Goat Cheese and Tomato Tarts
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend. Today I wanted to post an appetizer. I’m a big fan of appetizers. They tend to be overlooked and under appreciated. My family sometimes just has an all appetizer night. There’s just something about finger foods that invoke a festive feeling.
I’m sure many of you have seen these tarts. I believe the Barefoot Bloggers group has made them. When I saw them in Joelen’s blog, it pushed me over the edge. I decided to make them when we had friends over for dinner.
While I was making these tarts, I was thinking, “Geesh Ina, what’s with all these ingredients” but I can say that the flavors in these tarts is worth the effort. Hubby agreed that these were amazing. You really can’t go wrong with goat cheese and tomatoes, so it’s really no surprise.
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Tomato and Goat Cheese Tarts
Ingredients:
1 package (17.3 ounces/2 sheets) puff pastry, defrosted
Good olive oil
1/2 large yellow onion, sliced thin
3 large garlic cloves, cut into thin slivers
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons dry white wine
2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme leaves
4 ounces garlic-and-herb goat cheese
1 large tomato, seeded and chopped - I used cherry tomatoes cut into quarters
3 tablespoons julienned basil leaves
Directions:
Unfold a sheet of puff pastry on a lightly floured surface and roll it lightly to an 11 by 11-inch square. Using a 3-inch wide round cookie cutter, cut 4 circles from the sheet of puff pastry, discarding the scraps. Repeat with the second pastry sheet to make 8 circles in all. Place the pastry circles on 1 large sheet pan lined with parchment paper and refrigerate until ready to use.
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over medium to low heat and add the onions and garlic. Saute for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring frequently, until the onions are limp and there is almost no moisture remaining in the skillet. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, the wine, and thyme and continue to cook for another 10 minutes, until the onions are lightly browned. Remove from the heat.
Using a sharp paring knife, score a 1/4-inch-wide border around each pastry circle. Prick the pastry inside the score lines with the tines of a fork and place 1/8 of the onion mixture on each circle, again staying within the scored edge. Crumble 1/2 ounce of goat cheese on top of the onions. Sprinkle the diced tomato in the center of each tart along with the basil, salt, and pepper.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the pastry is golden brown. Serve hot or warm.
Recipe from Ina Garten as seen on What's Cookin, Chicago
Oh, if only there were a Trader Joes here *le sigh*
This post made me lol (literally) because my husband’s in the process of getting an Aeronautical Engineering degree 🙂
OMG! thats freaking hilarious! Must show my other nerd friends…
Definitely showing “nerd” boyfriend this. He’ll probably run right over to Trader Joe’s after work. Great catch!
This is too funny! I haven’t been to TJ’s in a while so I’ve missed the Avocado’s Magic Number. Great find and thanks for sharing!
Sheltie Girl @ Gluten A Go Go
That is so cute! No fair there’s no TJ here!
Haha, that IS pretty darn nerdy. What a great find!
My non-nerd g/f sent this to me to see if I’d understand the reference. I’m an EE, so I started laughing as soon as I saw the picture. 🙂 Luckily, I’m used to her odd looks when I start chuckling over something geeky like that. 🙂