Lifestyle
Summer Tomato Tart with Ricotta
At the height of the season, a good tomato barely needs anything to back it up. Heirlooms streaked with green and gold, cherry tomatoes that split under the lightest pressure bring their own flavor and color, and the best thing you can do is give them a stage. A crisp, buttery shell carries a layer of ricotta whipped smooth with olive oil, finished with sliced tomatoes, thyme, and flaky salt. It looks like something set in a café window, and it comes together with far less effort than it suggests.
A No-Cook Filling, a Make-Ahead Crust
Most of the work here is no work at all. The filling never touches heat—ricotta whipped with salt and olive oil, spread into a cooled shell and crowned with raw tomatoes. The only component you actually bake is the crust, which can be made a day ahead, so final assembly takes minutes.
Serve it as a light lunch, cut it into slim wedges for a gathering, or set it out whole and let people help themselves.
A Crust Worth Getting Right
Because nothing in the filling is cooked, the crust carries the dish. It needs to come out evenly golden from the rim to the center, crisp enough to hold up under ricotta and juicy tomatoes, with no pale, underdone middle and no scorched edge. That consistency comes down almost entirely to how steadily your oven holds its temperature.
A ZLINE Wall Oven's convection mode moves heat evenly around the shell, ensuring uniform coloring, while accurate, stable preheating means 400°F is genuinely 400°F from the first minute. It's a small thing that makes a visible difference. Set into the wall at eye level, it also keeps the one step that needs watching easy to watch.
Summer Tomato Tart with Ricotta
prep time
bake time
cool time
70 mins
25 mins
25 mins
Serves
6-8
Ingredients
For the Crust
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2/3 cup cold, unsalted butter
- Pinch of salt
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 to 3 tbsp cold water
For the Filling
- 16 oz. ricotta
- 1 lb cherry tomatoes and heirloom tomatoes, sliced
- 4 sprigs of thyme
- Flaky salt and olive oil, to finish
- Freshly ground black pepper, to finish
Expert Tips
Start cold, stay cold: Cubed butter from the freezer and a well-chilled dough are what give you a flaky, tender crust. If your kitchen runs warm, don't skip the 15-minute freeze before the shell goes in the oven.
Salt the tomatoes first: Slice them, scatter with a little salt, and let them rest on a paper towel for 10 to 15 minutes. They'll release the excess water that would otherwise soften the crust.
Finish at the table: A last drizzle of good olive oil and a pinch of flaky salt, added just before serving, brings everything into focus.
Instructions
For the Crust
Cube the butter and place it into the freezer for about 5 minutes.
Pulse the flour, salt, and butter in the food processor until it is crumbly.
Add the yolk and about 1 tablespoon of cold water. Pulse and continue to add small amounts of water just until the mixture comes together.
Once the consistency is right (it shouldn't be too sticky or too dry), form the dough into a ball and wrap with plastic wrap. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
Once the dough is chilled, roll it out into the shape of a circle, about 1/4 inch thick.
Place the dough into a tart pan, pinching it to the sides of the pan. Poke holes in the bottom of the tart with a fork. Keep the dough in the freezer for at least 15 minutes before baking.
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Place the cold tart shell onto a baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes, until golden brown. Let cool.
For the Filling
Whip the ricotta in a bowl with salt and a drizzle of olive oil until smooth.
Spread the ricotta in the cooled tart shell and top with tomatoes. Finish with flaky salt, thyme, and black pepper.
