Tomato, Shallot and Goat Cheese Tart

I know I'm a little early for the tomato harvest, but I made this last night with some tomatoes from the Farmers Market as a "practice run" for my own harvest. You know had to check it out with their tomatoes before I was going to risk some of my own home grown gems ;)

I have got to say, this is tart is well worth using some of your harvest! I made a few tweaks to the recipe I found in my first issue of Heirloom magazine. Are any of you out there reading this magazine as well? If not I highly recommend it. It is put out by the folks at Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, and there are some pretty interesting articles! Not to mention yummy garden recipes...



This tomato tart was so simple. I'll admit, it was a crazy weekend and I had a bunch of studying and homework to do for my horticulture course, and I spend most of Saturday in the garden, so I used store bought pastry dough. But we'll keep that our little secret ;)

Tomato, Shallot and Goat Cheese Tart 
1 large sheet of frozen puff pastry
1/3 cup of goat cheese softened at room temp (I just eyeballed this)
3-4 medium tomatoes sliced and patted dry
2 shallots thinly sliced
chopped basil to sprinkle all over tart 
1 clove of garlic minced 
salt and pepper 
Olive Oil 


1. Thaw pastry dough according to directions. Spray tart pan with non-stick spray (If you don't have a tart pan, the original recipe from Heirloom says to just spread out on cookie sheet and you'll leave an edge to curl up around creating like a boat for the ingredients) 

2. Pre-Heat Over to 400F 


3. Spread the goat cheese on the pastry.  Place tomatoes and shallots all over the goat cheese.  Sprinkle with basil and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Drizzle about 2 TBsp of Olive Oil over tart. 


4. Bake 20-25 minutes until the crust is brown. Allow to cool for about 10 min before serving. 

Tart after baking

Leftovers kept well over night in the fridge. I zapped the tart in the microwave for 30 seconds and it tasted great!

Well...must go back to study latin names of landscape plants and identify them by their leaves. Of course tomatoes, peppers and herbs aren't on this test...noooo that'd be too easy ;)

I wish you all a wonderful week ahead!

Whatever happened to those tomato seeds?

I've been meaning to update on my tomato seedlings, but it seems like something is always getting in the way. I have somehow inadvertently angered the illness gods this year and have continually been sick, from the flu in Jan to salmonella poisoning in March to a cold ad ear ache I just can't shake the last few weeks. Perhaps I shall have to offer some tomatoes to them as a offering for less sickness next year.

I also finally started classes in Horticulture. Twice a week I spend the evenings after work in the gardens of a Virginia Tech extension center learning to identify plants. I can't complain, the classroom is wonderful!

So onto the tomatoes. If you'll remember I started these indoors hydroponically in Jan (MLK day weekend) and hardened them off outside in my cold frame for most of March and April. I moved them into the garden a few weeks ago and they seem to be thriving.

I gave some away of the plants away at work this year and I had a co-worker tell me how great his is doing. That just made my day! Im happy to hear feedback like that!

I'm a few weeks behind in clearing the new gardens (the interest was low in our community plots this year so I picked up 3 additional plots). Trying to figure out what to put in those. Such a tough problem to have (she smiles)

Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the seed catalogs are so delightful!

Is it me or does it seem like they came earlier this year? I think I remember getting them in the cold dole-drums of January last year.  I’ll be honest though, the weather here in Southern Virginia hasn’t been too terribly frightful, in fact…I picked my last 5 habanero peppers last Friday before pruning the plant back and covering it up for the winter, “hoping” with fingers crossed it’ll over winter (anyone out there ever over wintered a habanero plant before, this was just such a great producer I’d love to keep it around)

I digress…

I think for a gardener, nothing is a better present than sitting down with a cup of tea and flipping through the seed catalogs just dreaming of what you’ll plant next year…

I’m going to try and get my act together this winter and go into spring with a plan…a bona fide, grow from seed, propagate from cuttings, plan! 

So what about you? Are you already receiving your catalogs? Are they earmarked, and tagged with post-its yet?

Are there any new seeds you’ve decided to try this year?

I'll be spending some time during the next few days off going through these and marking them up... here are the ones I have so far. Any I'm missing you'd recommend?? 

I hope you all have a wonderful Holiday Season!! 

Southern Exposure Seed Exchange: I love the illustrations in this one.
I'd love to frame some of the artwork

High Mowing Organic Seeds: This is a new one for me this year!

Seed Savers Exchange:  The first Seed Catalog I ever got and probably still my favorite

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds: The pictures in this one are
 just amazing