Lovage, Tomato, and Cheese Tart

This tart is way tastier than it has any right to be! I don't understand it. There's nothing wrong with the ingredient list, but it didn't seem particularly inspiring either. No herbs, no spices (beyond black pepper), no Parmesan. There's some onion and garlic and Cheddar and things, but I wasn't confident that any of it would really shine. I put one or more kinds of cheese in almost every quiche I make -- onions and garlic are pretty common too -- but they don't all come out like this! They're usually tasty, sure, but not the addictive, rich, satisfying flavour-bomb that this one turned out to be. I am really impressed. I was already planning the modifications and improvements in my head while preparing it but, now that I've actually tried it, I don't think it needs any changes at all.

Loveage, Tomato, and Cheese Tart

Slightly adapted from the Book of Old Tarts by Elizabeth Hodder

Ingredients

• 175g Pastry
• 25g unsalted butter
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 onions, chopped
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh lovage (young leaves only)¹
• 3 large eggs
• 300mL heavy (35%) cream
• black pepper, to taste
• 4 ripe tomatoes, skinned, chopped, and juices drained²
• 115g old/sharp/mature Cheddar, grated

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F) and line a shallow 23cm (9") tart tin³ with the pastry.
2. Line the pie shell with parchment paper and fill with pie weights. Blind bake at 200°C (400°F) for 15 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, melt the butter with the olive oil over medium heat.
4. Add the onions and garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes.
5. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, for another 10-15 minutes.
6. Add the lovage and cook, uncovered, for 1 more minute. If using celery instead, cook for 5 more minutes.
7. Remove from heat and set aside.
8. Lightly beat the eggs.
9. Remove the parchemnt paper and pie weights from the pie shell and brush the pastry with beaten egg.
10. Return the pie shell to the oven and bake for another 5 minutes.
11. Mix the cream with the beaten eggs and season to taste with pepper.
12. Once the pie shell is fully baked, remove from oven and reduce oven temperature to 190°C (375°F).
13. Sprinkle ~1/2 of the cheese over the bottom of the pie shell.
14. Add the onion mixture in an even layer on top of the cheese.
15. Add an even layer of chopped tomatoes over the onion.
16. Pour in the custard, being careful not to overflow the pie shell.
17. Top with remaining cheese.
18. Bake at 190°C (375°F) for 30 minutes.
19. Serve warm.

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¹ If you don't have access to fresh lovage, you may use celery instead. (This is, incidentally, what I did.) Celery has a much milder flavour than lovage, so you'll need a lot more of it. Use 3-4 stalks of minced celery to replace the lovage. ^Back
2 I didn't have any fresh tomatoes on hand, so I used fire-roasted tinned diced tomatoes with the juices drained. I didn't measure the amount. I think I probably used ~300mL of tomatoes. ^Back
3 I used a shallow 23cm tart tin as directed but found that there wasn't enough room for all the custard. I had a scant cup left over. I would recommend either using a deep dish 23cm pie plate or scaling back the custard slightly. Maybe just two eggs and 200mL of cream. ^Back