Tomatoes are among the most plentiful vegetables at farmers markets in Alabama each summer. I recently shared at a demo at the Market at Pepper Place the popular tomato tart recipe I serve at Ashley Mac’s cafés and catering locations throughout the Birmingham area.

A post shared by Ashley Mac’s (@ashleymacs) on Jul 5, 2018 at 6:38am PDT

Ingredients:

2 medium-sized tomatoes, sliced ¼ inch thick

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup caramelized onions, chopped

1 sheet puff pastry

Flour for dusting

6 tablespoons white bread crumbs, fine

2/3 cup mozzarella, shredded

2/3 cup Parmesan, shredded

3 tablespoons mayonnaise

1½ teaspoons thyme, fresh minced

1½ teaspoons parsley, fresh minced

1½ teaspoons green onion, thinly sliced

½ teaspoon salt

1 egg, whisked, for egg wash

A post shared by Ashley Mac’s (@ashleymacs) on Jun 27, 2018 at 5:23pm PDT

Instructions:

Lightly sprinkle tomato slices with salt and drain in a colander (about 15 minutes). Dab dry with paper towel afterwards. Combine onions, bread crumbs, mozzarella, Parmesan, mayonnaise, thyme, parsley, green onion and 1½ teaspoons of salt in a bowl.

Generously dust table with flour and dust each side of puff pastry with flour. Roll out pastry to a 10-inch square. Spray and lightly flour a parchment-lined sheet pan, and place the pastry square on the pan. Brush pastry lightly with egg wash, making sure to go all the way to the edges. Put the filling on the pastry square and spread to ½ inch from the edge. Make four rows of four tomato slices, slightly overlapping each other. Crimp edges slightly with finger.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes, rotate and cook another 10 minutes. Garnish with a pinch of parsley and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. Slice and serve immediately.

For breadcrumbs: Use white and/or wheat bread. Place in food processor and blend until a fine, sandy texture is achieved.

For caramelized onion: Dice onion and sauté in a tablespoon of olive oil over low heat until onions are soft and caramel in color (this will take some time, stirring regularly). Two large onions will reduce to about two cups.