Ricotta is the perfect creamy filling for a tart, providing the oomph for all manner of ingredients. The beautiful thing about ricotta is that it brings out the flavour of whatever you pair it with. Olympus Ricotta is full-fat ricotta, made purely without preservatives or additives. The texture is soft and open, so it is wonderful to showcase it as simply as possible. What better simple combination could there be than tomato and basil?
This is a light summery tomato tart with a buttery shortcrust pastry base which is all very moreish. If you don’t feel like making the base yourself, you can grab a good quality store-bought version instead. That cuts down your cooking time considerably to 30-35 minutes, leaving you more time to do the dishes…or enjoy a nice glass of wine.
Olympus Ricotta and Cherry Tomato Tart
Ingredients
Pastry
- 2 cups plain flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 125 grams butter, cubed
- chilled water
Tart filling
- 300 grams Olympus fresh ricotta
- 1/2 small punnet assorted cherry tomatoes
- 2 eggs
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 1 small brown onion, diced
- 1 handful fresh basil leaves
- 1 handful fresh parsely leaves
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
Tart case
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius
- Grease a round shallow baking flan and set aside
- Sift flour and salt together. Add butter and cut into flour with a knife or flour cutter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
- Add enough cold water to bring the mixture together into a stiff dough
- Knead the dough lightly before forming into a tight ball. Wrap dough in glad wrap and place in the fridge to cool for 10-15 minutes
- Dust board lightly with flour and roll pastry dough out into a round shape enough to cover your dish
- Line baking dish and trim edges
- Blind bake the case in the oven for about 10 minutes or until lightly golden. You can use some pie weights to ensure an even base.
- Set aside to cool.
Tart filling
- Heat oil in a frying pan on a medium heat. Fry onion and garlic until soft. Set aside to cool.
- Whisk eggs in a large bowl.
- Chop basil and parsley and add to bowl, along with ricotta and ¼ cup grated parmesan. Combine with a spoon.
- To assemble, first place onion mixture in your cooled pie base. Next add ricotta mixture.
- Finish with remaining parmesan cheese. Slice tomatoes, and place on top, nesting into the ricotta mixture. Drizzle with good quality olive oil.
- Turn oven up to 200 degrees. Bake tart for about 30-35 minutes until golden and set.