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Classic French Tomato and Mustard Tart is a recipe that French people enjoy most in summer when tomatoes are in season.
At first, when you look at the list of ingredients, this Classic French Tomato and Mustard tart seems maybe too basic. However, it definitely has some tasty flavors on each bite.
What is its secret?
The condiment Dijon mustard with a little touch of onions, cooked with balsamic vinegar, deliciously enhances the tomatoes and pairs very well with the cheese. It is so good that one tart is not enough for all four of us. We want to eat more!
MORE IDEAS FOR SAVORY TART RECIPES YOU MIGHT LIKE:
- Sardines and Eggplant Tart
- Eggplant Tomato Mozzarella Tart
- French Leek Zucchini Ham Quiche
- Broccoli Prosciutto Boursin Quiche 🥦🥧
- Ratatouille and Anchovy Tart 🍅🍆🐟
- Pizza with Figs, Balsamic Onions, and Garlic Herb Cheese
Classic French Tomato and Mustard Tart
One of my favorite savory tarts full of flavors!
Ingredients
- 1 pâte brisée or puff pastry
- 3 large tomatoes cut into ⅛ slices
- 3 medium onions finely sliced
- 1 cup or more Parmesan, Pecorino Romano, Comté, Gruyère, Cantal, fromage de chèvre grated
- 2 tablespoon coarse Dijon mustard
- 1-2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon herbes de Provence ou oregano
- olive oil
- salt, pepper
Instructions
- Unroll the pie crust and precisely fit it in a tart pan (11 inches). Poke the dough all over with a fork. Then put the pie in the fridge.
- Preheat oven at 390F.
- On a cutting board, sliced the tomatoes (⅛ inches) and put them on a plate. Salt them lightly and set them aside. This step will help to remove some juice from the tomatoes so the crust will not be too soggy (*).
- In a skillet, on medium-low heat, add 1 tablespoon olive oil, add the onions with salt, pepper, herbes de Provence, and let them cook until soft. Add a splash (about 1-2 Tbsp) of balsamic vinegar and sugar. Cook until the onions absorb all the vinegar and there is no juice. Set aside.
- Take your tart pan from the fridge. Spread evenly Dijon Mustard all over the bottom in a fine layer. Sprinkle evenly grated cheese on top. Scatter ¾ of the onions on the cheese. Take each tomato slice by shaking them gently before placing them nicely on the tart.
- Add the ¼ left onions on the top and sprinkle more grated cheese if you want. Drizzle some olive oil.
- Cook for 25 - 30 minutes until the crust and the cheese are lightly golden.
- Enjoy this delicious tart with a green salad on the side!
Notes
(*) You can always add a few breadcrumbs or rolled oats before putting the tomatoes if you are afraid of the sogginess of the dough. It is good too!
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Christa Velbel
This was amazing!!! I opted for a store bought pie crust for ease. We used one large onion and that was abundant. Herbes de Provence really made it gorgeous; I didn’t see a quantity So I used about a level tablespoon. Merci for a fantastic weeknight dinner!
Francoise
Thank you very much Christa for your feedback! I am so happy that you enjoyed my recipe 🙂
Christa Velbel
Thank YOU for such a treat. We are keeping this as a regular In our kitchen—some vine-ripe tomatoes are in a bag on the counter for tomorrow’s brunch. I’m going to scoot around your page for some other recipes. Delicious!
Francoise
Thank you very much, Christa, that is so great to hear!
Gina
Thank you Francoise for your delicious recipe. My family loved it!
I made a couple of changes based on what I had at home.
I freeze my homegrown tomatoes and decided to use the melting bits of tomato and their liquid in your Pâte Brisée recipe instead of the ice water. I also blind baked the crust for about 5-10 minutes before filling.
I only had Asiago, so I grated about a cup and put all of it on top of the mustard layer. I didn’t have enough fresh tomatoes, so I cooked down some of the frozen ones and put them on top of the cheese. I was out of herbs de Provence, but I did have some fresh basil and Italian parsley, which I put on the tomatoes, then the caramelized onions, sans sugar and finally the two sliced fresh tomatoes on the top.
I felt like I was back in my grandmother’s kitchen and I thank you for helping me relive those memories.
Francoise
Thank you Gina! I am so glad that your family enjoyed my recipe and this reminded your time with your grandmother.
Elinor
Enjoyed a relaxing and very tasty Christmas Eve dinner, thanks to this easy recipe (I used a ready made pie crust). My sister-in-law gave me this recipe years ago, minus the onions. I particularly liked the added flavor and fullness of your extra addition. Great idea.
Francoise
Great! Thank you Elinor, for your feedback!
Elinor
Ooops, forgot to rate it with my comment above! Simply delicious 😋! I’ve already forwarded it on to 3 friends here in Germany!
Francoise
Thank you very much Elinor! It is kind of you!
Lucy
Can you make this ahead of time
Francoise
Hi Lucy, Yes you can make this tart in advance and reheat it in the oven at 350 F to your liking.
Brenda
Delicious! I had to use a regular pie crust, and used Maille creamy dijon ( not a fan of coarse mustard). Used mostly parm with a bit of leftover gruyere / swiss. Absolutely wonderful. Could eat this every day. Try it!
Francoise
Thank you so much, Brenda! So glad you enjoyed it.
Kathy
I rarely have comment on recipes as I’m always trying new things. However, after being served a delicious tomato and mustard tart by a dear friend in Lauzun (Lot-et-Garonne), i felt compelled to find a recipe. And yours was one of the few shown on google but was, frankly, an experience to savour. So delicious was your tart that I tonight made the leek and zucchini tart. And again, fabulous. I now want to try all your recipes. Thank you!
Francoise
Fantastic! Thank you so much Kathy for your enthousiast feedback 😊!!!
Cathy
This is bizarre… I am also a Cathy and live 15 mins south of Lauzun in the Lot et Garonne (in St Barthelemy)! I made this recipe tonight to bring to an informal soirée and it went down a storm! It was easy to prepare - I used ready made pâté feuilletée (puff pastry) and was absolutely delicious. I will certainly be making this again! (and again!)
Francoise
Indeed Kathy, strange coincidence. Thank you so much for your feedback!
Sue
Love love love this! We don’t get much choice in European cheeses down at the tip of Africa so I mixed medium strong blue cheese with mozzarella, and made the mustard layer with a heavy hand …it was fabulous. This is a keeper!
Francoise
Thank you so much, Sue! So glad you enjoyed my recipe with what you were able to find in your area.
primo
Made this last night and it was absolutely delicious. Thank you for the recipe. This is one of those (supposedly simple) dishes that benefits from using the very best ingredients and it shows!
Francoise
Thank you so much Primo!
Kristin Eoff
I tried this last night in honor of the Summer Olympics in Paris. We had a family watch party and had all French food. We all really liked this recipe. I couldn't find puff pastry in my grocery store, so I used refrigerated croissant dough from a tube instead, and it got a little soggy but still tasted great. I'll try this again! Thanks!
Francoise
That is great to hear, thank you so much Kristin!
I do not know where you live but if you cannot find puff pastry in your grocery store you can use a pie crust instead (such as Pillsbury). Next time you can try to add on the bottom some rolled oats or breadcrumbs as I suggested in the notes.
Blaire
I was in France a week ago and fell in love with tomato tart - I had to try it here. I found yours - Delicious - I am making it again (yes, within one week)! Thank you. Also, I am terrible at making crusts but your Pate Brisee recipe was amazing. Easy to make and really delicious.
Francoise
Thank you very much Blaire! So great to read this!
Pab
I followed the recipe to the letter with terrific results! Thank you for a great summer recipe.
Francoise
Thank you so much Pab! This recipe is my favorite.
CORINNE KAAS
I read all the reviews and decided to make ! My family and I included, did not like it at all. The crust was soggy and I added breadcrumbs to absorb. I added the salt to tomatoes and it didn’t help. Sorry for the review
Francoise
Hi, Corinne,
I'm sorry you had a bad experience with this recipe, which has generally received good reviews so far.
I don't know if you followed all the steps in my recipe, especially the one about the tomatoes, to ensure your dough wasn't too soggy (salt them lightly, leave them to rest on a plate so they release some juice, and shake them gently before placing them on the crust)?
J’aime la cuisine française
Amazing - will make this again for sure! The caramelized onions were a wonderful touch, especially with the balsamic. Merci Françoise!
Francoise
Thank you very much! Yes, I agree the touch of balsamic complements this tart.
Carmen
I would definitely make it again but with a few changes:
The shell definitely needs to be blind baked. I would wrap the edges in tin foil and bake the base first with nothing in it. I ended up baking it for over an hour, raising the temperature etc and the bottom of the tart was still raw. A blind bake would solve that.
The tomatoes also definitely needed to be patted dry with paper towels. Even with salt and shaking them, there was so much juice that the breadcrumbs got kind of overwhelmed and it was really soupy.
Flavor wise and ease though, this recipe was great!
Francoise
Hi, Carmen, Sorry that you had so much trouble with this recipe. It is not normal that it took so long to cook if you followed all the steps!?