I seem to have a crazy overabundance of cherry tomatoes and basil this year. My god, the basil! More on that some other time, today I was focused with doing something with the 2 pints of cherry tomatoes that I picked in the last few days. Seemed like an excuse to make this tomato pie. No, it isn’t a pizza, though I guess it might as well be. Sort of like a caprese salad, only warm and in a pie. Lunch was awesome! 🙂
Ingredients
for the pastry
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/3 cup chilled solid vegetable shortening, diced
6 tablespoons (or more) ice water
for the filling
1 cup ricotta
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons pesto (I used store bought; homemade if you have it!)
1 pint cherry tomatoes
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil for drizzling
basil leaves to garnish
You will also need a few 6-7 inch tart pans or cast iron skillets
Directions
First make your crust. Blend flour and salt in a food processor. Add butter and shortening and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add 6 tablespoons ice water and process until moist clumps form, adding more water by teaspoonful if dough is dry. Gather into ball and flatten into a disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours. Roll out chilled dough disk between two sheets of parchment, until 1/8-inch thick and 2-inch wider than tart pans (so, about 8-9 inch circles). Invert dough into tart pans; press onto bottom and up sides. If dough is soft, chill until firm enough for remaining sheet of plastic to be removed. Trim edges of dough (patch up any holes or tears with extra dough). Chill until firm, about another hour.
Preheat oven to 350F. Line pastry in pans with parchment paper or heavy-duty foil, leaving a 1-inch-2-inch overhang. Fill with dried beans or pie weights. Bake tart shells just until dough has dried and does not look wet in any spots, about 20 minutes. (If center still looks wet, bake crust without weights until dried and opaque, a few minutes longer.) Let cool while you make the filling.
For the filling, combine ricotta, egg yolk, pesto and salt and pepper in a small bowl. Cut small slits or crosses at the ends of your cherry tomatoes, otherwise they will explode in the oven. Divide ricotta mixture between tart shells and spread to cover the whole bottom. Sprinkle over 3/4 cup of the mozzarella. fill rest of the tart shells with the tomatoes (I really pack them in there). Sprinkle with additional salt and pepper, and the remaining mozzarella.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the tomatoes are roasted and a little browned. Remove and let cool for 10 minutes before drizzling with olive oil and garnishing with basil. Serve warm or at room temperature.
