Tomato Tomahto

Goat cheese is my crack. I'm addicted to it. In my humble opinion...it makes everything taste better. Scrambled with eggs, tossed with salads, stuffed into roasted chicken breasts,  spread onto eggplant sandwiches...you can't ever have too much goat cheese.

I made this tart for book club last night.

Ingredients

Goat Cheese Filling

8oz cream cheese, softened

6oz goat cheese, softened

1 egg

1 shallot, minced

1 TBSP garlic, crushed

2 TBSP half & half

salt & pepper

Tomatoes

1 10oz pkg grape tomatoes, halved

2 TBSP fresh thyme, chopped

2 TBSP fresh basil, chopped

1 TBSP garlic, minced

olive oil, salt & pepper

1 recipe for Flaky Pie Crust Dough

(or one 9 inch refrigerated pie crust - which I totally use ALL THE TIME when I'm in a pinch!)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350.

Toss all the tomatoes, herbs and garlic in a bowl with enough olive oil to coat and salt & pepper to taste. Set aside.

In another bowl, mix the cream/goat cheese mixture together until well combined. I usually just do this in a large bowl with the back of a fork, but you can use a mixer too.

Roll out your pie crust into a large circle. Place your pie crust on a non stick cookie sheet BEFORE adding filling...it gets hard to move around later.

Top pie crust with cheese filling and spread evenly, leaving a 1-2 inch edge all the way around. Top with tomato mixture - it doesn't have to be perfect! I just toss them on there and go with it. Fold the edges of the tart up and pinch to seal.

Bake for 20 minutes. 

After 20 minutes, I usually tent my tart with foil, so that the crust and tomatoes don't burn while the cheese filling continues to set. 

Bake an additional 20 minutes. 

Cut into triangles and serve it hot right out of the oven, or at room temperature. Both are equally delicious.

Last night, I added a layer of Trader Joe's basil pesto under the goat cheese. It made it even more rich and flavorful, but is definitely not needed.