Sasha's Kitchen: Goat Cheese Tomato & Onion Tart

I've been searching for the perfect goat cheese, tomato and onion tart for what seems like forever. I've tried a couple of things and haven't really been happy with any of them. My mom was visiting us recently, and she often comes bringing wonderful new cookbooks for me to try out. This time she brought Barefoot Contessa's Back to Basics, which I was excited to try since I love Ina Garten. The first recipe I tried from this cookbook was my adaption of her tomato & goat cheese tarts on pages 92 and 93, which are made using a puff pastry crust. Why didn't I think of that as the base for the perfect tart - especially considering that I love puff pastry?

Tomato & Goat Cheese Tarts (adapted from Barefoot Contessa)
1 package (17.3 oz) puff pastry, defrosted (two sheets)
4 cups thinly sliced onions (about two large onions)
3 large cloves garlic, cut into slices (I love garlic so I used five)
3 T dry white wine
2 tsp minced fresh thyme
4 T freshly grated parmesan (I used a bit more, maybe 6, in total), plus 2 oz for top
8 oz goat cheese (I used about twice as much as the original recipe called for), crumbled
1 large tomato cut into 4 slices ( I made smaller tarts, so i used two tomatoes cut into eight slices)
3 T julienned basil leaves

Unfold the puff pastry sheets.  Ina suggests tracing and cutting the rectangles into circles, but I found it much easier to cut them into squares, for a total of eight. Place the pastry circles or squares in two sheet pans lined with parchment paper and refrigerate until ready to use.

Preheat the oven to 425. Heat 3 T of olive oil in a skilled and add the onions and garlic. Saute for 15 to 20 minutes until the onions are limp and there is little moisture remaining in the skilled. Add 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper and the white wine and thyme and cool for another 10 minutes, until the onions are lightly browned. This gives the onions an absolutely fabulous flavor, and they are my favorite part of this recipe.

Score a /14 inch border around each pastry square or circle. Sprinkle a tablespoon of parmesan on each pastry round, staying inside the border. Divide the onion mixture evenly between each round, again staying inside the border. Crumble the goat cheese (I used 8 oz rather than 4) on each tart and place a slice of tomato in the center of each. Brush the tomato lightly with oil and season with basil, salt and pepper on top. Top with some freshly grated parmesan. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the pastry is golden brown and nice and puffy. Serve warm or hot.

Sasha's Kitchen: Goat Cheese Tomato & Onion Tart

Sasha's Kitchen: Cherry Tomato-Thyme Risotto

Risotto is one of my favorite foods, and there are so many ways to prepare delicious risotto, from mushroom risottos to Belgian style mussels risottos. A good risotto is also a great way to showcase high-quality food products from good olive oil to delicious cheese to quality fish and vegetables. I was inspired to create a new tomato-risotto using some of the products I received in my package from Shop-Rite as part of the soon-to-launch Shop-Rite blog panel. For this new recipe, I tested out two private-label Shop-Rite products, Shop-Rite's imported extra-virgin Olive Oil and whole cherry tomatoes. The products were top-notch. The olive oil was smooth and delicious - top notch Italian extra-virgin olive oil. I was also really impressed with the quality of the cherry tomatoes. They were juicy and delicious and worked just perfectly in the risotto. They were  the perfect choice for making a delicious tomato risotto with bursts of fresh tomato flavor and just the right size (bite-size) for risotto. They truly were the star of the dish!

I am a big fan of thyme and tomato as a food combination so I used plenty of thyme in this recipe. I also decided that some pine nuts (pignolia nuts) would complement the flavors of the tomato and the thyme well.

Sasha's Cherry Tomato-Thyme Risotto

1 onion, diced

2 tsp diced garlic

4 T Shop-Rite private label Extra-Virgin Olive Oil

8-10 sprigs of fresh thyme

2 1/2 cups of Arborio risotto rice

2 T of tomato paste

1 cup white cooking wine

4 cups of sodium-free chicken broth

2/3 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined (or leave this out to make a vegetarian tomato risotto)

1 can of Shop-Rite cherry tomatoes

3 T of pine nuts

1/2 cups of grated parmesan cheese

First, combine the onion, garlic and two tablespoons of the extra virgin olive oil in a saute pan and cook over medium heat until the onions have softened. Add the thyme as well. Next, add the risotto and another two tablespoons of olive oil and mix to coat the risotto with the olive oil.  After another minute or so, add the white cooking wine, cherry tomatoes and tomato paste to the pan. Cook for about five minutes over medium-high heat before adding the chicken broth. You don't want to add the chicken broth until the wine has reduced by half. Then, add the first cup of the chicken stock.  As my husband, Brad explained in a previous post, add the chicken stock one cup at a time (and not all at once). Allow the first cup of chicken stock to reduce by half before adding the second cup, and so on. This allows you to make sure that there is always some chicken stock mixed in with the other ingredients and keeps the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pan. The entire adding, reducing and stirring process should take about 20-25 minutes. When you add the last cup of stock, allow it to reduce completely. Then stir in the pine nuts and grated parmesan cheese.  I also added the shrimp at this point, which I cooked separately in a pan using the Shop-Rite extra virgin olive oil.  This was delicious, but if you prefer a vegetarian dish, feel free to leave them out - the cherry tomatoes can completely carry this dish!  The risotto tasted great, and is such a pretty color too!

Sasha's Kitchen: Cherry Tomato-Thyme Risotto

Sasha's Kitchen: Summer Vegetable Gratin

Gratin is one of the most underrated vegetable side dishes. You can make gratin using onions, parmesan cheese and a whole variety of other ingredients. I have made potato gratin in the past, but hadn't tried using other vegetables. Thomas Keller has a great recipe for a summer vegetable gratin in his cookbook, Ad Hoc At Home.  I decided to change up the recipe a bit to suit my tastes, but went with the inspiration. I served the dish as a side dish with a lightly breaded veal. The combination was stellar and there were no leftovers.

Sasha's Summer Vegetable Gratin (inspired by Thomas Keller's recipe from Ad Hoc at Home)
2 cups onions, diced
fresh thyme
2 plum tomatoes
2 Japanese eggplans (small eggplants)
2 yellow zucchini
1/3 cup parmesan cheese
1/3 cup plaint breadcrumbs
2 cloves garlic, diced

Combine the diced onions and garlic, and saute for several minutes until the onion is translucent.  Add the thyme.  Fill a gratin dish or lasagna pan (I used my Emile Henry lasagna pan) with the onions, spread evenly. Slice the Japanese eggplants, plum tomatoes and yellow zucchini (I used farm fresh vegetables from Fresh Direct).  Arrange the vegetables neatly in rows on top of the onions. Top with a mixture of the bread crumbs and cheese (I found that using less than Keller recommends is optimal here). Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour and a half, until nicely browned.

To make the veal - coat the veal in a battered egg and dip in flour. Season with paprika, salt and pepper. You can then cook the veal in your skillet.

Sasha's Kitchen: Summer Vegetable Gratin