundance in the kitchen has been something of an albatross. The last of them are thankfully going into a bouillabaisse later this week.
For the record, we did re-try the tomato tarte tatin, and decided to give it the Dog’s Breakfast Award for most disappointing dish. Given the wateriness of the whole cherry tomatoes in the initial execution, we thought that these ripe San Marzanos, skinned, seeded, and quartered, would be the perfect solution. But we had the same problem of soggy pastry, and even more slithery tomatoes. There seems to be just too much water in tomatoes to get a true carmel on the top of the pie.
We even tried sprinkling extra sugar and balsamic vinegar on at the end, and sliding the thing under a hot broiler. This dried the tomatoes out, and scorched the pastry. After three bites, it all went into the garbage. We talked about trying again, perhaps putting the tomato quarters in a slow oven for a day to dry them out and concentrate the flavour. But we were too tomatoed out.
Finally Rob remembered another recipe we had tried, a more standard quiche-like dish whose success doesn’t depend on tricky techniques like carmelization, and flipping things upside-down. The result was a perfect Sunday breakfast, that was very easy to make. If anyone out there has had success with carmelized tomatoes, we’d love to hear about it.
Tomatoe Brie Tart with Bacon
8 – 10 San Marzano tomatoes (Roma will do just fine) , trimmed and peeled, cut into quarterss, seed pockets removed
5 ounces Brie, rind scraped off, cut into small cubes
2 ounces fresh mozzarella, cut into small cubes
4 strips of smoked bacon
1 ounce Fontina cheese, cut into small cubes
1/3 C fresh basil, cut into chiffonade
3 large eggs
1/3 C heavy cream
1/3 C milk
9-inch pie crust
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Drain tomatoes thoroughly on paper towels. Fry bacon until crisp, and drain excess fat. Place the cheese cubes and bacon evenly around the crust. Place the tomatoes on top of the cheese. Beat eggs, cream and milk together, add the basil, and salt and pepper to taste. Note that if your bacon is salty, you may not need much salt in the egg mixture. Pour mixture over pie. Place in oven and bake 35 to 50 minutes, until centre is set. Allow to cool at least 10 minutes before serving. Serves 4-6.
