Tomato Chevre Tarts

Thinking of these tarts, I just made a Homer Simpson drooling sound in my head. These went over very well (though hubby removed the tomatoes and left them on the plate!) which makes me happy because I just sort of threw them together. I've never really worked with goat cheese and thought they'd go well with tomatoes, which I wanted to use. I wanted to make a tart, single-serving size. So, voila! Tomato chevre tarts.


Tomato Chevre Tarts

• 1 sheet puff pastry
• 15-20 cherry tomatoes
• 5 oz chevre, crumbled

(rough approximations)

Preheat oven to 400F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

Let the pastry sheet warm to room temp. Roll out to approximately 9 by 9 inches. Using a pizza cutter, cut the sheet into 16 squares (about 2 x 2 inches).

Using a knife, score about 1/4 to 1/2 an inch in from the edge, creating a square within a square. Make sure to not cut all the way through the pastry. Next, use a fork to poke a bunch of holes in the interior square. This will prevent the interior from puffing up as much as the edges.

Place squares on prepared baking sheet and bake 10ish minutes, until it has slightly puffed and is lightly golden.

Once the pastry is a bit puffed and golden, place a piece or two of chevre in the center of each square.

Next, cut a cross into the bottom of each tomato, then place a tomato on top of the chevre on each tart. Sprinkle with coarse salt and pepper.

Bake another 15-20ish minutes until pastry is puffed and richly golden.

Tomato Basil Pasta Salad

Do you ever have really vivid taste memories? For years, I'd have moments where I could taste a fruity candy I ate as a 4 year old..

A few marvelous summers in my childhood, I spent a week with my aunt and uncle in Austin, Texas. They are responsible for first widening my culinary scope; they fed me weird foods and let me play around in their kitchen. I cooked before then, but their kitchen seemed magical, probably because I saw them so little and it was just us (meaning I got all the attention). Looking back, they spoiled me. I loved it. They took my joy of kitchen and made it just a bit more.

But anyhoo... one time my aunt and I made this light pasta salad-ish dish. At the amazing Central Market, we had purchased some cute flower-shaped pasta. We basically cooked the pasta, drained it, then tossed it olive oil, tomatoes, and fresh basil. Salted to taste. (I believe. My memory is a little fuzzy, but that seems to be the correct taste combination).

After a few days of craving this, I decided it would go well with the pork milanese. I couldn't find the right pasta, so I just used orzo, which I couldn't drain well..


I ate this warm; Aunt Nan and I had it chilled. I loved it; it brought back such great memories.

By the way, I found the flower shaped pasta at a Mexican market I happened across after eating at the Indian place in town. We went in on a whim and I found not only the pasta, but fairly priced star anise AND a Mexican Coca Cola, made with actual sugar.