Tomato, feta and black garlic tart with puff pastry

Sweet, salty, savory, umami, buttery deliciousness

Published originally on my blog on 25 October 2021

When I was in Greece last month, I took tomatoes, good tomatoes, for granted. They were just there, everywhere, juicy and ripe, as red and as sweet as they could be. And then I returned to the Netherlands, the land of the greenhouse tomatoes, which, don’t get me wrong, have served us well all these years, they’re decent, but the mere sight of them left me with a deep longing for the sun-kissed, -hugged and –made love to Greek tomatoes.

While at the local open market the other day, I spotted the ones you see in the photos of this post. My heart skipped a beat and their vibrant color and even aroma, made me hopeful and giddy. Fresh, in season, naturally grown tomatoes! I may have elbowed a couple of people trying to get to them before they did, but hey, all is fair in love and war (of the tomatoes).

Once home, I will admit that I ate a couple of them on the spot, over the sink, with a good sprinkling of Greek coarse sea salt from the island of Elafonisos that I got as a gift from a friend while in Greece, and they were very good. Not as good as the Greek ones, don’t get it twisted, but they were good enough to make me smile.

Some of them we ate sliced, over sandwich bread (I know! But I’m not one to turn my nose up to good white sandwich bread) slathered with homemade mayonnaise and with lots of sea salt and white pepper. And the rest went in this glorious tart. Yes, glorious. Because not only these tomatoes were involved, but feta was involved, and black garlic too, which is like the love child of soy sauce and balsamic vinegar, with a pinch of tamarind and a dash of molasses, and very addictive indeed.

I used puff pastry but shortcrust or any other galette/tart pastry, like this spelt pastry, or this whole-wheat one, would do as well. The flavors were sweet and salty, savory and umami, buttery and tart. What more could you ask? Go on then, make it, before all the good tomatoes are gone, it’s so easy and quick and it can be your next lunch or dinner.

Tomato, feta and black garlic tart with puff pastry

Guys, feta is Greek. Please don’t talk to me about any other feta. It’s like talking to an Italian about the Parmigiano Reggiano your country makes. No. Unless your country is Italy, your country does not make Parmigiano Reggiano, period. Let alone good one. Same with feta. Let’s aaaaalways use the Greek one, okay? Otherwise, you’re using something else.

Barrel-aged, semi-hard to hard (not dry) feta would be best here. Yeap, there are different kinds of feta in Greece.