Summertime Tomato Tart

You say tomato, I say tomah-to. Fresh tomatoes from the garden just scream SUMMER! Along with homemade ice cream, the smell of chlorine and Hawaiian Tropic Tanning Oil. Only one of those items is in this recipe, so don't panic.

Bless your heart, it's a Tomato Tart.

What You'll Need:

Refrigerated Pie Crust (Go ahead and make your own if you want, nobody's handing out prizes here)

Selection of Heirloom Tomatoes in different sizes and colors

Parmesan Cheese, grated

Ricotta Cheese, one tub (Low fat is okay)

2-3 Eggs

Premade Pesto Sauce (I can make my own, but trying to simplify some things. I use Trader Joe's brand and it's great.)

1/2 cup Mozzarella or Gruyere cheese, shredded

Oregano

Flaked Salt, Regular Salt, Fresh Cracked Pepper

Several leaves of Basil

What You'll Do:

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

Slice the tomatoes about 1/4" thick and lay the slices out on layers of paper towels to soak up the excess moisture. After about 15 minutes, flip them over. You can also lightly press some paper towels down on top of them to absorb more moisture.

Unfold a single pie crust and sprinkle it with a bit of grated Parmesan cheese and fresh cracked black pepper. Use a rolling pin to lightly press the pepper and cheese into the crust.

Place the crust into a tart or pie pan and press gently into the pan. Cut off the excess pastry and make a pretty border if you're using a pie pan. Poke holes all over with a fork and add parchment paper and pie weights (or dried beans or loose change) to hold the crust in place and keep it from bubbling and shrinking. Bake for 10-15 minutes until the crust has a slight color. Remove from oven, remove pie weights, and add egg wash (if desired) and pop back in the oven for a minute or two. Remove from oven and cool. Reduce oven temp to 350. If it doesn't look perfect, you can still mush it around back in shape a little.

In a large bowl, lightly beat two eggs and add Ricotta Cheese, mixing until smooth. Add a bit of salt and pepper, but don't overdo it. Pour this into the pie crust, but not all the way to the top.

You may not use all of the ricotta mixture, and if you have a little left over, add more of the cheeses, some lemon zest, a little more salt and pepper and a drizzle of honey, stir that up and place it in a small baking dish and bake alongside your tart. This makes a nice little appetizer dip with crackers or veggies. If that's too much cheese for you in one meal, you've got issues...but okay, whatevs. You can pop the mixture in the freezer and have it ready to bake at another time.

Place some dollops of Pesto on top of the Ricotta and swirl them in with a knife. Top with a little bit of Mozzarella or Gruyere cheese. Sprinkle with a little Oregano.

Place the Tomato slices on top, arranging them to look pretty and cover the entire top. It's okay if you need to cut them to fit in some corners or if they overlap a little. Sprinkle with a little flaked salt.

Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes. The tomatoes should appear cooked and the filling should not be jiggly.

Cut ribbons of fresh Basil by stacking several Basil leaves on top of each other and roll them up tightly into a tube shape. Slice them as if you were slicing a stalk of celery into very thin strips. That's called 'Chiffonade' and WOW look at you and your knife skills! Place the basil ribbons on top of the slightly cooled tart.

Serve the tart warm or at room temp, sprinkled with a little more Parmesan cheese and more fresh cracked pepper, if you'd like. This is a delicious meal with a fresh side salad.