Savoury Corn and Tomato Tartlets

These savoury tarts are filled with Summer’s bounty. Lightly herbed and buttery crust envelope the tastiest sweet and savoury filling. The sweetness comes from the fresh corn along with the grape tomatoes that are sweet with a slight tang. They pair well those two! The red onion adds some extra flavor and sweetness as well. The creamy herb and garlic cheese layer is the perfect layer for all those flavours to sink into and the mozzarella binds them together and adds some more richness to it. Just my kind of tartlets!

Savoury tarts and galettes totally have to be my weakness! I love fruit filled ones too, don’t get me wrong, but I have my fill of them after a bite or two. Not the same with savoury ones, especially ones filled with end of summer fresh and delicious ingredients.

I decided to switch up the crust a bit from my usual one and experiment with blending flours. I found a recipe for this rye cornmeal blend in Food and Wine and thought it would be perfect with the tomato and corn filling that I wanted to use in it. I am so glad I did. We loved the texture and the flavour from the cornmeal as well. The original recipe for the crust was used for something sweet but I used the exact recipe and added thyme to it and it was perfect for these savoury tartlets. Don’t let the sugar mess you up in the recipe - it’s suppose to be in there. It’s not in any way overly sweet and works well with the filling. You can definitely use any all-purpose in the recipe if rye is hard to come by where you live and it will definitely work. But if you have a Bulk Barn near you like I do now (jumping for joy) then most definitely try this flour blend - you will love it!

The dough also comes together very quickly in the food processor – which is a bonus. I made the filling while the dough was resting in the fridge and it was enough time for it to cool completely before filling the tartlets. It must be cooled completely. Don’t try and fill the tarts while the filling is still warm because the dough will start to get overly soft and way too hard to work with. If at any point that happens just stop what you’re doing with them and refrigerate them on the baking sheet for a while for the fats to set in the dough which will make the dough easier to work with.

I’m savouring all of the tomatoes right now! We didn’t have all the varieties of tomatoes we have here in Trinidad so it’s been so fun enjoying the different varieties. I will be eating tomatoes all year round of course because they are available all year round here, as with many places, but there is something sweeter and tastier about them when you eat them in season, fresh from the market, local and even better homegrown or from one of the local farms. Those are the ones I’m savouring especially. Bursting with flavour and perfect cooked into the tartlets or uncooked in a salad or sandwich. Hope you are enjoying the bounty that is in season in your area and if you get an opportunity to make these tartlets I absolutely recommended it.

Recipe

Ingredients

Makes four 5 inch tarts or one large tart

For the dough

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• ¾ cups rye flour
• ¼ cornmeal
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp of fresh thyme optional or can reduce to 1 tbsp for a less infused crust
• 14 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cubed
• ½ cup of ice cold water
• 1 egg whisked lightly for egg wash

For the filling

• 4 tbsp of herb and garlic cream cheese or your choice of cheese spread (I used Boursin)
• 2 cups cherry/grape tomatoes halved
• 1 cup fresh corn kernels
• ½ medium red onion finely diced
• 1 clove of garlic thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• ¼ tsp salt and pepper
• ¼ pound fresh mozzarella thinly sliced or in thin strands
• 2 tbsp finely chopped basil plus more for garnish

Directions

For the dough

1. In the food processor, pulse both flours with the cornmeal, sugar and the salt.

2. Add the cubed butter and thyme if using and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal with some pea sized pieces of butter still visible.

3. Sprinkle in the water and pulse until dough just starts to come together.

4. Scrape the dough out onto a work surface and gather it together.

5. Quarter the dough and form into four ½ - ingredient thick disks. Wrap each individually and refrigerate for at least 1 hour until fully chilled

6. In the meantime make the filling.

For the filling

1. In a medium sized skillet on medium heat add olive oil and and then add the corn, tomatoes, onion and garlic and gently sauté on medium/low heat for approx 7-10 minutes or until the tomatoes and onions have softened.

2. Season with salt and pepper.

3. Transfer to dish and allow to cool completely.

4. Once ready to put the tarts together preheat over to 400 ° F

5. Rollout each disk of dough to 6 inch round approx ¼ inch thick over a floured surface or between two sheets of parchment (whatever is easier for you)

6. Transfer all of them to a parchment paper lined baking sheet.

7. Spoon 1 tbsp of herb and garlic cheese onto each tartlet evenly leaving a 1-1½ inch border.

8. Mound ¼ of the tomatoes corn mixture in the center of each round. Sprinkle on the basil and the mozzarella.

9. Fold up the edges of the tarts, pleating as you go along.

10. Brush edges with egg wash and bake for 30-35 minutes until crust is golden and filling is bubbling.

11. Let cool slightly on baking sheet and serve warm with extra basil to garnish with