late summer lunch

I realized late last week that it was Labour Day weekend this weekend. What can I say, it snuck up on me. So I tried to organize a lunch in the garden for Saturday which the forecast deemed would be our best day, weatherwise. So we had lunch in the garden. I made Chard and Saffron tart, Scalloped Tomatoes and salad and had a baguette and some cheese and my sister-in-law brought a blackberry peach galette. Lovely.

Scalloped Tomatoes (from Smitten Kitchen)
3 lbs of campari tomatoes, diced
3 c cubed bread
1 tbsp olive oil
2 1/2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp kosher salt
2 cloves garlic, minced
pepper
1/2 c sliced basil
1/2 c shaved parmesan

Toast the bread in the olive oil until brown.

Mix the tomatoes

with the garlic, sugar, salt and pepper and add to the toasted bread and cook for 5 minutes.

 Take off the heat, add the basil and pour into a baking dish. Sprinkle the parmesan on the top.

Bake at 350 deg F for 35 minutes.

Chard and Saffron Tart (from Dana Treat)
1 tart shell
1 bunch chard, no stems, coarsely chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tbsp oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
kosher salt
3 eggs
1 1/2 c milk
1 large pinch saffron in 1 tbsp warm water
zest of one lemon
3 tbsp grated parmesan

Roll the tart dough and place into the tart pan. Cover with 1 tbsp dijon mustard.

Heat the oil and saute the onion for about 5 minutes. Add a pinch of salt and the garlic. Toss the chard leaves into the pan and cook for about 3 minutes.

Whisk the eggs together. Add the milk, lemon zest, salt, pepper, saffron, cheese and then add the chard and onion mix. Pour the custard into the shell.

Bake for 40 minutes at 375 deg F.

It was a lovely lunch and I love both recipes.

scalloped tomatoes

I think it is pretty much heresy but here goes. I'm not that crazy about raw tomatoes. I love the little cherry ones - especially dipped into blue cheese dressing but the others - not so much. I like them in a greek salad this time of year, with fresh cukes, red onion, red pepper, olives and loads of feta over the crisp, peppery microgreens from the market. But I love tomatoes roasted or oven dried. So when I read this at smittenkitchen I knew I had to make it. Field tomatoes are still a rarity here - tomatoes are really slow this year thanks to the months of rain we had prior to July - so I've been making it with campari tomatoes from the market or fruit stand - 2 1/2 lbs is about 23 tomatoes....

I made it for myself one night when D was working and kept the leftovers for my lunches - I loved it that much. So I made it again, except I was out of bread so used olive bread crumbs I had lurking in my freezer, but also forgot to add the basil - so that batch was just ok. The bread and the basil really are key to this recipe - just so you know.

Last night I made it again -
2 c diced, crust removed bread (I used a loaf of somewhat stale rosemary potato bread)
3 tbsp olive oil
2 1/2 lbs diced tomatoes
2 tbsp sugar
1 heaping tsp garlic
1 tsp kosher salt
pepper
1/2 c thinly sliced basil
1 c parmesan cheese, grated

Toast the bread cubes in the olive oil until golden brown. (Trickier than it looks - just keep shaking the pan until the bread is toasty and not black...) In the meantime prepare the tomatoes, and mix them with the garlic, sugar (trust me on the sugar - just do it), salt and pepper. Once the bread is brown all over (ish), dump the tomatoes into the saute pan and cook for 5 minutes. Take off the heat and add the basil. Then pour the mixture (it should be thickish now) into a baking pan (I've used 7x10 and 8x11 pans and both work), sprinkle the parmesan over the top and pop into a 350 deg F oven for 35 minutes or until the cheese is toasty and the edges of the casserole are bubbly.

Dig in - careful, it's hot. It's magic - the tomatoes and bread and basil and cheese and garlic all melded together into deliciousness. We had big scoops last night with spicy corn pancakes

 - yum.