Roasted Cherry Tomato Tart

Spurred on by the success of her last experiment and the ever-growing mountain of cherry tomatoes being pushed out by the Sweet 100 plants, Elizabeth decided to make a Roasted Cherry Tomato Tart (link to recipe) to go along with a rack of lamb we were having for dinner.

To make the tart visually interesting, she threw in a few different tomato varieties that we had picked up at the farmer's market. One of my favorties was the Black Cherry Tomatoes from Savoie Organic Farms; these were a little firmer fleshed and have a deeper, less tart taste than your typical cherry.

Oiled and seasoned with some salt, pepper and Early Italian Purple Garlic from the market, these went into a 400 degree oven to roast away. After about 30 minutes, they were cooled off and the liquid they were released was drained off to use in a marinade for the lamb.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth made the tart shell using your standard pie-crust kind of recipe...cold cubed butter, pulsed in the food processor with flour & dash of salt, then a little bit of cold water & dash of lemon juice mixed in...she left the cornmeal out of that the recipe called for.

The dough went into a little tapas pan and then into the oven until golden brown; it was left to cool alongside the tomatoes.

Next, she mixed together equal parts goat cheese and thick Greek Yogurt (we use Fage 0% Fat), mashing in a little nub of leftover ricotta salata to add some saltiness. She left out the mustard and instead simply spread the cheese across the now-cool tart crust.

Next, time to load it up with tomatoes!

The tart went back into the oven for a brief time to warm through and get all the flavors to marry, then out it came, sprinked with fresh thyme.

Here's the final result, served alongside a slice of lamb. This tart was a little heavier on the tomato than the example from the recipe, but when it's being served alongside lamb rack, the tart cherries, creamy goat cheese and crispy tart crust was a perfect match to the juicy lamb, served rare.