Caramelized Tomato Tarte Tatin
Updated July 23, 2024

- Total Time
- 1 hour 15 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 114-ounce package all-butter puff pastry
- 2tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3red onions, halved and thinly sliced
- ¼cup plus a pinch of sugar
- ½teaspoon sherry vinegar
- ¼cup chopped pitted Kalamata olives
- 1½pints (about 1 pound) cherry or grape tomatoes; a mix of colors is nice
- 1tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
- Kosher salt, to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Preparation
- Step 1
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Unfold puff pastry sheet and cut into a 10-inch round; chill, covered, until ready to use.
- Step 2
Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and a pinch of sugar and cook, stirring, until onions are golden and caramelized, 15 to 20 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons water and let cook off, scraping brown bits from bottom of pan. Transfer onions to a bowl.
- Step 3
In a clean, ovenproof 9-inch skillet, combine ¼ cup sugar and 3 tablespoons water. Cook over medium heat, swirling pan gently (do not stir) until sugar melts and turns amber, 5 to 10 minutes. Add vinegar and swirl gently.
- Step 4
Sprinkle olives over caramel. Scatter tomatoes over olives, then sprinkle onions on. Season with thyme leaves, salt and pepper. Top with puff pastry round, tucking edges into pan. Cut several long vents in top of pastry.
- Step 5
Bake tart until crust is puffed and golden, about 30 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes, then run a knife around pastry to loosen it from pan, and flip tart out onto a serving platter. Cut into wedges and serve immediately.
Private Notes
Comments
I've made a bunch of variations of this - basil and garlic instead of onions and olives, pie crust instead of puff pastry, individual versions for a dinner party, etc. all excellent. I mostly use roma tomatoes, since they aren't as wet.If you think it's going to be really too wet, sprinkle a handful of instant/quick couscous over the top before you put the pastry on top. They'll soak up some of the water and you'll never notice them otherwise.
This is a delicious recipe, which I've made several times, perfect for a block party or end of summer gathering. I salt the tomatoes lightly, then drain them on a paper towel for an hour before adding them.
Made this last two nights. Used only 1 large red onion (2+ cups/9 oz) thinly sliced. Roasted cherry tomatoes in toaster oven 5 min at 400 degrees until first popped. Then pierced remainder of tomatoes to let moisture out. Used only 2 T sugar and 1T balsamic vinegar. Used my 80 year old 10" cast iron pan. Pie crust is fine but puff-pastry is glorious. Easy flip and magnificent presentation. Is now a home staple. Ciao
I’ve made this a bunch of times, and used many tips offered here to reduce the wetness of the tomatoes: I used Roma tomatoes instead of cherry (more dense, less moisture), de-seed and salt them, roast them, then sprinkle couscous on top before placing the puff pastry on top. Came out great. Finally!
I followed some of the commenting suggestions, like cutting the sugar and pre-roasting the tomatoes to reduce liquid...and it still came out soggy and overly sweet. Uggh.
It was much too sweet and quite wet. Given that it took me 1.5 hours, I probably won’t make it again using modifications others have suggested.
