An Easy, Beautiful Tomato Tart to Make All Summer Long

The New York-based chef Yann Nury, 40, realizes that, these days, tomatoes are almost seasonless. “You could have them year-round now that they’re growing great ones in greenhouses,” he says. Still, he insists, there’s nothing that compares to the bright, tangy-sweet taste of the fruit at its peak. His favorite way to enjoy it: “Wait until July or August,” he says, “then make a tomato tart and have it eight times in two months.”

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T’s 2024 Summer Entertaining Issue is a guide to celebrating the season in less expected ways, featuring recipes and ideas from hosts with styles all their own.

– How a Death Doula Throws a Dinner Party: At the Baroque guesthouse she runs in Portugal, Rebecca Illing hosted old friends for a meal suffused with nostalgia.

– Lazy Susans Make Meals More Fun: Long overlooked as throwback novelties, spinning trays are making a comeback.

– An Easy, Beautiful Tomato Tart to Make All Summer Long: The chef Yann Nury updated his childhood favorite with cherry tomatoes and an olive oil crust.

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Nury’s version of the dish — cherry tomatoes nestled tightly in an olive-oil-based crust — was inspired, in part, by the one his mother made when he was growing up in the Ardèche region of southeast France. “It was a quick thing with store-bought puff pastry,” he says. “But it had mustard in it, which I really loved.” To mimic what he calls the “intensity and savoriness” of his childhood favorite, he adds a tablespoon of Dijon to a purée of roasted tomatoes, which he layers over the dough before topping it with fresh cherry tomatoes. This coulis can be cooked a day in advance, he says, and the recipe“will make enough for you to have a little bowl to serve alongside the tart.” (It’s also delicious spread on bread or mixed into pasta pomodoro.) For the crust, Nury uses olive oil — which makes for a supple dough with a vegetal richness — because he finds the traditional butter too sweet in combination with the almost sugary tomatoes. To get the abundant look of his tart, “really press the tomatoes into the pastry and into one another, sothey fill the tart case even when they cook and shrink,” he says. The finished product is best served warm alongside “crisp lettuces dressed in a light vinaigrette, grilled meat and a chilled red wine or a really good rosé,” he advises. Eat outside if at all possible.

Yann Nury’s Cherry Tomato Tart

Makes one 12-inch tart

Ingredients

• 3 pounds cherry tomatoes

• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

• 1 red onion

• Dried oregano to taste

For the crust

• 350 grams all-purpose flour

• 100 grams warm water

• 100 grams olive oil

• 12 grams dry instant yeast (or 24 grams fresh yeast)

• 10 grams salt