Easy Tomato and Smoked Feta Tart Recipe

Sweet, jammy tomatoes with smoky and salty feta cheese.

Tomato and smoked feta tart placed on a cutting board, ready to be cut into slices.

Serious Eats / J. Kenji López-Alt

Why It Works

  • Salting the tomatoes and letting them drain before adding them to the tart ensures that your tart ends up intense and jammy instead of watery.
  • A layer of whole-grain mustard spread over the bottom of the tart adds a pungent bite.
  • A touch of liquid smoke added to the feta cheese brine gives it a lightly smoky flavor.

This is one of my new favorite simple, end-of-tomato-season dishes. It's only got about a half dozen main ingredients, but it's the way you treat them that makes it unique. Spicy, sweet, salty, buttery, smoky, and tart—there's an awful lot of stuff going on in here, yet it's the kind of recipe that's custom-made for an informal dinner party.

September 2015

Recipe Details

Easy Tomato and Smoked Feta Tart Recipe

Prep 15 mins
Cook 60 mins
Active 20 mins
Salting Time 15 mins
Total 90 mins
Serves 6 servings
Keep Screen Awake

Ingredients

  • 1 teaspoon liquid smoke

  • 5 ounces block feta cheese, with 1 cup of its brine (see note)

  • 1 1/2 pounds ripe beefsteak tomatoes (about 2 large), cut into slices

  • 1/2 pound cherry tomatoes, split in half

  • Kosher salt

  • 1/2 recipe Easy Pie Dough

  • 2 tablespoons whole-grain mustard

  • Freshly ground black pepper

  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for finishing

  • 1 tablespoon minced fresh oregano, marjoram, and/or thyme leaves

  • 2 tablespoons minced fresh delicate herbs, such as parsley, mint, basil, tarragon, and/or chives

Directions

  1. Adjust an oven rack to the center position and preheat oven to 400°F. Add liquid smoke to feta brine, cutting or crumbling the cheese to make sure it is submerged. Set feta and brine aside.

    Liquid smoke is added to the feta submerged in brine.

    Serious Eats / J. Kenji López-Alt

  2. Place beefsteak tomato slices and halved cherry tomatoes in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with two layers of paper towels or a clean kitchen towel. Season with salt. Flip tomatoes and season second side. Set aside for 15 minutes, then blot excess liquid with more paper towels.

    Author blots tomato slices with a paper towel.

    Serious Eats / J. Kenji López-Alt

  3. Carefully roll out cold pie dough into a circle that overlaps a 10-inch fluted tart pan. Use your rolling pin to carefully transfer dough to pan. Push it into corners with your fingertips and trim off excess with a butter knife. Transfer to freezer for 5 minutes.

    Author presses pie dough into corners of tart pan.

    Serious Eats / J. Kenji López-Alt

  4. Remove tart crust from freezer. Using the back of a spoon, spread mustard evenly over bottom surface. Layer tomatoes into tart crust, fitting them as tightly together as possible. Drain smoky feta cheese and crumble over the top. Season with black pepper. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil and sprinkle with oregano, marjoram, and/or thyme leaves.

    Collage of the tart shell being filled: mustard is spread over dough, tomatoes are scattered over, followed by fresh herbs and crumbled feta.

    Serious Eats / J. Kenji López-Alt

  5. Transfer tart to oven and bake until bottom is well browned and crisp and top is sizzling, with tomatoes and cheese lightly browned and most of the liquid evaporated, about 1 hour. Remove from oven and let cool to room temperature. Sprinkle with remaining herbs, drizzle with a little more olive oil, and serve.

    Overhead view of the finished tart, ready to be sliced.

    Serious Eats / J. Kenji López-Alt

Special Equipment

Baking sheet, 10-inch fluted tart pan, rolling pin

Notes

If using feta cheese that's not packaged in brine, dissolve 1 tablespoon kosher salt in 1 cup of water, then place the cheese and the brine together in a small bowl or plastic deli container and follow the recipe as written.

This Recipe Appears In

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
435 Calories
27g Fat
42g Carbs
8g Protein
×
Nutrition Facts
Servings: 6
Amount per serving
Calories 435
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 27g 35%
Saturated Fat 10g 51%
Cholesterol 21mg 7%
Sodium 663mg 29%
Total Carbohydrate 42g 15%
Dietary Fiber 4g 14%
Total Sugars 6g
Protein 8g
Vitamin C 22mg 112%
Calcium 152mg 12%
Iron 2mg 11%
Potassium 454mg 10%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)