September is here, which means tomato season is going to quickly come to a close.
You’ve probably only got a couple more weeks to relish the heirlooms, and if you’ve satiated the need to eat them straight up (a little olive oil and sea salt, perhaps some basil), then you can move on to a different preparation. It’s a perfect farewell. Until next year, of course.
You may have heard of a tarte tatin—the famous caramelized French apple dessert—which is made by placing butter, sugar, and apples in a baking dish and then adding the crust on top. After baking, the whole thing is flipped, and you end up with an upside-down cake, which is really more of a pie. Definitions are not important here. It’s delicious. 
I attempted a tarte tatin a couple Thanksgiving’s ago but accidentally used too shallow of a dish and ended up with caramelized apples oozing out the top crust and dripping. Burnt sugar on the bottom of a oven when you still have stuffing, potatoes, and a damn turkey to cook qualifies as a Thanksgiving emergency, but we managed to get it cleaned up before any real disaster struck. 
Anyways, let’s bring this back to tomatoes. Something really magical happens to tomatoes when you cook them slowly in the oven. The flavors intensify, the texture softens, and you end up with almost a caramelized situation. Instead of butter and sugar for the tatin, I used olive oil and salt. I added onions and Parmesan cheese to give the tatin some layers, and then topped it all with a simple crust.
Flipping the tatin once it is baked is always a nerve-wrecking procedure, and I lost a little bit of crust to the side of the baking dish. But regardless, the tatin came out beautiful and colorful, with so much flavor.
Top with a little basil and balsamic reduction, and you’ve got the perfect farewell to summer. 
- 1¼ cup all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- ½ cup cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
- 1 egg, whisked
- 1 teaspoon ice cold water
- 2¼ pounds heirloom tomatoes
- Olive oil
- Kosher salt
- 1 large sweet onion, sliced thin
- 1 cup Parmesan, shredded
- 2 tablespoons basil, chopped (optional)
- balsamic reduction (optional)
- 1¼ cup all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- ½ cup cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
- 1 egg, whisked
- 1 teaspoon ice cold water
- In a large bowl, mix together flour and salt. Using your fingers, work butter into the flour until pea-sized clumps form. Add in egg and mix until combined. If mixture is too dry, add ½ a teaspoon of ice cold water until dough comes together.
- Form dough into a ball, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Cut tomatoes in half, remove core, and scoop out seeds (reserve the tomato guts and make some salsa out of it!). Slice tomato into ½ inch pieces lengthwise and press to flatten slightly.
- Lightly coat the bottom of a 10 inch round baking dish with olive oil (you want just enough to make sure the tomatoes don't stick, but not so much that they're swimming in oil). Arrange tomatoes in a circle, skin side down, starting from the outside and working your way towards the center. Tomatoes should be close and even overlap, if possible. Season with salt. Bake for 30 minutes.
- In the meantime, heat ½ a tablespoon of olive oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add onions and cook until translucent. Turn down heat and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until onions start to brown. Remove from heat.
- When tomatoes are done cooking, remove from oven. Sprinkle cooked onions, then Parmesan cheese evenly on top. Remove dough from fridge and roll it out to fit a 10 inch round. Drape dough over the top of the tatin and tuck in edges. Prick top of dough with a fork all around to let out steam.
- Bake for 30-45 minutes, until dough is golden brown. Remove from oven, run a knife along the edges, and flip onto a large plate or serving dish.
- Top with basil and balsamic reduction. Let cool slightly before serving.
Beautiful!
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