recipe by Gilles Conchy | photography by Talitha Schroeder | intro by Donna Hecker
What can we say about Gilles Conchy? Gilles was our personal guide to Provence's unforgettable open-air markets. He was our most gracious host at his beautiful rural homestead, with an outdoor kitchen on a terrace overlooking the Luberon mountain range. And he was our exacting teacher at the prep tables on that terrace, demonstrating the proper way to trim herbs, or peel garlic, or press pastry into tart pans for these caramelized garlic tarts.
Ingredients
Makes 16-18 tarts in standard muffin tin
For the tart shell dough:
2 cups bread flour
½ tsp. salt
½ cup butter
½ cup olive oil
1 egg
For the Filling:
250g of fresh goat cheese (about 2 cups, can be cut with whole milk ricotta)
4 heads of garlic
3 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. fresh thyme
1 tsp. rosemary
½ cup water
2 eggs
1 cup heavy cream
1 tsp. salt
1 good pinch white pepper
Method
Detach and peel all the garlic cloves. Boil those for 3 minutes in water. Remove from the water and for 3 minutes, stir the cloves in a pan with ~2 Tbsp olive oil on a medium high heat.
Add the sugar, ½ cup of water, balsamic vinegar, thyme and rosemary
Mix and let all the liquid evaporate, cool to room temperature.
While reducing, make the dough: all the ingredients should be room temperature. Mix all the ingredients together. Divide evenly among muffin tins and press in the dough with your fingers to ¼” thickness. Bake for 25 minutes at 350F°.
To assemble the tarts:
Spread the bottom of each tart shell with about 1 ounce of goat cheese. Layer on some of the caramelized garlic.
Whisk the eggs and cream together with salt and white pepper. Pour 2 Tbsp. of the custard mix over the garlic.
Bake for another 15 minutes at 300 degrees. Garnish with a little thyme.
Remove out, spread a pinch of thyme and serve with a crunchy salad.
Related Content
The World on Your Plate
Have you ever wanted to bring the world home to dinner? Or wondered how to experience another country when you couldn’t actually go there? Here’s how we do it…
© 2026, Holly Hill Inn/Ilex Summit, LLC and its affiliates, All Rights Reserved
