Tomato Week: Tomato Tart

I combined different recipes to come up with this tomato tart and I have to tell you - I'm in love (if one can be in love with tomato tart that is)!!! This is SO good!!!  Where has this been all my cherry tomato growing life? It was quite easy to make this delectable tomatoes layered on top of a light cheesy filling baked in a buttery flaky crust heavenly tart - Dave and I both went back for seconds we liked it so much,  and I had to stop myself from finishing the tart at dinner so I'd have leftovers for breakfast!

I used a Bobby Flay tart recipe for the crust, and winged the filling after reading so many different recipes - I just picked different elements that sounded good to me and fortunately it doesn't seem to need to be an exact science (which is the best recipe haha) and it turned out perfect. Please, please don't be afraid of making this homemade crust, I usually buy packaged store-bought pie crust but this tart crust is different than store pie crust and worth the few minutes it took to whip it up - and it's very forgiving so nothing to be scared of. After I rolled it out to fit in the tart pan it totally broke apart, but I just took all the pieces and pressed them together in the pan and up the sides - you'd never know it didn't roll out perfectly. And it tastes great!

Crust:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 12 Tablespoons unsalted butter (1-1/2 sticks) cold, cut into 1/2" pieces
• salt and pepper
• 3 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 Tablespoons cold water

For the dough: Combine the flour, butter, and some salt and pepper using a pastry blender or 2 knives until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Mix in 2 Tablespoons of the oil and the water just until the bottom of the mixture begins to cling together. If necessary, add an additional Tablespoon of oil. Gather the dough into a ball and flatten into a disk. Wrap the disk in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes. 

My Note: I used a food processor to make the dough, and it took all 3 Tablespoons of oil to bring the dough together. 

A quick tip for rolling out dough - my mom bought me this big wooden cutting board that has a channel around the edge to collect meat juices while carving, an added bonus is the other side is completely flat and I roll out dough on it instead of getting flour and the mess all over the counter. 

roll the dough out in a circle a bit bigger than the tart pan

normally to transfer the rolled crust to the pan you gently roll it up onto the rolling pin,
and then lift it over to the pan. this dough was too crumbly tho and fell apart
when I tried to do that. no worries, just press it all into the pan and things will be fine! 

Tart:

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup shredded parmesan
• 3/4 cup shredded cheese, divided (I used mexican blend because it's what I have on hand - mozzarella, cheddar, fontina, monterey jack...whatever you want)
• 3 Tablespoons fresh chopped herbs (I used basil, thyme, and flat parsley mixed together), divided
• 1 Tablespoon dijon mustard
• salt and pepper
• 30 cherry tomatoes (more or less, your call), rinsed and dried, then cut in half

1. roll out the crust to approx. 14" circle to fit into a 12" tart pan with a removable bottom. Fit the crust into the pan and trim the top edges to fit. If the dough breaks apart like it did for me just press the pieces into the pan to completely cover the bottom and sides of the pan. Chill for 15 minutes. When you're ready to bake, prick the bottom and sides all over with a fork (that helps keep the crust from puffing up) then bake at 450' for 9-10 minutes until just barely browned. Remove from oven and then reduce the oven temperature to 375'. 
2. after removing the crust from the oven and while it's still warm, spread 1 tablespoon dijon mustard all over the bottom and sprinkle on about 1/4 cup of shredded cheese. Set aside.
3. make the creamy cheesy layer: mix together mayonnaise, parmesan, about 1/2 cup shredded cheese, salt and pepper, and 2 chopped herbs in a small bowl; spread on the melted cheese in the tart pan.
4. after cutting the tomatoes in half, sprinkle with the additional 1 Tablespoon chopped herbs and layer them on top of the cheese layer, lightly pressing them into the filling. 
5. bake at 375' for 20-25 minutes until heated thru and the crust is golden brown.
6. remove from oven, and separate the tart pan (remove the side piece but leave the tart on the pan bottom for stability), cut into 6-8 pieces and serve.

Note: I wouldn't put the tomatoes on top of the tart until you are ready to bake it, I think they'd make things too wet and soggy if you let it sit too long before baking. Also, after cutting the tomatoes in half I put them on a paper towel to blot out as much moisture as I could without smashing them!

I hope you like this tomato tart as much as I do! Let me know ;). 

spread mustard and 1/4 cup cheese on the bottom of the hot crust

top with the mayo/cheese/herb layer

right before baking add the halved tomatoes, lightly press them into the filling

crust recipe found here

one year ago: renewed my CPR certification
two years ago: ice cream cake

Tomato Week: Roasted Cherry Tomatoes with Angel Hair Pasta and Homemade Croutons

I have posted about roasting tomatoes a few times before, but can't have tomato week and not talk about roasting cherry tomatoes. I hope by now you guys have tried my absolute favorite way to use up a lot of the little bite-sized tomatoes - cut them in half and put in a shallow roasting dish, toss with a little olive oil and coarse salt (other seasonings are up to you - pepper, Italian blend, whatever), and bake at 350' to 400' until you like the consistency stirring occasionally. The longer they bake the more they thicken up and turn into an almost glazed texture which is so so so good (!), shorter time is still good and keeps them a little 'fresher' and lighter texture - just depends on what you want to do with them.

For this dish I let the tomatoes really cook down, at least an hour (turn the temp down if they seem like they are cooking too fast - you'l know if they start to turn too dark but not getting thick and syrupy), then tossed them (including the juice and olive oil) with cooked angel hair pasta. Another one of our favorites is to add homemade croutons (click to see how I make them, very easy!) to red-sauced pasta - almost like a panzanella bread salad, the croutons soak up the sauce but still add a little texture to the dish. Nothing like adding bread to pasta to keep this dish low-carb LOL. Whatever, it's good. For a little more color and to beef up the veggies I added some chopped fresh spinach this time - add whatever else you like...cooked mushrooms, peas, chopped asparagus or broccoli would all be good.

Oh man do I love this pasta and roasted tomatoes SO MUCH!!!


one year ago: morning glory muffins
two years ago: Japanese steakhouse carrot-ginger salad dressing

Roasted Tomatoes, Zucchini, and White Beans

My cherry tomatoes are really starting to come in so I did my favorite thing and roasted them along with a couple zucchini and a can of white beans. It was so good Dave asked me to make it twice this week!

Simple - halve cherry tomatoes and slice small zucchini about 1/2" thick, put in a baking dish and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with seasonings (I used course salt and italian seasoning).   Bake in 400' oven for at least 30 -45 minutes stirring occasionally. When the veggies are done to your liking add one can of well-rinsed white beans and continue baking until the beans are heated thru. If it seems a little dry I add a bit of spaghetti sauce - it's fine without it though. I finished by sprinkling with parmesan.

We had this as a side to grilled chicken one night, then 2 nights later I made it again as a side with pork tenderloin.

Accidental Gardener

There's the Accidental Tourist, Accidental Chef, Accidental Ranch Wife, and me - the Accidental Gardener.  I've been gardening for a long time but it's always hit and miss - I have no idea what I'm doing really...I plant stuff, water, weed and stake when I remember, then it either grows or it doesn't. Funny accidental gardener story - When I first started gardening I had a super tall plant that I thought was pretty and was quite proud of myself for growing, I'd weed around it and thought I was all that...Dave's mom was over one day and I showed her my accomplishment, told her I "didn't know what the plant was but look how good I was doing with it" and she basically rolled her eyes at me and said "yeah, that's a weed". I was crushed and a bit embarrassed haha! Anyway...this year my garden has been growing really good without much care, but it sort of got away from me and when I finally got around to weeding and sprucing things up I realized I've been pretty neglectful! Look at what a mess it was:

I can't tell what is wrong with the tomato leaves - insects or disease or if it's just been super hot lately and that's causing the leaves to turn brown. I got out a clean spray bottle, added a little dish soap and water, then sprayed everything in the garden - a natural insect repellant if that's what is causing the problem.

I started pulling out the pea plants because they're brown and appeared to be dying out, but then I see that there is new growth and even a couple peas (Lucy the bird was thrilled when I gave them to her!) so I trimmed lots of the dead parts off and left the rest to see if they'll continue growing. Peas are a cool weather plant and it's been so hot here that I assumed they were done for - glad I noticed the new growth before I ripped them all out!

Sarge helps me check the garden and look for "maters" - I'll usually roll one for him to chase, he grabs it and throws it up in the air before eating it...so cute. Of course he also did that with a toad he found in the grass yesterday so I guess that's his hunting technique - nice (not). Did you know when dogs bite toads something happens that makes the dog instantly have foam in their mouth? Sarge was running around shaking his head and spitting out nasty foam (and freaking me out), I'da worried more if this was the first time but it wasn't - you'd think he'd learn!

Lucy helped herself to fresh tomato,
I've never seen her do that! 

I had a big harvest yesterday of tomatoes, lettuce, and a couple sweet peppers - thankfully the garden is growing in spite of me.

Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

My favorite thing to do with end of season cherry tomatoes - I cut them in half (green ones too!) and roast with olive oil, salt and pepper (sometimes I'll put italian seasoning on) at 350' for a couple hours. It's SO good - I put it on anything I can think of, tonight it'll be over creamy polenta. 

I make this any time of the year with store bought cherry tomatoes and it's delish - but of course using home grown tastes the best! 

You can also freeze this, I put in small freezer bags and squeeze out as much air as possible (using my straw method - close the ziplock around a straw and suck out all the air, remove the straw and quickly seal the ziplock to close).