This week´s recipe for the French Friday`s with Dorie group is Tomato-Cheese Tartlets.
This is an easy enough recipe. It is like an “Insalata Caprese” served on a puff pastry round. All you have to do is cut out some rounds of a store-bought puff pastry dough, place on a baking sheet, dock the dough rounds, weigh them down with a second baking sheet and bake for fifteen minutes or until the rounds turn crisp and golden. Then arrange a few slices of fresh tomatoes, a bit of mozzarella and a basil leaf on a bed of some tapenade or pesto, drizzle some olive oil over and sprinkle the tartlet with some pepper and salt to taste.
Since we have eaten our share of “Insalata Caprese” this summer, it was time to add a bit of a different touch to the tartlets. So I cut out smallish rounds of the puff pastry (five inches) and after they had baked for twelve minutes, I served them with one slice of red tomato, some “Mozzarella di Bufala”, one slice each of just grilled summer squash and eggplant, a basil leaf, two slices of miniature orange tomatoes, a dot of homemade black olive tapenade and basil flowers. Served with a few drops of extra virgin olive oil, freshly ground black pepper and some sea salt, they received raving review.
This recipe is a keeper, leaves tons of room for different interpretations as to the toppings and is extremely easy to put together. The tartlets can be served as an appetizer or as a side dish and would be perfect for a buffet because although they are best when served right away, they do keep for a while at room temperature.
What a wonderful recipe to have in your recipe file for the summer time so you can heap summer´s bounty on a small piece of puff pastry. Of course, you could also serve these tartlets in fall/winter time when the toppings could be adjusted to the season to include such wonders as different pestos or sundried tomatoes and different kinds of olives.
To see how the other Doristas prepared their summery Tomato-Cheese Tartlets, please click here.
I really like the added touch of the grilled vegetables. Beautifully done!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Cher - grilled vegetables must be my favorite summer food these days.
DeleteLove the basil flowers on top - simply beautiful! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jessica - these little flowers even taste delicious.
DeleteLove your variation. This is such a versatile recipe, or really more of an idea, and I am really looking forward to playing around with it.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Rose - this recipe leaves a lot of room for different and fun interpretations/variations.
DeleteSo many variations for this one. Yours look lovely and absolutely delicious. Hub and I enjoyed it first under the
ReplyDeletebroiler, and the second day at room temperature. I actually like the room temp. better. Love your photos.
Thank you, Nana. I am glad to hear that you enjoyed this recipe so much too - I also liked that it was so easy to put together.
DeleteEggplant is the perfect addition, and I´m just mad about them! I also loved this recipe. Beautiful pics
ReplyDeletePaula, I agree, eggplant is wonderful and if it is grilled it is even more wonderful.
DeleteOh, I love your tartlets, Andrea! Such a lovely presentation and so delicious looking! Love that you added other veggies to your tart! Wonderful photos!! Have a great weekend!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kathy - the more different veggies the better the tartlets, so pile them on, somehow they will stay put, at least for a little while but that is o.k. because they certainly do not linger around for a long time, at least at our house, they did not.
DeleteThese look lovely. i had some trouble with the layering. I like how you mixed it up and added squash and eggplant.
ReplyDeleteThank you Suzi - pesto or tapenade can be a fantastic "glue"...seriously, the veggies can be a bit "moody" when it comes to arranging them, I agree.
DeleteYour tarts look lovely! I'm sure the added vegetables were fantastic - and gee, leads to more ideas. I thought these were great. We did a little taste testing with different combinations. Yummy!
ReplyDeleteCandy, vour versions all looked so delicious to me. Isn´t it nice to experiment a bit with different veggies, cheese, pesto and other toppings?!
DeleteI love your miniature orange tomatoes and tapenade with basil flowers on top. They make the tartlets look so delicate and almost too pretty to eat! Mine look like Godzilla tartlets in comparison, haha. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you Maya, I was thoroughly impressed with your non-dairy version of Mozzarella cheese - I had never seen that before!
DeleteBeautiful presentation, they look too good to eat (I would anyway, but just saying)! I added roasted squash too, and it was really good. This is definitely a great recipe!
ReplyDeleteErin, don´t you just love grilled summer squash - it tastes and looks so pretty.
DeleteNice variation - I love your photos and food ideas so much. It's always a pleasure to visit your blog.
ReplyDeleteTeresa, I appeciate your kind comment very much, thank you! One more Insalata Caprese and my family would have gone on a strike...
DeleteSo pretty! I love the addition of the egglant. So fresh and summery. Your blog is so pretty and your photos are great!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Susan. Eggplant is one of my favorite veggies - best if grilled.
DeleteAlthough I mentioned in my Post that this is a pastry base which anything could be piled on to make a finished product, I actually had never thought of going the roasted veggie route. What a great, great idea and it looks so pretty. All those fresh food flavors infuse together and must taste deliciousl. I didn't recognize the flower in your last picture but, from reading the comments, I assume it is a basil flower. Is that right? What a beautiful touch.
ReplyDeleteMary, it is indeed a flower from one of my newly acquired basil plants, it is called "White Mountain" and it has the prettiest little white flowers and the bees seem to love it too.
Delete