Tomato & Goat Cheese Crostata
By Leslie Blythe Cheese, Tart Baking, Sautéing
July 8, 2021
This Tomato & Goat Cheese Crostata is from Ina Garten's latest cookbook Modern Comfort Food. It's easy to make and very versatile. Truth be told, I didn't have goat cheese or leeks, so I used Gruyère and a shallot. You can use what you like, however, the pastry must be made exactly as written. It's the flakiest crust ever, which is due to the amount of ice-cold butter!
- Prep: 35 mins
- Cook: 25 mins
- Yields: 4 Servings
Ingredients
For the Pastry
¼ pound (1 stick) very cold unsalted butter, diced
For the Tart
4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter
4 cups chopped leeks, white and light green parts, spun dry (4 leeks)
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pound heirloom tomatoes, cored and sliced ⅜-inch thick
4 ounces creamy fresh goat cheese, crumbled
Directions
For the Pastry
1Place the flour and ½ teaspoon salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade and pulse to combine. Add the diced butter and toss carefully with your fingers to coat each piece of butter with flour. Pulse 12 to 15 times, until the butter is the size of peas. While pulsing, add the ice water all at once through the feed tube. Pulse to combine, stopping just before the dough forms a ball. Turn the dough out onto a well-floured board and form it into a disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for one hour.
2Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 450˚ F. Heat the 4 tablespoons butter in a large (12-inch) sauté pan over medium to medium-high heat. Add the leeks, thyme, 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper and sauté for 8 minutes, until the leeks are tender and starting to brown. Set aside. Place the tomatoes on a plate, sprinkle them with salt and pepper and drizzle lightly with olive oil. Set aside.
3On a floured board, roll the dough into an 11-inch circle, then place it on a sheet of parchment paper. Turn a sheet pan upside down and transfer the paper to the inverted pan. Spread the leeks on the pastry, leaving a 1½-inch border. Crumble the goat cheese evenly on top. Arrange the tomatoes over the goat cheese, overlapping the slices because they will shrink. Turn the edges of the pastry up and over the tomatoes, crimping so they lie flat. Brush the pastry with the egg wash. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the pastry is nicely browned. Allow to cool on the pan for 5 minutes, sprinkle lightly with the fresh herbs and salt, cut in wedges and serve warm.
Recipe by Ina Garten, Modern Comfort Food, 2020.
Maggie
July 8, 2021
What a beautifully burnished crust you got on that!
I think I’d actually prefer your gruyere variation… and maybe a little bit of gorgonzola scattered underneath the tomatoes.