Bacon, Leek, Cheese Phyllo Tarts; cherry tomato sauce

I planted my tomato seeds last week.

I have 16 little pots of red, white, yellow, green and orange tomatoes. I wasn’t able to find all of my favorites at the garden stores last year, thus the seeds.

Of the 16 plants: 3 are Roma meant for cooking and freezing, and 2 are cherry tomatoes.

I have a bit of a love / hate relationship with cherry tomatoes.

Well, actually, it’s more of a love / meh relationship and this sauce has eliminated even that.

My problem is that I am impatient for garden tomatoes. Cherry tomatoes are ready a few weeks before the big ones.

So I plant cherry tomatoes and thoroughly enjoy them every day until the full size tomatoes are ripe.

Then I don’t want them.

Of course this is also the time that the cherry tomato production goes into overdrive so I have baskets and baskets of them.

Thankfully, I found this sauce recipe.

More after the recipe…..

Click here to Pin Bacon, Leek, Cheese Phyllo Tarts

Bacon, Leek, Cheese Phyllo Tarts

Print Recipe

With 12 sheets of phyllo in a package I always am searching for ways to use it up…. These were good.
You can re-freeze phyllo, also.

• Author: Katie Zeller
• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 15 minutes
• Total Time: 30 minutes
• Yield: 2 servings 1x
• Category: First Course

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 2 sheets phyllo dough
• 2oz (60gr) bacon, chopped
• 1 leek, trimmed, sliced
• 2oz (60gr) cheese (I used Munster), sliced into 4 pieces
• olive oil
• 1/2 cup (4oz, 120ml) tomato sauce, either regular of Cherry Tomato

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Instructions

• Heat 2 tsp olive oil in a medium skillet.
• Add bacon, leeks and sauté until both are starting to brown. Remove from heat.
• Remove 1 sheet of pastry and re-wrap the rest.  It’s important to keep phyllo covered at all times or it will dry out very quickly.
• Lay the sheet out flat and lightly brush all over with olive oil.
• Cut sheet in half the long way.
• Take one corner of a half sheet and lightly fold it so that the corner touches the opposite side.  Do not actually make the fold.  We just want to determine the placement of the filling.  It will form a triangle.
• Unfold it and place one fourth of the bacon / leek mix on the half of the triangle that will be the ‘bottom’. Top with 1/4 of the cheese.
• Now make the fold, taking the corner to the opposite side.  Continue to fold over and over, maintaining the triangle, like a flag.
• Brush the top and bottom with olive oil and place on a baking sheet.
• Repeat with the remaining phyllo and filling, making 4 tarts in all.
• Bake at 400F (200C) for 15 minutes, until golden brown.
• While tarts bake gently heat tomato sauce.
• To serve: Divide the tomato sauce in half and put into small bowls or on small plates.  Add two tarts to each plate and serve.

Notes

Cherry Tomato Sauce: Cut 20oz (600gr) cherry tomatoes in half. Melt 3 tbs butter in a large skillet. Add tomatoes and fry until well-cooked, 15 – 20 minutes. They should be thick but not dry. Purée in a blender until smooth. Use within a few days or freeze.

Keywords: bacon tart, leeks

Obviously, if I have baskets full of beautiful cherry tomatoes I have to do something with them, right?

I tried freezing them whole. They were easy to freeze but too fussy to thaw and use when I had bags full of peeled, chopped Romas right next to them.

I tried using them in regular soups and sauces but for some reason the skins of cherry tomatoes don’t purée well and turn into sharp needles when the sauce is frozen.

Unless you cook them down to mush.

I found this recipe online last year and loved it. I made lots of batches of cherry tomato sauce. The one in the photo was mostly yellow tomatoes – thus the color.

The instructions are at then end of the recipe. It doesn’t have to be precise but this worked for me and my skillet, keeping the tomatoes almost in a single layer. 600gr tomatoes yielded about  350gr of sauce. As you can see – it is quite thick.

I thought I would pass this on in case you have the same love / meh relationship and are debating with yourself as to whether or not you should plant cherry tomatoes.

Until last summer I used to take baskets full to our friend in Spain when we went in July. Cherry tomatoes were his favorite.