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It’s possible that I continued to have children after the first one because of this tomato tart.  A friend brought it over in the weeks following the day that changed our life and the only way to get more(because I only became a fan of cooking in the past 3 years) was to have more babies!  Lucky for all of us, I do like to cook now and the roma tomatoes sitting at the farm stand this weekend called out alluringly, “We’d make a great tomato tart!”

A few of my friends make this tart and they have variations that involve adding feta cheese and all are great adaptations, but here’s the original.

Fresh Tomato Tart

• 1 10-inch pie crust
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella
• 3 tbs chopped fresh basil, divided
• 1 large clove garlic, sliced into 8 slivers
• 6-8 plum tomatoes, cut lengthwise into 1/2 inch slices
• 1 1/2 tbs olive oil
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• Freshly grated parmesan cheese, optional

Place piecrust in tart pan or glass pie plate.  Generously prick bottom and sides of pastry, bake at 400 for 5 minutes.

Sprinkle cheese in pie crust.  Top with 2 tbs basil, sprinkle garlic across cheese and basil.  Arrange tomato slices on top. Brush with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Place baking sheet on lower rack in oven.

Bake at 400 for 35-40 minutes(this time varies, mine took 30 minutes tonight). You may need to cover with foil as the crust turns golden brown to prevent burning. Remove from oven and sprinkle with remaining basil. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.  Optional-top with freshly grated parmesan cheese.

With the motivation to keep the tomato tarts coming in the early years, we now have enough children to empty the pie plate in one sitting!

And plenty of volunteers to hold the food for blog pictures.

It happened about two weeks ago.  Food came back into color.  Various events in the past year have left us feeling over-stretched and we had to break our 3 year run with our CSA and defer to frozen Trader Joe’s and lot of pancakes for dinner. It wasn’t just the lack of time, it was a lack of desire to offer my time and my attention toward the making of a meal.  Lately food has been a source of comfort, a sugar-coated hand to mouth course but it’s been dull and one dimensional.  What a nice surprise to make a pot of Tuscan soup and find a sudden desire to capture it and then savor it.  Now we’ve made two trips to the farmer’s market and our kitchen is brighter and our tastebuds standing at attention.  Roasted Eggplant, Pasta with fresh raw tomatoes soaked in olive oil and basil, minestrone soup. Here’s a visual taste of our Blackberry Grunt with Sweetened Cornmeal Topping, recipe to follow soon.