This might be the most gorgeous tart that has been birthed out of my oven. Just look at that ombre of open-faced tomatoes, the streams of ricotta in between, all nestled within a golden crust. I’m so mighty proud of this tart, and while I know it might not be particularly professional to gush over dishes of one’s own making, I can’t help but love this one especially!

For once, a recipe of mine isn’t borne out of some kooky combination or funky fusion of flavours that you’ve probably come to expect, rather this is a classic tomato and ricotta tart through and through, just made extra beautiful with the bevy of multicoloured tomatoes on top. Because as much as I love funky flavours, sometimes you just need some comforting classics.

And comforting it truly is! The combination of tomatoes, cheese, and pastry here is especially soothing to me, and brings me back to lazy weekend afternoons at Bloomsbury Coffee House during my time in London, eating their quiches on rotation washed down with a bowl of warm soup, and to the early mornings during my restaurant days at Blue Hill, where I often grabbed a quick, fresh-out-of-the-oven croissant or cheesy pastry before heading into the cellar to pick out the heirloom tomatoes to prep for the day. Even if you don’t have memories tied to tomatoes or savoury tarts, the flavours of this tart work so classically well together, and will indiscriminately enrapture you in a deep, enveloping hug indiscriminately.

About the Dish

This tart comes together with three components—a shortcrust pastry base, a ricotta filling, and a pretty bevy of tomatoes to top the tart with.

The first, the pastry, is a pretty classic shortcrust pastry or pate brisee, made with butter and flour rubbed together till it’s sandy, then bound together with a bit of water to form the dough. It’s then rolled out, laid into a 9-inch tart pan, before it’s blind baked in the oven (tips on this process below).

Next, the ricotta. This creamy, rich mixture serves as a foil to the champion of the tart—the refreshing, subtly sweet, tangy tomatoes. While just a few dollops of ricotta would be passable, I bolstered its flavour with some minced garlic and parsley, giving it a bit more robustness, as well as an egg for some structure so it holds the tomato in place as it bakes.

Then, for the piece de resistance—the tomatoes! This tart truly shows off the beauty of tomatoes, and works especially well if you use cherry tomatoes, or any small, pearly heirloom tomato varieties. If you’re in Malaysia, these can be especially hard to find. But one place you can get it from is from the sponsors of this recipe—K Fresh! Their Korean mini tomatoes come in packs with a whole parade of colours, from vibrant green tomatoes to sunny yellows, ruby reds to ones in a deep maroon hue. (They’ve recently started doing online delivery for these beauties too!) Sliced in half, then arranged on top of the tart, they create an ombre cascade of summery colours, making the tart especially enticing!

Tips for Success

To make this gorgeous tart, here are some useful tips and tricks to know:

For the pastry: When making the shortcrust pastry, it really helps to keep everything cold as you don’t want your butter to melt or soften too quickly. This is especially important in hot and humid climates like in Malaysia where I’m at. A helpful step I’ve found is to put the butter and flour in the freezer 5 minutes before I start making the dough, to really bring down the temperature. Plus, I like to make sure my water is ice cold too when I add it to the butter and flour.
Tomatoes: My preference is to use small, cherry tomatoes for this tart. Multicoloured ones make for an especially stunning tart with that ombre effect! However, if all you have on hand are larger, regular tomatoes, you can also slice them into thin discs (around 1cm (1/2 inch) thick) and arrange them on top of the ricotta filling.
Baking: This tart is baked in three different ways. The tart shell itself is first blind baked with pie weights (you can use baking beans or rice here). Then, the weights are removed and it’s baked again to fully cook the tart base. Then the ricotta and tomatoes are placed in it, and it's baked one last time. The second part of the baking is the most important, as you want the base to be golden and crisp, lest it would absorb the moisture from the ricotta filling and get soggy quick.

This recipe is sponsored by K Fresh by First Pick, a brand bringing premium air-flown Korean fresh produce to Malaysia.

Tomato & Ricotta Tart

Makes one 9-inch tart

Ingredients

Shortcrust pastry
100g cold unsalted butter, cubed
200g all-purpose flour
2g (1/4 tsp) salt
45ml (3 tbsp) cold water

Filling
250g (1 cup) ricotta cheese
1 egg
3 garlic cloves, minced
20g (1/4 cup) parsley, chopped
2g (1/2 tsp) salt
1g (1/4 tsp) black pepper, plus more to garnish
300g (2/3 pounds) cherry tomatoes (get multicoloured ones if you can; I got mine from K Fresh)
1g (1 pinch) sea salt, optional, to garnish

Directions

Make pastry: In a bowl, combine the butter, flour, and salt. Rub the flour and butter mix in between your hands until they turn fine and sandy, making sure to smear any large lumps of butter so they turn fine. Then, add the water to the sandy mixture, give it a few quick kneads to turn it into a dough. (This can also be done in a food processor, by blitzing the butter, flour, and salt in short bursts until fine and sand-like, then add in the water and knead it by hand.) Once the dough comes together, shape it into a flat disc, wrap it in plastic wrap and chill it in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour. (You can also make this the day ahead as it lasts in the fridge for about a week. If you’re not using it within the week, freeze it and it’ll keep for months.)
Roll out pastry: After chilling, remove the dough from the plastic wrap, and place it onto a well-floured surface. Roll out the dough with your rolling pin until it is 2-4mm thin, and large enough to fit into your tart pan, with at least 5cm (2 inches) of extra dough larger than the diameter of the tart pan. Transfer the rolled out dough into the tart pan, fitting it snugly into the bottom edges of the pan. Remove any excess dough with your knife. If your tart dough is really soft at this point, put it in the fridge to chill for 5 minutes to firm out a little before the next step.
Bake tart shell: Heat your oven to 180°C. With a fork or a docker, poke shallow holes into the bottom and sides of the tart shell. Then, place a sheet of aluminium foil or baking paper into the tart, and place baking weights on top (you can use pie weights, beans, or even uncooked rice). Blind bake the tart for 20 minutes. Then, remove the pie weights and foil, and bake for a further 20 minutes to ensure the base of the tart is cooked.
Make filling: While the tart is baking, combine the ricotta, egg, minced garlic, 4/5 of the parsley (we’re saving the rest to garnish the tart), salt, and pepper in a bowl. Then, slice your cherry tomatoes in half and set them aside for later. (I like to slice them along the vertical axis for this tart, but horizontal is fine too.) If you’re using multicoloured tomatoes and want to get that ombre effect, it helps to group them by colour, which will help you assemble the tart quicker in the next step.
Fill tart: When the tart shell is done baking, remove it from the oven, and let it cool in the tart pan for 5-10 minutes. Then, pour your ricotta filling into the tart, and spread it out evenly. Next, place the tomatoes on top of the ricotta, arranging them however you please! (I did them face up, and arranged them so the colours ombre-d nicely from green to maroon, but feel free to do as you please!)
Bake tart: When the tart is assembled, place it back into the oven, and bake it for a further 30 minutes, until the ricotta filling is completely set. Remove the tart from the oven when done, and cool it on a wire rack for 10-15 minutes.
Garnish, serve, and eat: When the tart is just warm, sprinkle the parsley on top, along with a few cracks of black pepper. Slice into 6-8 pieces, and eat! The tart is best when still warm, but is also good even at room temperature. If you have leftovers, you can keep them in the refrigerator for up to 2 days, although the crust will turn soft and lose its crumbliness after a day.