Tomato and Pesto Tarte

Around my birthday I got an amazing cookbook from a family member (I don't remember who) but it is by Sunny Anderson. This cook book is filled with amazing recipes which can either be southern food, italian food, and even german food. But the recipe that stood out to me was on the cover, it was a tart with flaky crust, a little bit of fresh green pesto, but what stood out the most to me was the beautiful tomatoes that look almost roasted. After looking at this recipe I wanted to make my own version, which consisted of pesto which the basil from by backyard, and ripe tomatoes from the local farmers market. I hope you enjoy my rendition on Sunny's Tomato Pesto Tarte.

Ingredients:

Pesto:

3 packed cups of basil

¼ cup pine nuts

2 cloves of garlic

½ cup Parmesan Cheese

¾ cup olive oil

½ teaspoon salt (to taste)

Crust: 
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks butter (cubed)
6 tablespoon ice water

Other:
4 big fresh tomatoes
pinch of salt (to put over the tomatoes)
cracked black pepper (a little bit put over the tomatoes)
Parmesan Cheese (desired amount)

Tomatoes from the farmers market

Fresh Basil from my garden

First add the flour, salt, and cubed butter to the food processor and combine slowly while adding in the ice water until the mixture becomes like little crumbs. Then with your hands turn the crumbs into a dough, but be fast because you don't want to over work the dough and melt the butter. Put into the refrigerator until ready to use.

Then in the food processor put in the basil, pine nuts, salt, parmesan cheese, and garlic and pulse while slowly adding in the olive oil until the ingredients are chopped and the mixture looks like a sauce. Put the Pesto into the refrigerator until ready to use.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. While waiting for the oven to heat up roll out the dough until about 1/8 of a inch thick. Then put into the baking dish and cut the edges to fit the dish.

Put in parchment paper and put on top of the dough. In the parchment paper put in beans of pie weights and cook for about 10-15 minutes out until the pie crust in golden brown.

 Then take out the pie weights and let the crust cook for 10 minutes. Spread the pesto onto the bottom of the crust and then place the cut tomatoes on top of the pesto, and cook for 20-30 minutes or until the tomatoes are cooked and look almost roasted.

Sprinkle with some parmesan cheese and enjoy this flavorful dish!