Tomato Tart

I have to say that making this dish brought back a lot of memories for me. When I was 19 I moved to Ireland by myself to work as a nanny for a year. At the time I was dating a guy who we still refer to as “Voldemort” aka “He who must not be named” and I was really not in a great place. He was the kind of controlling asshole that stars in many women’s lives as the big mistake they escape from before finding happiness. Anyway, he declared to me one night that he was breaking up with me and moving to China or some shit so I decided it was high time I went on my own adventure. {Ironically enough he stayed put in his mothers basement while I went on my adventure} I had been thinking about it already and had a serious travel bug from backpacking around Europe after high school. So I googled “job overseas that requires no experience”. The options were working on a farm and being a nanny. And since I had spent the majority of my life up until that point working on our family farm I chose the later. In hindsight it was not the most researched decision, I joined a website that was basically like a dating website and got in contact with a few families. I ended up choosing Ireland because it was the easiest place to get a working visa for a year. So I packed my bags, kissed my mother goodbye and jumped on a plane. My first night I spent in Dublin before catching the bus to the quaint town of Rathvilly. {That first night was a complete and utter shit show, but that is a story for another time} Once settled in my new digs {a 200 year old blacksmith’s cottage made of granite and heated by a wood stove} I met the family I would work for and my new room-mate.

I could write 1000 blogs of stories from that year, but today I will tell you about my first room-mate Sabrina. Sabrina is the French equivalent of Marry Poppins. She is kind and sweet and I only saw her lose her temper once {And one of the kids she took care of was a 4 year old Brit Brat} and she can cook. Like a sweet French boss. She taught me so many amazing basic French cooking techniques, but to her they were just second nature. When I returned to Canada and went to culinary school I had this mental tool kit of basic techniques that served me well and still do to this day. One dish she loved to make was Quiche or any kind of delicious savoury tart. It started with perfect flaky pie crust and then an assortment of veggies from the garden, eggs, a dash of milk and of course cheese. We used to make them mini size in muffin tins and take them along as a picnic snack for the children when we went on rainy magical adventures through the thick forests of the estate we lived on.

So the other day little chef was unloading the kitchen cupboards as he does and he handed me this perfect little Le Creuset dish. It reminded me of Ireland instantly so I decided to show him how I used to cook for my Irish babies. Of course he loved it and I enjoyed the moment quite a bit. When I was working as a nanny I spent all day each day with two beautiful children who I grew to love very much. At the end of the year getting on that plane and leaving them was one of the most heart wrenching moments of my life. But now I have my own son, and I don’t have to leave him at the end of the year. I get to continue to show him the beauty of French food, and the fun of woodland adventures, and it does not have to end {well until he is a teenager and I am like “totally” the worst mom like ever!} So here is a quick recipe of our lovely roasted tomato tart. {To be clear I prefer to call it a tart over quiche because of the Monty Python skit where “King Arthur” is speaking to a peasant and explaining how he became king and the peasant says “Oh, but you can’t expect to wield supreme executive power just because some watery tart threw a sword at you.” }

Tomato Tart

Pie crust:

2 cup flour

1/2 cup COLD butter

1 cup COLD water

pinch of salt

Mix the flour and salt, then cut the butter in to the four until it is pea sized. Make sure it stays cold. Then slowly pour the water in and mix with a fork until it starts to clump together. You may not need all of your water. Then with your hands bring the dough together and knead quickly, and just enough to keep it together. Do not over work the dough. Roll the dough in to a circle just bigger than the dish you will be using and place it in the dish. Cut the dough edges to make a nice sleek line on the edge.

Filling

3 eggs

1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup cream cheese

1/4 cup cubed brie or camambert

12 cherry tomatoes

1 green onion

1 bunch of parsley

1 sprig of thyme

salt and pepper

Beat together the eggs, milk and cream cheese then mix in all the chopped ingredients except the tomatoes. Season. Fill the crust with the mixture and put in the oven for 30 minutes (Until the eggs are filly baked) at 350 degrees. Slice the tomatoes in half, sprinkle with salt and pepper and lay on a cookie sheet. Put in oven with tart and remove when fully cooked and partially dried. When tart is done remove from oven and top with roasted tomatoes. Serve and enjoy!

Of course after supper there is always dishes. And bath time. Sometimes in our house we combine the two…