Tart Andalouse-sort of

Go ahead, have a big slice...
The filling cooking before adding rice...


Gulliver the tomato...
...and adding the rice to the mixture.



The tart should have been in puff pastry, but it is far too warm here to make any. Traditionally it would have included both celery and red peppers-certainly not radicchio. Eh, whatever ;)

There is but one small slice left of this tart for some lucky person's lunch tomorrow-it was that good. I used Gulliver the tomato for the topping, which only gets a few minutes in the oven-delicious. I knew that tomato would be special and by golly, it was. The other tomatoes cooked in the dish were pretty delicious as well. I suppose you could make this with store bought tomatoes, but I wouldn't use tinned-not for this.

I know rice in a tart sounds like carb overkill, but trust me on this, you will enjoy it. The filling is otherwise light (no cheese or eggs) and it is just so full of flavour. Really, try to make it at least once while the good tomatoes are in season.

For the tart shell:

1 cup AP flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 ounces cream cheese
4 ounces unsalted butter cut-up

Sift together the flour and salt. Cut in the cream cheese and butter and knead lightly. Roll out and fit into a pie plate. Chill at least an hour and set in the freezer half an hour before baking.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line pastry with foil, weight and bake about 15-20 minutes or until almost dry. Remove foil, prick with a fork and continue baking until lightly browned. Don't overbake it like an idiot-I am an idiot. I always overbake when I blind bake. Don't be like me.

Let cool before filling.

For the filling:

1 large onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 large tomatoes, seeded and chopped-reserve a few slices for the top
1 cup finely chopped parsley
1 cup finely chopped radicchio
Salt/pepper
1/2 cup cooked jasmine rice
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon capers, rinsed
12 black olives, halved

Cook the rice and set aside. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Cook the onions in butter and olive oil over low heat until soft but not browned-about 10 minutes. Add tomatoes, parsley and radicchio. Season with salt and pepper and add thyme. Cook until liquid evaporates-about another ten minutes-you can increase the heat if it is not cooking off fast enough. Add the rice and mix well. Pour into tart shell and top with capers, olives and tomato slices. Bake about ten minutes or until tomato just starts to wilt. Serve hot.