Tomato Tart

So when I went home this weekend, I'll admit, part of my scheme was to actually cook.  And I did get to actually cook.  It was a busy weekend, but I guess I got enough math done along with my fun activities.  I guess I will find that out on Wednesday when everything is due.  Oops.

I also managed to get blueberry juice all over myself today trying to get the cover off of a container of frozen blueberries at lunch.  It was very graceful.  I can't say I didn't see it coming.  Sad.

The busy weekend was topped off with sharing this ginormous mound of ice cream, toppings and whipped cream with NES, PS and GS for ZNS's birthday.  I love ice cream.

Anyway, I found this fun tomato tart recipe on foodgawker, my absolute favorite online cookbook/time waster.    And not only was it a tomato tart, but it had rosemary AND goat cheese involved.  You almost can't beat that. And best of all, it seemed pretty simple to go along with the fact that I have homework to do all the time!

So I think I was probably intrigued by it because of the rosemary.  Or maybe the goat cheese.  Or maybe both.   I love rosemary, I love goat cheese.  Good combo.  Oh, and local, fresh tomatoes aren't too bad either.

And just to show you how far I have gone in the past three weeks away from my normal cooking self, although the recipe called for a special (rosemary!) crust, I didn't make my own crust.  I feel like such a cheater.  But I just didn't have time for that.  So, the original plan was to sprinkle rosemary into the pre-made crust, but that didn't happen either.  I forgot. Oops.

Anyway, it still made it in.  I just put it on top of the tomatoes and cheese.  It still worked.  (Phew.)

Besides the crust and the olive oil, the whole thing was local.  Local tomatoes, local goat cheese, and well, super local rosemary.  Like above the kitchen sink rosemary.  Yup.

I think this was a great summer dish -- perfect for tomato season.  I agree with the blog it came from in saying the tomatoes have to be good to make this dish.  The tomatoes are the star.  I actually only ended up using two, and even though I was using a pie dish instead of a tart pan, I still found that it filled it.

I did do the drying the tomatoes thing, and it wasn't soggy, so I guess it was worth it!  I felt kind of silly, like I was dehydrating eggplant slices or something.

 Even the salad was all local except for the lettuce!  Hooray for farmer's markets!

Speaking of tomato season and farmer's markets, I love this weather.  It's warm and sunny during the day, but in the evening it's cold enough to require a sweatshirt or blanket.  And although the harvest is just pushing past its prime, there's still plenty to be found.  I love the fall.