Tomato Tatin

One of my favourite things about summer is all of the fresh local produce at the farmers market, so I tend to head down every Saturday morning. The market starts out slowly in the spring, with asparagus and then strawberries. By July, things pick up, with a flurry of new things every week.

Out of all of the amazing produce, one of the things that I look forward to the most is the tomatoes. There is just something irresistible about field-ripened tomatoes that keeps me longing for them all year round.

Although I usually start off tomato season with some beefsteak tomatoes in BLT’s, this year I went with something a little different — a savoury tomato tatin! (A tatin is a sweet or savoury tart or pie with the pie crust is on the top instead of the bottom.)

While I was coming up with the recipe, I had two different ideas. The first was to slowly roast some Roma (or plum) tomatoes to bring out their flavor. The second was to use heirloom cherry tomatoes baked until they were just bursting and releasing their juices to the bottom of the pan. After struggling for a while I decided to just make them both! You can never really have too much tomato-y goodness!

For the slow roasted tomato tatin I went with Roma tomatoes, as they tend to have fewer seeds and to be less juicy, which makes them ideal for a tatin. A sweet tarte tatin normally starts off with a quick caramel sauce, and I decided to go the same way for the tomato variety. I melted the caramel sauce with some balsamic vinegar to bring in some tangy, savoury notes. Balsamic vinegar goes really well with tomatoes in general. Thyme is another great pairing, so I added some of that along with garlic, salt and pepper to round out the flavours. After the sauce is made, the tomatoes are added to the pan, which is placed into the oven to slowly roast and bring out all of the glorious flavours. Since I was going to be slowly roasting the tomatoes for a few hours anyway, I had time to caramelize and add onions. Once the tomatoes are roasted, the crust is added and the tatin is baked until the pastry is golden brown.

The slow-roasted tomato tatin took more than two hours to make, so I wanted to keep the heirloom cherry tomato tarte tatin as quick and easy as possible!  I started out with the same caramel sauce, and then simply tossed the cherry tomatoes into the pan, followed by the puff pastry and baked the whole thing until golden brown and bubbling.

Another great thing about the summer is the availability of fresh basil, and I could not resist serving the tomato tatins topped with a fresh homemade basil pesto! I also topped them with a creamy and tangy goat cheese, baby arugula, and toasted pine nuts.  Served with a salad, these tomato tarte tatins make for an amazing light meal that celebrates the market fresh tomatoes and summer!