Cherry tomato and goat's cheese tart tatin

Aaawww, look that this little tomato tart. Isn't it so pretty! The colours are so vibrant. I enjoy food that looks good, as well as tastes great. I am definitely a person who eats with my eyes, as well as my mouth. If a meal doesn't look so good, or isn't presented well, then for me, it is not going to taste as good as it could.


We were in Budapest, Hungary on the weekend. What a wonderful city, beautiful architecture, friendly people and great food. It was interesting to wander around the city and look into shop windows to see what was for sale. There was, of course, the inevitable goulash soup, lots of lamb dishes and langos, a deep-fried bread with garlic or cheese. There were also lots of savoury pastries filled with meat or cheese, and many cakes, which I didn't get to try. So, I was inspired of course to do some cooking when I got home, given I had a four day off from the kitchen.

I picked up some lovely packets of colourful cherry tomatoes at the shop yesterday. There were red, yellow, orange and greeny brown tomatoes and I thought they were just crying out to be roasted and put in a tart. I also had a chunk of gooey goat's cheese in the fridge, so I combined that with the tomatoes, puff pastry and a few fresh herbs to make this lovely, crisp and tasty tart. I served this as a side to a grilled pork chop, but it would make lovely brunch or weekend lunch.

What you'll need

Serves four as a side dish

400g mixed cherry tomatoes (or you could use large sliced tomatoes)
Plus 10 extra cherry tomatoes for decoration at the end
200g goat's cheese
1 sheet puff pastry (approximately 30cm x 30cm)
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon each of dried marjoram and oregano
1/2 cup fresh torn basil
Salt and pepper

What to do

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

In a medium-sized (25cm) oven safe, non-stick frying pan, heat the butter over medium heat. Once the butter is melted and bubbling, reduce the heat to low and place the cherry tomatoes into the pan. If you have different colour tomatoes, make sure to spread out the colours around the pan.

* I sliced my cherry tomatoes in half but you can use them whole.

Cook the cherry tomatoes for about 10 minutes until the tomatoes just start to collapse. Season well with salt and pepper and sprinkle over the dried herbs. Remove from the heat. Slice/crumble the cheese over the tomatoes. Take your piece of pastry and place it over the tomatoes. Tuck it in around the edge of the pan, just like tucking a blanket in. Use a small sharp knife to put a few slits into the pastry, so it doesn't puff up too much.

Place the whole pan in the oven and cook for about 20 minutes until the pastry is golden brown and crisp.

Remove from the oven. Have a serving plate ready. The plate will need to be at least slightly bigger than the circumference of the pan.

Place the food side of the plate onto the bottom of the tart, which is still in the pan. Use a tea towel to hold the handle of the pan, as it will be hot. Place your other hand on the plate to keep it from sliding off the pan. Now working quickly, in one movement, turn the pan upside down onto the plate. The tart will now be tomato-side up on the plate. If any of the tomatoes have stuck to the pan, carefully lift them and place them onto the tart. If there is any juice left in the pan, scrape it onto the tart.

Use the extra cherry tomatoes (sliced or not) to fill in any gaps that you might have in the tart. The heat of the tart will slightly cook these tomatoes.

Sprinkle over the fresh herbs and serve immediately. Slice the tart at the table. It is a real show-stopper.