Last week I was hosting a “thank you” luncheon for six of my wonderful friends—friends who support me in all my “crazy” endeavors that I get myself into and could not complete successfully without these women.
I decided on a Caesar salad with grilled shrimp and an heirloom tomato tart. The dessert was to be a strawberry rhubarb crepe tart with whipped cream. Calories were to be ignored that afternoon.
The Almighty must have been looking over my shoulder that day as I headed out to our local Safeway market here in Ben Lomond.
Normally, I only see huge heirloom tomatoes on the display table—tomatoes that are 4 inches in diameter and weighing in at 1 pound each, costing nearly $5 big ones for one tomato. Not to mention those tomatoes have begun to wrinkle and are being subjected to people squeezing them and tossing them aside. If I couldn’t find smaller heirlooms, I was prepared to search our other markets.
As I stopped my cart next to the tomato display, I could not believe my eyes.
There were six small 3-inch diameter heirloom tomatoes. The sticker read: “Heirloom tomatoes from Mexico.” I felt as though I had won the “tomato” lottery. This was the first time for these tomatoes at Safeway.
Tomatoes and avocados tend to drive me crazy when shopping. Why do people pick up and squeeze avocados? Each squeeze to an avocado results in a black spot on the flesh of the avocado. If the avocado is heavy, it is ripe.
I have learned to buy green avocados and let them ripen in 3-4 days or I buy the small bags with six as my chances are better at getting non-squeezed ones.
Tomato season in our valleys is just around the corner. I always have a few Ziplock bags in my freezer filled with gifted tomatoes from friends. I simply wipe the tomatoes with a damp cloth and pop them into a baggie and place them in my freezer. This is so much easier than the canning method.
If you don’t want the skins of the tomatoes, simply slip-skin them by dropping the tomato into a pot of boiling water, let sit for 2-3 minutes, take out of water and the skins will slip right off.
If I am barbecuing skewered meat and want to barbecue vegetables as well, I like to use cherry tomatoes between onions, bell peppers and mushrooms as they do not fall apart nor become mushy as regular tomato pieces do. Choose the larger cherry tomatoes that are found today in our markets.
Too many tomatoes from your vines? Make spaghetti sauce.
Simply sauté 2 cups of diced onions, 4 cloves of diced garlic in 3 tablespoons of olive oil until the onions are very soft but not browned. Add 6 cups of fresh diced tomatoes and simmer for thirty minutes. Cool and freeze in baggies or a freezer container.
The following Tomato Tart recipe is a wonderful brunch entree. I have tweaked my original recipe and found this to be the best ever. Make sure to blind bake the crust to prevent the crust from becoming soggy. The blind-baking may be done the day before. I stored the crust uncovered, in the oven overnight.
Tomato Tart
Tart Crust for a 9” tart pan
• 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 8 Tbsp. very cold salted butter cut into 1/4” pieces and put in freezer for 1/2 hour.
• 1/3 cup of ice water
In a food processor add flour and cold butter and pulse until butter resembles small peas.
Add water into flour mixture slowly while pulsing until mixture begin to come together.
Dump mixture onto a lightly floured breadboard and quickly form a round disk. Wrap in Saran wrap and refrigerate for one hour or overnight.
When ready to make tart, roll out dough and arrange in a tart pan. Prick dough all over the bottom with a fork. Line tart with parchment and weigh the parchment down with baking beads or dry beans.
Blind bake for 15 mins at 350deg. Remove from oven and remove parchment with beans. Return to oven for another 10 minutes. Cool completely before filling.
Tart Mixture
Slice 6 tomatoes into 1/3” thickness and salt both sides of the tomatoes. Lay on a rack and let the tomatoes drain at least an hour. Turn over halfway through the time. Pat dry with paper towel.
Dice 6 slices of bacon and fry until crisp. Drain and reserve.
3 eggs well beaten and add:
• Reserved bacon
• 1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese
• 1/3 cup cream cheese
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup diced scallions
• 2 tsp. Italian seasoning
• 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp. black pepper
• 2 Tbsp. flour.
Mix well and then spread into prebaked crust.
Arrange tomatoes on top.
Bake at 350deg for 30 minutes or until mixture is set and does not jiggle.
Colly Gruczelak, a Ben Lomond resident, loves people and loves to cook. Contact her at cz****@*****st.net.
