There has been a core group of foodie moms meeting in our cafe on Monday mornings. We found that we spent most of the time talking about recipes and our menus for that week. Then, many of us would head out to the grocery store right from Mom and Pop Place. We decided to turn our cooking discussion group into a formal Pop-In group. Join us every Monday at 10AM for the Whatcha Makin” Pop-In. I’ll post a highlight recipe from each weeks discussion. This week’s recipe is for a Tomato and Cheese Tart. (I said “tart”.) What a great way to use up the tomatoes we all have left from our garden!
Tomato and Cheese Tart
1T Extra-virgin Olive Oil
1 Large Onion (about 2 cups), sliced very thinly
1 Pastry crust, unbaked (store-bought or homemade)
4 oz cheese (recipe calls for goat cheese, but we agree mozzarella or even string cheese would work well)
1/2 t Dried Thyme
3-4 Medium Tomatoes, cut into 1/4 inch slices
Salt and Pepper to taste
1. Preheat oven to 425. In medium skilet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook, stiring often, until golden brown, 8-10 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Remove form heat.
2. Lay pastry dough or piecrust flat on cutting board. Distribute onion evenly on top, leaving 1 inch border all around. Dot with cheese, sprinkle with thyme. Arrange tomato slices on top, overlapping slightly. Sprinkle with pepper. Fold pastry over topping, crimping dough every inch or so.
3. Transfer to a baking sheet and bake approximately 20 minutes, or until crust is golden brown. Transfer to wire rack to cool.
4. Eat.
Here’s my baby, all set for the first day of kindergarten! He’s smiling so hard his face might explode. Yesterday was his first day of school. I have to say, we were both very calm about it. Gage was excited, but not overly so. Not enough to be nervous or wakeful the night before. He knows the school and the teacher very well from his brother going there. Gage feels like it’s already “his” school. He knows the building and the routine. He walked right in with his class and hung up his coat and took his seat. I lingered a little while to soak it all in. But, I realized he was ready for school to start. I waited until another parent left. (I didn’t want to be the first mom to leave. How heartless……..) Then I gave him a high-five, snapped this picture, wished the teacher good luck and left. For the first time in 6 years of first-days-of-school, I didn’t cry. I almost choked up over that fact. Are my boys so grown up that first-day-of-school doesn’t make me cry?
