Make this easy heirloom tomato galette with a buttery, flaky crust and cheesy filling to celebrate the very best of the summers fresh tomato bounty! Make a homemade dough or use store-bought for an even easier and quicker prep.
Heirloom tomatoes come in all different colors, shapes, and sizes. We’re in peak tomato season which is exactly the very best time to play with rainbow tomatoes! To find all sorts of heirloom tomato variations, skip the grocery store and head to your local farmers market (or get a CSA box delivered). Though making this tart with only one tomato color/variety works too!
Why this Heirloom Tomato Galette Recipe Works
- Salting the tomatoes before baking! Simply salting the tomatoes for 15min draws out their juices (and concentrates their flavor) so we don’t end up with a soggy crust!
- All the flavors! Sweet, tart and savory tomatoes are paired with buttery, flaky dough and a creamy cheese filling creating a deliciously rustic, free-form galette!
- Rainbow tomatoes! Up your presentation game with rainbow tomatoes and create a showstopping ombre tomato galette! (optional)
Rainbow Tomatoes
They are more than 15,000 known varieties of tomatoes (WHOA!). Heirloom tomatoes really DO come in every color of the rainbow! They range in flavor for mild to sweet to tangy and even smoky, with varying degrees of acidity.
When the colors of the rainbow are creating by combining different tomatoes, we’re referring to those tomatoes as rainbow tomatoes! They are not a variety of tomato.
Like this!
In Cali, tomatoes begin to make an appearance at the farmers market in June and generally stay throughout September.
Beautiful and tasty heirloom varieties chosen for a rainbow of colors and range of flavors from mild to sweet to tangy. The mix is composed equally of Bonny Best (red), Brandywine Pink (pink), Golden Sunburst (yellow), Black Krim (purple), Evergreen (green) and Djena Lee's Golden Girl (orange).
If you’re not sure who’s growing tomatoes in your area, let me know where you’re located below, and we’ll happily do some heirloom tomato research for you!
Let’s celebrate colorful fruit and rainbow produce! Cause sweet, tart, and extremely juicy tomatoes are one of the best parts of summer!
How to Make this Galette
- Plan ahead if making homemade dough so it has time to chill. Dough can quickly and easily come together in the food processor. Otherwise, use store bought dough and just thaw it out.
- Salt tomatoes
- Make cheese filling
- Roll dough out. Briefly re-chill after rolling.
- Assemble galette – cheese layer followed by arranging the tomatoes in any which way you’d like
- Brush egg wash over dough and sprinkle with parmesan.
- Bake galette in the oven
- Drizzle tomatoes with olive oil and top with fresh herbs, flaky sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper.
*We vote for celebrating summer by arranging galette with rainbow tomatoes!
Please enjoy these process pics for easy cooking!
Serve this galette for brunch or snack or appetizer or a light meal paired with some greens or other seasonal produce. If you need an excuse to eat tomatoes and cheese for dinner – this galette is your answer!
Heirloom Tomato Galette Variations
There’s a couple of ways to play with variations.
- The dough – can use homemade or store-bought pie dough or use puff pastry and turn this into a tomato tart. If making homemade dough, it’s possible to play around with your dough ingredients (swap cheddar for other cheese like parmesan or goat or incorporate cornmeal or other flours or spices).
- The cheese filling. This recipe calls for mascarpone, but goat cheese, cream cheese, whipped feta and ricotta work as well (if using ricotta drain to eliminate as much excess moisture as possible because we don’t want a soggy crust).
Cooks Tips
- When possible, buy local and organic heirloom tomatoes. Find out who’s growing them locally in your area!
- For the flakiest most delicate crust possible, start with very cold butter.
- Plan ahead! Homemade dough must chill for at least 30 min (and up to 2 days) before rolling out. Dough can be frozen for up to 3 months. Re-chill the dough after rolling out, right before assembly.
- Salt the tomatoes to release their liquid and prevent a soggy crust.
- Tomato galette taste best served warm.
- Embrace galettes inner chill on don’t worry about perfection when assembling.
Stoked on summer tomatoes! I am too!
Check out our Tomato Confit, Tomato, Strawberry & Watermelon Gazpacho, Baked Feta with Tomatoes, Pasta with Cherry Tomatoes & Burrata, Tomato Puff Pastry Tart, Chicken with Tomatoes, and learn all about Rainbow Tomatoes here!
Have ya tried any of these cooked fruit recipes? I’d love to hear about it and see it too! Please leave a comment below and take a pic and tag it on Instagram with #chefdanielagerson. You can also follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest to see more colorfully delicious food and all sorts of awesome adventures!
Let’s make waves in the kitchen!
Notes: Rainbow tomato bounty is from SF ferry building farmers market, Santa Monica farmers market, and The Hungry Gardens.
Heirloom Tomato Galette
Ingredients
For the Galette Dough
- 1 ¼ cup of all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- black pepper
- 1 cup cheddar cheese shredded
- 1 egg beaten
- 8 tablespoons butter (1 stick), cold and cut into cubes
For the Heirloom Tomato Filling
- 1.5 pounds of heirloom tomatoes different colors, thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 8 ounces of mascarpone room temperature
- 1 garlic clove minced
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice from 1 lemon
- ½ teaspoon of salt
- 1 egg + 1 tablespoon of water
- ½ cup of parmesan
- 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
- Freshly cracked black pepper
- Flaky sea salt
- Fresh herbs for garnish optional
Instructions
For the Dough
- To make the galette dough: combine the flour, salt and pepper in the bowl of a food processor. Give it a few quick pulses to blend the ingredients together. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the cheese and drizzle the egg and pulse until a ball just begins to come together.
- Form dough into a disk, wrap in plastic and chill until firm, at least 30 minutes.
For the Heirloom Tomato Galette
- Pre-heat oven to 400 F.
- To prep the tomatoes: toss the slices with a teaspoon of kosher salt and spread them on a clean dish towel or parchment lined baking sheet and let sit for at least 15 minutes. Pay them dry with paper or dish towels.
- To make the mascarpone cheese filling: combine mascarpone, garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper in the bowl of a food processor and mix until it’s all combined and smooth.
- To roll out the dough: do it on a well-floured surface. Transfer dough to parchment paper lined baking sheet/tray (so that you are assembling the galette directly on what it will be baked on). Chill in freezer for 10 minutes.
- To assemble the galette: spread the mascarpone mixture on the dough, leaving a 1-2’ border. Pile the tomatoes on top of the mascarpone. Fold the edges of the galette dough over the tomatoes. Brush the sides of the galette with the egg wash and sprinkle with the parmesan cheese. Drizzle tomatoes with olive oil, freshly cracked black pepper and flaky sea salt.
- Transfer galette to oven and bake for 35-45 minutes, until the crust is golden brown, and tomatoes are starting to burst.
- Top with basil and serve warm.
Notes
- When possible, buy local and organic heirloom tomatoes. Find out who’s growing them locally in your area!
- For the flakiest most delicate crust possible, start with very cold butter.
- Plan ahead! Homemade dough must chill for at least 30 min (and up to 2 days) before rolling out. Dough can be frozen for up to 3 months. Re-chill the dough after rolling out, right before assembly.
- Salt the tomatoes to release their liquid and prevent a soggy crust.
- Tomato galette taste best served warm.
- Embrace galettes inner chill on don’t worry about perfection when assembling.
Beautiful and colorful compositions for an amazing delicious galette, thanks chefdanielagerson. Can’t wait to make it.
xoxo
Absolute pleasure!!! You are too cute! I hope I can make this for you soon :). How amazing are all the rainbow tomatoes :)?
This galette is fabulous! I love all those beautiful colors, and it was so simple to prepare. I'll definitely enjoy this all throughout heirloom tomato season!
Yayyyyy!!! Thats like sweet music to my ears! Thank you so much Amanda for the feedback! Galettes are awesomely simple to make and its so fun to top it with all the colors of the rainbow! Am loving the heirloom tomato bounty in season :).
What a gorgeous post and wonderful recipe! Fresh, perfect tomatoes are one of my favorite parts of summer. Here in Ohio, the season is fleeting and such a treasure! I've grown some of the varieties you mention - like Black Beauty and Sungold (one of my favorites!). But so many others I'd never even hear of - like Thorbutn Terra Cotta, White Tomesol, Blue Cream Berries, and those darling Sweet Pea Current Tomatoes! So inspiring!! Thank you for this lovely post!
Absolute pleasure!!! And thats so rad that you grown your own tomatoes! Joni from the Hungry Gardens grew lots of those tomatoes and told me what all the varieties are! I'm so stoked to have inspired you and you are definitely inspiring by growing your own food :-):):)!!!
I loved using my tomatoes for this recipe! So easy and perfect for brunch! 🙂
You just have to try the recipe after these amazing photos! Great tips and fantastic galette!
Thank ya and I hope you do!!! Galettes really are so easy to make and the heirloom tomatoes at the farmers markets are so colorful in the summer :)!
Wow. when you have so many beautiful tomatoes, this is the perfect way to showcase them.
Yessss!!! The farmers markets are filled with such amazingly colorful rainbow tomato bounty! All the heirlooms in all the colors - I love it :)!
Your photography is stunning! You've capture the beauty of the season with this fabulous galette! Those juicy tomatoes are calling to me...looks SO good!
You are too kind Tammy! The tomatoes are so stunning and such a pleasure to photograph! I cant believe all the fabulous colors of the heirloom tomatoes in season! Thank so much for the super sweet feedback :).
Your heirloom tomatoes are picture perfect. What gorgeous colors and featuring them in a galette certainly shows off their beauty. The galette would be ideal for a luncheon I'm hosting next week. Now to find those tomatoes. I've pinned the recipe so I don't lose it.
Wooohoooo's so super stoked to read your feedback Marisa! Thank ya so much! It's so amazing how heirloom tomatoes really do come in every single color of the rainbow :)! Hope it turned out fab for your luncheon :)!
We loved this savory and cheesy tomato Galette. Your heirloom tomatoes were beautiful , I couldn't find all of the colors you had but still delicious. The crust is so buttery and flaky, I couldn't stop eating it. This whole meal just tasted of summer, SO GOOD!!
Love and appreciate your sweet feedback Debbie - thank ya! And it tastes just as good if the tomatoes aren't in every single color of the rainbow like I managed to get :). I'm so happy to hear you enjoyed it :)!
What a gorgeous galette! And the basket with all the heirloom tomatoes is stunning!! This is the epitome of summer!
Thank ya so much! It's so amazing how heirloom tomatoes really do come in every color of the rainbow and agreed that they're the epitome of summer (along with berries and stone fruit :))., Really appreciate the sweet feedback!