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Tomato tart a delicious option for brunch

Recipe: Goat cheese and mustard are supporting players in this summer star

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Tomatoes in a tart -- now that's summer.
(Photos: Kathy Morrison)

If your counters are covered with tomatoes, homegrown ones or a local farmer’s, you’re probably on the lookout for new recipes this time of year.

I recently ran across a good one from Martha Rose Shulman of the New York Times, a tomato and goat cheese tart that looked perfect for brunch. Plenty of herbs, and an intriguing mustard layer under the tomatoes -- those were great, but that yeasted pastry she used had to go. I don’t do complicated crusts when it’s meltingly hot outside.

Solution: Refrigerated rolled pie crust (Pillsbury being one option). These premade crusts usually are a little too salty to me for fruit pies, but they work fine for a savory dish.


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Tomato slices give up their wateriness
when placed on paper towels.
My other adaptation for this tart came from a technique in a Parade magazine recipe. You slice the tomatoes, then spread them on a baking sheet covered with paper towels, and lightly salt them. After about 30 minutes, the paper towels mostly soak up the watery parts of the tomatoes that can make a tart mushy.

The herb options here are many. I went for fresh thyme, a little more subtle than fresh basil for a brunch entree. (Believe me, I use plenty of basil in other dishes.) I think the tart is best served slightly warmer than room temperature, but you can refrigerate leftovers and enjoy them cold or reheated.

Easier tomato and goat cheese tart

Adapted from the New York Times
Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

½ package (1 roll) of a refrigerated pie crust, allowed to sit out at room temperature for 15 minutes

3 tablespoons Dijon mustard

4 or 5 ripe medium-to-large tomatoes (a mix of colors is nice)

Salt and freshly ground pepper

2 to 3 tablespoons of fresh herbs (chopped parsley, marjoram or basil, or a mix) OR 2 to 3 teaspoons fresh thyme or chopped rosemary

2 eggs

4 ounces plain goat cheese, crumbled

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, plus more for oiling pan

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Oil a 9- or 10-inch tart pan and line it with the unrolled crust. (Trim the dough if necessary.) Put the tart pan in the refrigerator to chill while you prepare the tart filling.

Cover a large rimmed baking pan with several layers of paper towels. Slice the tomatoes about ¼-inch thick and place the slices in a single layer on the paper towels. Sprinkle lightly with salt. Let stand 30 minutes, turning tomatoes over about halfway through. Pat tomatoes dry, removing any large clumps of seeds (optional).
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Dijon mustard on the crust adds a savory layer of flavor.

Remove tart pan from the refrigerator. Brush the mustard over the bottom of the crust. Arrange the tomato slices over the mustard in concentric circles, overlapping them slightly. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and the herbs you chose.

In a small bowl, beat together the eggs and goat cheese. Season with salt and pepper and pour over the tomatoes. Drizzle on the 1 tablespoon olive oil.

Place tart in the oven and bake 30 to 40 minutes, until the top is nicely browned and filling is set. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving. Serve hot, warm or at room temperature.

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RECIPE

A recipe for preparing delicious meals from the bounty of the garden.

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Garden Checklist for week of May 12

Get your gardening chores and irrigation done early in the day before temperatures rise.

* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. Time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.

* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.

* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions. This heat will cause leafy greens and onions to flower; pick them before they bolt.

* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters.

* Plant dahlia tubers. Other perennials to set out include verbena, coreopsis, coneflower and astilbe.

* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.

* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.

* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.

* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.

* Got fruit trees? If you haven't already done so, thin orchard fruit such as apples, peaches, pears, pluots and plums before they grow too heavy, breaking branches or even splitting the tree. Leave the largest fruit on the branch, culling the smaller ones, and allow for 5 to 6 inches (or a hand's worth) between each fruit.

* Thin grape bunches, again leaving about 6 inches between them. For the remaining bunches, prune off the "tail" end, about the bottom third of the bunch, so that the plant's energy is concentrated in the fruit closest to the branch.

* As spring-flowering shrubs finish blooming, give them a little pruning to shape them, removing old and dead wood. Lightly trim azaleas, fuchsias and marguerites for bushier plants.

* Add mulch to the garden to help keep that precious water from evaporating. Mulch also cuts down on weeds. But don’t let it mound around the stems or trunks of trees or shrubs. Leave about a 6-inch to 1-foot circle to avoid crown rot or other problems.

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