TOMATOES

I know the next post was supposed to be about all the yummy things I cooked with all of our farmer's market stuff but this is what I made for lunch today with help from the girls and just had to share it.

This recipe that was inspired by a Martha Stewart clip I saw this morning on the Today Show. My oldest daughter was complaining, "I don't want that for lunch" under her breath in the living room....and then she ate it and loved it.

We made a simple salad to go with it of romaine, olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon zest, lemon juice, and agave.

I think Martha used puffed pastry for her tarts but we used reduced-fat refrigerated crescent roll dough. I had the dough on-hand from the Peach Dumpling recipe for the paper tomorrow (7/7). I'm sure that puff pastry dough is fine but, I have to admit that the buttery flavor of the crescent rolls gave it some extra richness. I would think that flaky biscuit dough would work really well too and it's already round, just flatten slightly!

Easy Tomato Tarts
Yield: 6 tarts

1 package refrigerated reduced-fat crescent rolls (6 rolls)
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tomato, sliced into 6 slices
6 basil leaves, chiffonade (fancy name for rolling and slicing into thin strips)
Salt and pepper
6 Tbsp. shredded Parmesan or other favorite cheese

Preheat the oven to 375. Place a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet. Roll out the dough and press together all the seams to make one big piece of dough. Cut out 6 rounds with a cookie cutter that is about 1/4-1/2 inch bigger than your tomato slices. If you don't have a cookie cutter large enough, use a glass that is the right size or use the biggest cookie cutter you have and stretch out the dough to size. Place each dough round on the parchment-lined baking sheet. Mix together the olive oil and garlic in a small bowl and brush each dough round with the mixture. Place 1 Tbsp. of Parmesan cheese on each round and top with a tomato slice. Sprinkle each tomato slice with salt and pepper and bake for 20-30 minutes or until the crescent dough is golden around the edges. After they are cooked, immediately sprinkle the basil on each tart. Serve immediately or even at room temp.