You Tart!

My first cooking lesson this week was: "There is more than one type of pecorino." Now, this is exciting - I've learned of the presence of two more types of cheese. More than exciting, this is revolutionary - a discovery on par with an astronomer who discovers two new galaxies, or maybe a herpetologist or entomologist who discovers two new kinds of lizards or bees.

My second lesson this week was far less stimulating: "Don't attempt to make pie crust when the temperature outside is pushing 80 degrees and you don't have air conditioning."

Rewind to this afternoon. I had a piece of my lasagna from Thursday night. It was great leftover. I ate a second piece with out warming it over and it was delicious cold, as well. The noodles, however, still tasted/felt unsatisfactory. I would like to find some way for combining the eggplant-onion-tomato-spinach pesto flavors with out the pasta.

I just got Elizabeth David's “Is There a Nutmeg in the House?", a posthumous collection of her essays, in the mail. It was lovely outside - breezy and sunny, and I took my new book and a glass of ice water to our "garden" - the rather sparse patch of grass in front of our house that has just enough room for three lawn chairs. Reading Ms. David's essays, I remembered a recipe that I had ear-marked for a sunny day in the most recent special collection of Fine Cooking - the Savory Tomato, Corn, and Cheese Tart with Fresh Basil. mmmmm. . .

I put down my book and headed to the market around the corner. On the list: white onion, basil, 1 ear of corn, 1 large medium-ripe tomato, eggs, half and half, and yellow cornmeal. They had basil this time, but if they had not, I would have substituted spinach again. [Not that I'm saying that the two taste anything alike. They do, however, taste good with many of the same things.]

The first step was to make the shell. This is the first time that I have ever attempted to make a pie or tart crust from scratch, and I always assumed it would be difficult. It wasn't - at first.

I mixed the dry ingredients together in my food processor, and then, using the metal blade, cut pats of chilled butter into the mix. Once the butter had been added, I drizzled in the olive oil and then the ice water and continued to process until the dough had formed a ball. I removed the ball from the processor, flattened it, and put it into the fridge for about an hour and a half. So far so good.

When it came time to roll out the dough, though, I ran into a problem. See - I don't have a rolling pin. We have so many extraneous kitchen gadgets in our house, on account of it being a college house that the landlord has never been able to properly empty in about ten years, that I just assumed that we had one. Five sets of measuring cups? Yes. Three woks? Yes. Rolling pin? I'm afraid not.

No problem! I'll just use something else . . .

My first thought was a drinking glass. I found one that was a uniform cylinder - but it was too small. The recipe says to roll the dough into a 15" disk. The glass was but 6" high. We did have a large glass cylindrical vase, though, and I tried that.

Now, after five years in college and a degree in chemistry, I could intuit that glass was probably the worst thing to use for this job. I tried to make do, though - but to no avail. Everything sticks to it, including my dough. Everything, that is, except flour. I tried oiling the surface of the vase lightly, then flouring that, lightly, but it made things worse. After scraping the dough off of the vase, I tried the drinking glas, which worked alright. To get it on the baking sheet, however, I had to cut it in half and then squeeze the two pieces back together - and it kept getting soft. I put it back in the fridge at one point, but it still didn't work. I had a lot of trouble getting the dough thin enough with out geting it too thin or tearing.

The recipe also made WAY too much filling (or not enough dough) and so when it can time to fold the edges over the filling they kept tearing around the base. (The tart is free form 0r "rustic" as the recipe reads.) Next time I make this (and I will make it again - I will not be deterred by mere pie crust) I will double the dough recipe to ensure that I have enough.

The tart did not look as pretty as the picture in the magazine did - see my picture below - but it did taste good - even the crust. The crust was buttery with just a hint of sweet. It wasn't as flaky was I would have liked - a fact I attribute to the heat and my pinching the many tears back together - but I think that I can work on that. The filling - onions, sweet corn, tomatoes and basil, topped with Parmigianno-Reggiano - was delicious: sweet and summery. I think that when I make this again, I may add less basil and some chopped black olives instead of the corn. Spinach might also be a nice addition. I also think that I'll make it in a standard tart pan, for looks, and I won't cook it as long - maybe only 35 or 40 min. The tart tastes better, to me, at room temperature. Here is the recipe as I made it, adapted from The Best of Fine Cooking: Cooking Fresh - Spring/Summer 2005:

Savory Tomato, Corn & Cheese Tart with Fresh Basil

Makes 1 Tart; serves 4 for lunch or 8 as an appetizer

For the Cornmeal Tart Dough:

1 1/4 c unbleached all-purpose flour
1/3 c fine yellow cornmeal
1 1/4 t fine sea salt
1 t sugar
6 T European-style unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 in pieces and very cold
3 T extra virgin olive oil
1/4 c ice water

For the filling:
extra virgin olive oil
1 large white onion, sliced thin on the horizontal
fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 large cloves garlic, chopped fine
a handful of basil, coarsely chopped
kernels from 1 ear of sweetcorn
1 large medium-ripe tomato, sliced thin
Parmigiano-Reggiano
1 egg yolk mixed with 1 t half-and-half


To make the dough: In the bowl of your food processor, mix together the flour, cornmeal, salt and sugar using the metal blade. Add the butter two or three pieces at a time, pulsing in between until each pat of butter has been cut up into tiny pieces. When all of the butter has been added, continue to process until the dough has broken into large pieces. While the machine is running, drizzle in the olive oil and then the ice water. Remove the dough as soon as it comes together in a ball. Wrap in saran wrap and put in the fridge for an hour and a half. Go read a book. Have a glass of wine.

Heat extra virgin olive oil in a sautee pan over medium heat. When the oil is hot, put the onions in the pan and allow them to cook, stirring occasionally, until they start to brown, about 12 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add the garlic, corn, and basil, stir, and cook about 1 min. Take the pan off of the heat.

Position the rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 375 F. Using whatever means necessary (roll, push, etc.) form the dough into something resembling a 15 in disk on a floured surface. Transfer the dough to a baking sheet (one w/o sides) . Spread the onions and corn onto the dough, leaving about 2 in of space around the edges. Layer the tomatoes in a single layer on top. Sprinkle the tomatoes with salt and pepper. Grate a generous amount of Parmigiano-Reggiano on top of the tomatoes. Fold the edges of the dough over the filling and brush with an egg wash made with the egg yolk and half-and-half.

Bake the tart at 375 F for 45 min, until the crust is browned and the cheese is melted. Let cool for ten minutes before eating.