Sunny Anderson’s Heirloom Tomato and Pesto Tart Celebrates the Flavors of Spring
Food Network star Sunny Anderson’s Heirloom Tomato and Pesto Tart bursts with the freshness of the season.
This festive and colorful dish is an irresistible way to welcome the warmer weather.
Anderson’s Heirloom Tomato Tart is a ‘favorite’ dish of hers
Robust in flavor, heirloom tomatoes are the obvious star of Anderson’s dish. In addition to these vibrant tomatoes, this tart also needs premade pie crusts and olive oil. The pesto portion calls for fresh parsley, basil, and thyme leaves, garlic cloves, grated Parmesan cheese, almond slivers, and lemon zest and juice.
Anderson, in the Food Network video, below, for this recipe shared that this tart is her “most favorite summer dish. It’s good cold, warm, or hot. It’s so simple; it’s great for having guests over.”
Sunny Anderson’s tart comes together quickly
The co-host of The Kitchen starts off with the pesto in this recipe: the herbs are placed in a food processor, explaining that “I like to cut it with some parsley because you know sometimes basil’s a little bit expensive and parsley does the trick.”
Another more affordable swap Anderson makes in this recipe is using slivered almonds, also placed into the processor, instead of pine nuts. The garlic, lemon juice, zest, Parmesan, and ground pepper are added to the processor as well, and it’s all blended.
Anderson’s recipe is for two tarts and both need to be par-baked so that the crust’s bottom crisps up before the pesto filling is added. Place greased foil, oily-side down on the crusts, then add pie weights or dry beans to the raw crust and bake in a 425-degree oven for about 15 minutes. Remove the beans and tin foil and bake for about another 10 minutes, until it’s cooked completely through.
Pour half of the pesto sauce into each crust and then “shingle around” the sliced heirloom tomatoes. The filled pie crusts are placed into the oven, with an adjusted temperature of 375 degrees, for about 45 minutes.
The chef says to add grated Parmesan cheese “right when it comes out, when it’s nice and warm.”
Get the complete recipe, video, and reviews on Food Network’s site.
Reviewers loved this tomato tart’s fresh bite
Between the fresh herbs, glorious tomatoes, crisp pastry crust, and the bright garlic zing, every bite of this dish is a delight. And Food Network reviewers overall agreed.
“I just made this for dinner and it couldn’t be better. So delicious all the ingredients compliment [sic] each other, thank you for a fun easy recipe that’s delicious!,” one home cook wrote.
Another reviewer liked Anderson’s recipe so much, they made it twice: “I baked this tart early this morning to take to a swim party this afternoon. … I have to buy more ingredients because I’m making this for a dinner appetizer tomorrow night with friends!!! A real keeper!”
