Saturday, July 4, 2009

Aromatic Tomato Eggplant Tart

This savory summer tart combines different recipes I have been repeating at home lately: one is Clotilde's Easy Olive Oil Tart Crust from Chocolate & Zucchini, and the other is a perfumed tomato spread from a cookbook I bought used recently and got hooked from start to finish as if it were a novel: The Unplugged Kitchen by Viana Laplace (out of print but easy to find used online). It is made with lots of cilantro and garlic: your kitchen (and maybe even whole house) will smell amazing as it bakes and for a while after.

Aromatic Tomato Eggplant Tart Recipe
Ingredients:
For the crust:
250 g whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 teaspoon dried herbs (I used thyme in this one)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup cold water

For the filling:
6 tomatoes (organic, please), peeled, chopped and drained in a colander
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 generous handful coriander (cilantro), chopped
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 small (or 1 large) eggplants, sliced into thin slices
1 handful dried mushrooms, rehydrated in boiling water
1 tablespoon pine nuts, lightly toasted

Directions:
Combine flour, salt, and herbs in a bowl. Add oil and mix with a fork. Add water, knead a bit in the bowl until you have a ball of dough and put it onto a floured surface to roll out to a crust large enough to fit into a pre-oiled round tart pan. Let rest in the fridge for an hour.

Heat the olive oil in a deep sautée pan or wok. Add the garlic and chopped cilantro. Mix for a few minutes. Then add the tomatoes and salt, and cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes, until there is barely any liquid left. Add the slices of eggplant. Sautée for another 10 minutes or so, until the eggplant seems tender. Add rehydrated mushrooms. Carefully pour mixture onto the crust and distribute evenly. Sprinkle pine nuts on top. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature (tastes great the next day).