What Summer Tastes Like

When I was a kid I hated tomatoes! It all started when I was a toddler and my parents left me with my aunt and uncle while they went and lived it up in Hawaii. While they were gone I was forced to eat my tomatoes and thus my total hatred of the fruit was born. Now understand this dislike was reserved only for the raw fruit because I would eat the crap out of ketchup and spaghetti sauce. Well by the time I reached my late twenties I had gotten over that childhood grudge and began consuming tomatoes again.

Now that I am an adult with a fairly distinguished palette I have become a bit of a tomato snob. I tend to shy away from them in the off season because I find them to taste like pink softballs. But in the summer...watch out I will eat them everyday! I truly enjoy the simplicity of a fresh Caprese salad made with just off the vine tomatoes...mm mm. I even broke down and bought a tomato plant which is right now as I write producing a bunch of what I hope to be yellow pear tomatoes. They are still green but I have high hopes to one morning go outside and see a whole bunch of yellow tomatoes. Anyway, if given the choice I will choose a yellow or orange heirloom tomato over the red ones and that is just what I did yesterday at the grocery store for an Heirloom Tomato Tart.

Begin by thinly slicing about 2 pounds of heirloom tomatoes of different colors, lightly (and I mean lightly) salt them and drain them in a colander for at least thirty minutes. A few years ago I impulsively bought a tart pan, even though I do not bake I just had to have it, and this recipe is the first time I used it but a shallow pie dish would work also. Liberally spray down the pan with Pam and unfold your pie dough into it. I used a store bought one but if you want to make your own, more power to you. This crust needs to be blind baked and the conventional way is to cover the dough with tin foil filled with dry beans; but seeing that I have never done this before I forgot the beans, so instead I forked the crap out of the dough, covered it tightly with the foil and prayed it wouldn't bubble as I baked it at 350 degrees for twenty minutes, and then uncovered for another ten to fifteen minutes. FYI my crust came out perfect; I got lucky. So for the filling you need to saute a thinly sliced onion and two thick cut and diced slices of bacon in olive oil and then combine that with about three quarters of a cup of both reduced fat shredded mozzarella and shredded Gouda (I found a Gouda goat cheese that was really tasty), a quarter cup of reduced fat mayonnaise, three tablespoons of whole wheat bread crumbs, roughly about a quarter cup each of chopped chives and parsley and about a teaspoon of dried thyme. Mix all of this well and spread it into the bottom of the cooled crust then layer all of the tomato slices over it. The tart then needs to be baked at 375 degrees of about fifty minutes.

This tart was originally a vegetarian dish but seeing that I am a carnivore I had to add some bacon to my version. Besides what isn't better with a little bacon? Also seeing as you will have the oven on for about an hour and a half do not follow my lead and make this dish on a super hot day!


Heirloom Tomato Tart
2 lbs heirloom tomatoes, different colors, sliced
1 roll pre made pie crust
1 lg onion, thinly sliced
2 slices bacon, thick cut & diced
3/4 cup Gouda cheese, shredded
3/4 cup reduced fat mozzarella
1/4 cup reduced fat mayonnaise
3 Tbsp whole wheat breadcrumbs
1/4 cup chives, chopped
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
1 tsp dried thyme

Lightly salt the tomato slices and let drain in a colander for at least 30 min. Cook the crust in a tart pan sprayed with Pam covered with foil for 20 min. Remove foil and bake another 10-15 minutes until golden brown, let cool. Saute onions and bacon until golden and slightly crisp. Combine this with the remaining ingredients, spread into the bottom the the cooled crust, layer tomatoes on top and bake at 375 for 50 min.