Tomato Basil Tart

Submitted by Derf2440

"this is definately worth the time and effort!! Beautiful presentation, cut into 6 or 8 wedges, or cut into small pieces for appetizers. from Janet Neyrinck through Cooking light mag."

 

• Ready In: 1hr 40mins
• Ingredients: 11
• Serves: 6-8

ingredients

• 1 (11 ounce) can refrigerated breadstick dough
• cooking spray
• 8 plum tomatoes
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons salt
• 1 cup loosely packed basil leaves
• 3⁄4 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese (3 oz)
• 2⁄3 cup fat-free ricotta cheese
• 1⁄2 cup grated fresh parmesan cheese (2 oz)
• 1⁄4 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 large egg whites
• 2 teaspoons olive oil

directions

1. Preheat oven to 425f degrees.
2. Unroll dough, separating into stirps.
3. Working on a flat surface, coil 1 strip dough around itself in a sprial pattern.
4. Add second strip of dough to end of the first strip, pinching ends to seal, continue coiling remaining dough.
5. Let rest 10 minutes.
6. Roll dough into 12 inch circle, fit into bottom and up sides of 9 inch round removable bottom tart pan coated with cooking spray.
7. Cover dough with foil, arrange pie weights or dried beans on foil.
8. Bake at 425f degrees for 15 minutes, remove weights and foil.
9. Bake an additional 5 minutes or until edges are ligfhtly browned.
10. Reduce oven temperature to 350f degrees.
11. Core and slice tomatoes into 1/4 inch thick slices.
12. Sprinkle tomatoes with salt, place tomato slices, salt sides down, on serveral layers of paper towel.
13. Cover with additional paper towels.
14. Let stand 10 minutes, pressing down occasionally.
15. Place basil, cheese, pepper and egg whites in blender or food processor, process until smooth.
16. Spread cheese mixture over crust.
17. Arrange tomato slices over cheese mixture, brush with olive oil.
18. Bake at 350f degrees for 40 minutes or until cheese mixture is set.
19. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.
20. Can be served hot, room temperature or cold.

Reviews

[Lise F]

I was very pleased with how this turned out. It had an excellent basil flavor, and I appreciated the low-fat touches. I forgot to add the parmesan to the ricotta mixture, and ended up sprinkling it on top instead, which worked great nonetheless. My only complaint would be the dough--it was hard to work with the prepared breadstick dough. I didn't know if I should be adding flour to make it stick less when rolled out; and so on my first try the dough ended up falling into the pie pan in a complete mess. I tried it again with a dusting of flour, and that just made the dough seize up and become difficult to work with. I finally managed to get the dough into the pan, but it was a bit of a challenge.

 

[kda949]

Everyone really like this! I must admit I did change a few things- I used more ricotta and less mozzarella (about 1 cup ricotta and 1/2 cup mozzarella) and when I was done grating, about 1/4 cup of Parmesan/Remano cheese. I also made a crust from scratch using the crust of another Tomato Tart recipe (it was OK- the best part was definatly the filling!). I was also lazy and drizzled some olive oil with herbs over the top (didn't want to dirt my pastry brush). I forgot to get the crust and had to cover it with tin foil the last 10 mins or so- Oh well! It was really easy to make. Served it with a salad and we all loved it! Will definatly make it again (but with a different crust- from scratch again though).