Datterini and sundried tomato tart on a scone-style pizza base. As simple a Saturday summer supper you can get but deceptively punchy in flavour. A tart, galette, pizza mix of a recipe that satisfied my menfolk who took one look at it raw and said ‘We’re hungry; that doesn’t look much!’; words eaten after devouring it!
If you spend any time on food porn spaces of the internet, you’ll sense the changing seasons even before your own patch of earth has followed suit. Recently on the Instagram feeds I follow, bowls of tomatoes have started appearing with queries like ‘what do I do with a glut of heirlooms?’ August may be young, yet the late summer into autumn glut of tomatoes is underway in the northern hemisphere it seems.
Here, in my neck of the Mediterranean, tomatoes are in glut all summer long. The first big downpours that break the summer heat tend to ruin our staple crop; tomatoes after the storms never quite seem as sweet. They go into passata or chutneys instead. With our ‘end summer’ storms hopefully a while off – the key date for a change in the weather being the Feast of Santa Marija on 15th August – our tomatoes are still in their prime. This simple tart celebrates peak summer’s tomatoes and plain though it may seem, just dotted with some bufala mozzarella, it is to die for if you’re a tomato lover.
We brought a large packet of sundried tomatoes back from Naples – the very dry not olive oil preserved kind – and I added them to the dough. The Datterini, an Italian import, were exceptionally sweet. The two complement each other and need little more, in my opinion, to make for a superb light supper or picnic recipe. We had none left over next day to take to the beach for brunch, but I think this tomato tart, with its slightly softer base, would keep well for a second sitting.
All images © Liz Ayling 2014
- Base:
- 300g strong, plain white flour (Italian tipo ’00’ ideal or a bread flour)
- 3 rounded tsps dried yeast
- 150ml warmed whole milk
- 80ml extra virgin olive oil
- 4 large, sundried tomatoes (ideally airdried not preserved in olive oil)
- pinch of milled sea salt
- Topping:
- 3 sundried tomatoes
- 15 Datterini tomatoes or small, ripe cherry tomatoes, any variety
- handful of fresh basil
- 1 tbsp mixed dried herbs (oregano etc)
- 1 ball bufala mozzarella, or regular mozzarella.
Base:
300g strong, plain white flour (Italian tipo ’00’ ideal or a bread flour)
3 rounded tsps dried yeast
150ml warmed whole milk
80ml extra virgin olive oil
4 large, sundried tomatoes (ideally airdried not preserved in olive oil)
pinch of milled sea salt
Topping:
3 sundried tomatoes
15 Datterini tomatoes or small, ripe cherry tomatoes, any variety
handful of fresh basil
1 tbsp mixed dried herbs (oregano etc)
1 ball bufala mozzarella, or regular mozzarella.
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