Tomato Basil Tart

I don't usually share recipes on my blog. However, over the weekend I tried out our cabin oven for the first time with such great results I wanted to share my cabin cooking saga experience and a link to the recipe I made. It's one of my all-time favorite dishes that I've been making with luscious summer tomatoes and fresh basil from our garden every summer for years. If you grow tomatoes, you probably have lots of them right now, so I hope you'll be tempted to try out this easy and delicious late summer tart. If you don't grow your own, I bet you can still find wonderful summer tomatoes at your local farmer's market. I only make this recipe for special once each year and only with home grown summer tomatoes. I wouldn't even think of making it with grocery store tomatoes. (Maybe grocery store tomatoes where you live are edible, but not here in Boise, Idaho. Blah!) 

The oven in our tiny cabin kitchen is a small cute 24" wide range that was here when we moved in last fall. I wanted to buy replacement drip pans for it, and when I googled the model number I was surprised to see it's still available. I had never seen such a tiny cook range, and I just assumed it was old like our cabin. We've been so busy working on fixer upper projects around here, we are just either too exhausted or haven't had much time to cook here. We usually fix a quick sandwich, get takeout, or grill something quick and easy on the Weber, so after scrubbing the cabin oven until it looked like new (no self cleaning option), it just pretty much sat unused for months. This weekend I knew I'd have some extra time, so I picked some fresh tomatoes from my garden at home and brought them up to the cabin along with the other ingredients for this recipe.

My cook range at home back in Boise is dismal. It has one of those encased heating elements in the bottom and I can only describe how it bakes food as steaming, not baking. It rarely browns food, and recipes just don't taste as good as they did in all my other past ovens. Plus, it takes an eternity to preheat. It also has a glass cook top that responds to heat changes at a snail's pace. I just hate it and hope to replace it with a gas range one of these days. Meanwhile, I have to admit that because it's such an unpleasant experience I've sort of lost my enthusiasm for cooking in general. In fact, the only reason I can imagine a company designing and selling such a dismal piece of cooking apparatus is as a kitchen place holder for people who don't cook. I've seen people like that on HGTV's House Hunters - they want great looking appliances, but they admit they never use them!

I'd forgotten how nice it is to cook on a normal range and oven until I used our inexpensive little cabin range this weekend. The electric coil burners heat up and cool down with the flick of a knob and the oven preheats in no time and (drum roll) it browns food! Honestly, it's nothing that special; it's just that I've been using my crummy range at home for a couple years and forgot how a normal cook range is supposed to cook!  The only thing it doesn't do is have a timer, so I bought a cute little owl timer to sit on top and it's like my little buddy now. 

So when my tomato tart turned out golden brown and bubbly delicious I decided to share it with you. I didn't want to step on any copyright toes, so I googled the recipe and was amazed to see almost everyone has this recipe on their food website! I guess I'm not the only one with good taste. :)

The recipes online are all pretty much the same, so I'm sharing the link to this one from the Better Homes and Garden Website. Basically, you just bake a store bought pie crust, sprinkle some shredded cheese in the bottom, arrange drained tomato wedges on top then spread spoonfuls of a cheese mixture on top of the tomatoes and bake. Trust me, this is food fit for the gods. If you love tomatoes, cheese, and basil, you will LOVE this tart. Serve it for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, appetizer, whenever. 

(And then you might want to go for a long walk, run or bike ride because, be forewarned, it's not a skinny recipe - so worth it, though!)

Enjoy!

Fiesta Party Dip and Hot Air Balloons

Saturday morning we were awakened at my house by the sound of hot air balloons floating over our home.

 I grabbed my camera and rushed out to the backyard, looking up just in time to snap this shot. We couldn't believe how low the balloons were flying over the North End after taking off downtown in the park. It felt like we could reach right out and touch them, and they were so beautiful!

These folks were calling out, "Good morning!" to everyone below and planning to land right in the middle our little intersection. At the last moment they called down to their ground crew that there were too many power lines and rose up and away into the sky again. 

That was our excitement for the morning, and Boise State's first football game of the new season was our excitement for the evening. Four of my family members (including me) are loyal BSU Alumni, and we never miss a game.

Fiesta Party Dip is a seven layer dip that's a big hit all year 'round at our house, but especially during football games when the whole family gathers on the huge sectional in front of the TV in our family room.

So I made some Fiesta Dip after the balloons flew off, and let it chill in the fridge until game time. Since I had my camera out already, I remembered to take a photo and thought I'd share the recipe.

I just spread the layers right onto a big stainless steel serving tray, sprinkle the rest of the ingredients evenly over the top, and serve it with tortilla chips. I use the whole can of beans instead of one cup (can't waste it!), and I squeeze most of the seeds out of the tomatoes before I chop them. This colorful festive dip is perfect for informal gatherings like barbecues and pot lucks and makes enough for a big crowd of hungry football fans. I hope you give it a try.

There were no leftovers at my house!

  

Thanks for coming by to see what's going on at my house. I hope you have a wonderful week! 

I'm sharing my recipe this week with these fun parties!

DIY Showoff
Cozy Little House
Elizabeth & Co. 
 The 36th Avenue
The Charm of Home

Pasta and Shrimp in Tomato Cream Sauce

 
My family celebrated my daughter's birthday last week with a favorite pasta dish.  

It's an informal, tweak it while you go and add the amounts that you like, kind-of recipe that I  made up one night and have never written down. 

Served with a fresh salad and bread, it  makes a great meal when you want something special but have been running your tush off all day and don't have hours to spend in the kitchen. 

Pasta and Shrimp 

in Tomato Cream Sauce

Prepare all ingredients before you start cooking:

One pound of either rigatoni, ziti, or penne pasta. (Bring your water to a boil while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.) 

Clean and drain a pound of large shrimp. (I use Costco large precooked tail-on frozen shrimp and spend about 15 minutes defrosting it under cool running water, removing the tails, and then squeezing it dry in a clean tea towel. You can also use fresh or frozen uncooked shrimp.)

Butter (the real thing, since this is a special occasion/couple times a year recipe, not an eat- it everyday recipe.)

Fresh minced garlic (2-5 large cloves, depending on your taste.)
 

Two cans of Italian Recipe Ready Cut Tomatoes, drained a bit (or the same amount of fresh tomatoes, oregano, and basil, depending on what you have on hand. Sometimes I use both.)

1 small container of heavy cream (remember, special occasion recipe.)
 

1 cup of grated fresh Parmesan cheese. 

There, the hard part's over! 

Now, begin cooking your noodles in the pot of water that should be boiling by now.  Follow the package directions. 

Heat a very large fry pan with deep sides to medium temperature and add a couple tablespoons of butter. When the sizzling has stopped, add your garlic and stir it around for about a minute (don't let it burn!) 

Add your shrimp to the garlic and stir for 1-2 minutes more until just heated through. If the shrimp was raw, cook it until it's barely opaque. (Don't overcook!)

Add the drained canned Italian tomatoes and/or fresh tomatoes and basil. Raise the heat to medium high, if necessary, bringing everything to a boil and cook another 1-2 minutes until heated through. 

Add a splash of heavy cream. (I've learned to do this by color, but it's around 1/4 cup of cream.) Cook for another minute or two until heated through again. 

Lower the heat to low and add another tablespoon of butter to make your sauce rich and glossy. 

Drain the cooked pasta and return it to the pot. Add the shrimp tomato cream sauce and 1/2 cup of the grated Parmesan cheese to the drained pasta in the pot and stir well. Return the pot to the stove and let it sit on low for five to ten minutes, stirring once or twice. The pasta will absorb some of the sauce and it will thicken a little. If it's too thick, add a couple tablespoons of cream or pasta water.

Pour all into a large serving bowl and sprinkle with more cheese (and fresh basil, if you have it.) Put the rest of the Parmesan cheese on the table and let everyone serve themselves. As the pasta sits, it absorbs more sauce and keeps getting better and better.  
 

I prepared all my ingredients in the morning, and refrigerated them. That evening it took me fifteen minutes to make the entire dinner and get it to the table. I served my pasta out on the deck under the trees with a salad kit (arugula pear with Gorgonzola dressing) and sliced sourdough Italian bread. It doesn't get much easier than that.

For dessert, birthday cake of course, with a banner made by tweaking this tutorial from I (heart) Nap Time.  

 I hope you try this Pasta and Shrimp in Tomato Cream Sauce. Play with the ingredients and amounts, and make it your own. It's so easy, but delicious and special enough for company and special occasions. 

I'm sharing today at 

DIY Showoff Summer Recipe Inspiration Link Party