Sunday, September 4, 2011

Tomato Tart with White Bean Puree


I was in heaven walking through the farmer's market yesterday and sampling all kinds of tomatoes...heirloom tomatoes, beefsteak tomatoes, and cherry tomatoes in every color of the rainbow.  I have red cherry tomatoes growing in our backyard, and I picked up a pint of these gorgeous yellow tomatoes.  (Did you know that yellow tomatoes are less acidic than red tomatoes?  Though yellow tomatoes do not have the antioxidant lycopene...)  


I've been wanting to make a tart since I saw a recipe in Real Simple a while back, and since these little tomatoes are pretty sweet, I wanted to smear something on the tart to make it more savory, so I made a white bean puree with garlic and rosemary that's similar to something my husband has made to put on a grilled chicken flat bread pizza.  All on top of an almond flour tart, which makes it higher in protein and lower in carbs than a typical wheat crust.

Almond Flour Crust

1 1/2 cups Almond Flour  (I made my own by pulsing blanched almonds in my blender until finely ground.)
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tb fresh rosemary, minced
1/4 cup grapeseed oil
1 Tb water

Mix the dry ingredients together.  In a small bowl, whisk together the oil and water.  Combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients.  Press the mixture into a shallow pan.  (A tart pan if you have one. I used a 9" spring-form pan this time and it worked just fine.  Bake crust at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.

While the crust is baking and then cooling, roast tomatoes and make the bean puree.

Roasted Tomatoes
2 pints cherry tomatoes, any color
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tb rosemary leaves
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1-2 Tb olive oil

Combine all the ingredients on a baking sheet and roast tomatoes at 350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes.

White Bean Puree
1 16oz can of Great Northern or Cannellini Beans, drained and rinsed
2 Tb olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 1/2 Tb fresh-squeezed lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1/2-1 tsp ground white pepper
1 Tb ground flax meal
1 Tb fresh rosemary leaves

Saute the garlic in the olive oil for a few minutes, then add the beans and seasonings to the pot.  Simmer on low until heated through and the beans are easily smushed with your cooking utensil.  Transfer the bean mixture to your blender or food processor.  Add the rosemary at this time.  Pulse until smooth, adding water in very small amounts as needed.  (I used a blender and needed to add a few tablespoons of water in order to get the blender to puree the beans properly.)  

Finally, assemble the tart!  Spread the bean mixture on the crust.  (I found it best if the crust had cooled.)  Top with the tomato mixture.  (You may need to drain some liquid from the roasted tomatoes.)  Devour!  I really enjoyed this recipe, and might be making more tarts in the near future...I contemplated adding cheese to this one, and considered incorporating eggplant, zucchini, and basil...so many options!  

I'm submitting this recipe to Wellness Weekend as well!  Stop over at Diet, Desert and Dogs to find some fresh new recipes!


5 comments:

  1. There's not much that I adore more than roasted tomatoes. This crust sounds fantastic, I think I'm going to have to try it this week sometime. And with the addition of that awesome bean purée...this sounds like a winner. deeeelicious :D

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  2. wow...absolutely divine..
    first time here..love ur space ..
    nice presentation..
    Am your happy follower now..:)
    do stop by mine sometime..

    love,
    Jay
    Tasty Appetite

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  3. This sounds yummy! Thanks for sharing!

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  4. This tart looks amazing. Those sweet yellow cherry tomatoes are THE BEST. And what a terrific way to showcase them. So clever too adding an extra savory element in the white bean puree. So delish!

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