Whole30 Tomato Tart (Paleo, Grain Free)

This Whole30 Tomato Tart features a creamy base made from parsnips and coconut cream, paired with a thick homemade tomato sauce and finished with fresh tomatoes, shallots and garlic. The perfect light Whole30 dinner, lunch, or brunch recipe!

This Whole30 Tomato Tart has got summer fun written all over it! A huge ‘Thank You’ to my guest Megan from Eat Beautiful. For those of you, who don’t know her: She’s a successful Recipe Consultant and, like, the queen of paleo baking. Seriously, if you want to learn more about grain-free and sugar-free baking, she’s a great resource!  Besides baking techniques, Megan’s blog Eat Beautiful is all about whole foods that help to heal or maintain optimum health. – Cheryl 

A savory base made from creamy parsnips envelops a thick homemade tomato sauce, one that reminds me of summer gardens and eating outside. The tart is finished with fresh tomatoes and baked, then topped with sautéed shallots and garlic, and garnished with everyone’s favorite summer bouquet: basil. This Whole30 tart will have you blessing your diet and the relaxed times that a savory tart inspires.

Why does anyone bother making homemade tomato sauce anymore, when so many store-bought varieties abound — that are faster and sometimes cheaper? A single foray into making the sauce in this tart will tell you. Nothing compares. It’s not hard to sauté onions and use beautiful tomatoes: A small initial effort yields a cooking and eating experience that will remind you of the value (and even the fun) that comes with home cooking. And … don’t be surprised if your house smells like the best French or Italian restaurant while this dish cooks.

Many years ago, when I was a girl, my mom took me to a French restaurant in San Diego. It wasn’t a special one-time occasion; rather, repeatedly she brought my sister and me, as a matter of pleasure. The shop was authentic with pâtés, and pungent with baguettes; the tables were crowded with tête-à-têtes, and two girls with blond hair had their noses close to the glass cases to decide what they wanted to order: pea salad with cheddar and cashews, goose liver pâté, brie with grapes, tomato tart.

For all the things the French are, they are not excessive when simple will do. Simple dishes done richly and well is the cuisine’s potent appeal. Just so, the tomato tart was not something I ordered often as a girl (I LOVED and usually ordered the duck pâté), but it was something I started making years later when we owned the Piret’s cookbook and I was a new wife with simple needs. I would make the tart for outdoor, summer meals. Lovely, affordable, perfect.

That lovely tomato tart is the inspiration for this one. While that tart used, not surprisingly, a pastry crust and béchamel sauce, this tart is wholeheartedly Whole30, and instead graces our table with the nutty, starchy, creaminess of parsnips and coconut cream. It’s every bit as beautiful, and I assure you, magically delicious. Perhaps you’ll make memories of your own with this recipe.

LOVE savory Whole30 pies? Me too. Also, try THIS Whole30 Crustless Quiche. Spiced with za’atar, crusted with sesame seeds and spotted with brined olives, this Mediterranean dinner will have everyone lining up…

Now that we know each other a little, I hope you’ll also find a few of my other FAVORITE Whole30 recipes: I make THIS amazing zoodle Pad Thai that I know you’ll love! It’s egg-free and peanut-free, it’s SUPER fresh and pretty, and it comes together quickly!

Also, don’t miss THIS 15-minute Asian Beef Bowl! xo and thanks for sharing some time, memories and recipes with me!

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Whole30 Tomato Tart

This Whole30 Tomato Tart features a creamy base made from parsnips and coconut cream, paired with a thick homemade tomato sauce and finished with fresh tomatoes, shallots and garlic. The perfect light Whole30 lunch or brunch recipe!

Course Appetizer, Brunch, Lunch

Cuisine Mediterranean, vegetarian, Whole30

Keyword brunch, easy, summer, tart, tomatoes, whole30

Prep Time 50 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes

Servings 12 pieces

Calories 223 kcal

Ingredients

Filling Ingredients

• 3 sweet onions diced (about 2-1/2 cups)
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 fresh tomatoes seeded and diced (about 1-1/2 cups, no juices) + 1-2 additional tomatoes (depending on their size), sliced
• 1 18.3- ounce jar crushed tomatoes Jovial brand preferred
• 1/4 cup tomato paste Jovial brand preferred
• 1 clove garlic minced or crushed
• 1-1/2 teaspoons dried basil
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon Celtic sea salt
• 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Soft Custard Base “Pastry Shell” — I promise; this isn’t SWYPO! 😉 But it’s darn good!

• 2-1/2 cups parsnip puree warm (from about 3 pounds parsnips, peeled and well-cooked [boil or steam until fork-tender/very soft, puree in blender or food processor, then measure])
• 1/2 cup coconut cream room temperature (from full-fat canned coconut milk, scooped and measured from the upper half of the can)
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 teaspoon Celtic sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• Optional garnishes: sautéed shallots sautéed garlic slices and fresh basil

Instructions

1. In large saucepan, over medium-high heat, sauté onion in olive oil until soft, about 15 minutes, stirring every few minutes.
2. Add the fresh tomatoes, jarred tomatoes, tomato paste, garlic, basil, thyme, sea salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 15-20 minutes, uncovered, until the liquid is almost evaporated. Stir occasionally.
3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a pie plate. Set aside.
4. In large bowl or blender, beat together warm parsnip puree, coconut cream, eggs, sea salt and pepper. Combine until mixed thoroughly. It will be thick and smooth.
5. Pour puree into greased pie plate. Use a spatula to distribute the puree, so it’s slightly concave, and higher around the edges.
6. Ladle the tomato sauce around the center, spreading it to within an inch or so of the edge, so the parsnips create a border.
7. Fan tomato slices around the center of the pie, decoratively overlapping them.
8. Bake in preheated oven 30 minutes.
9. Remove from oven. Optionally garnish with sautéed shallots, garlic and fresh basil.
10. Serve!

Recipe Notes

Here’s why I use Celtic sea salt, instead of Himalayan.