I know, I know. Here I go about tomatoes again. But, OMG…
You guys. I totally didn’t kill my tomatoes this year.
This is BIG news. As someone who is enthusiastic about growing things, it can be slightly disheartening when I kill my succulents. Correct. I have killed various cacti in my gardening career. Don’t even get me started with my various vegetable growing flops. It’s a sad scene.
Last year I had big dreams of starting a sizable veggie garden. There was a lot of time that went into leveling out the perfect spot, working the dirt, sprouting some seeds etc… Then, one sunny Sunday afternoon Peter and I decided it would be a good idea to go see some Golden Retriever puppies we saw advertised in the paper. Can I just give you a word of advice? NO ONE JUST GOES TO SEE PUPPIES. You think you’re going to go and SEE them, and then you end up whipping out your checkbook and becoming a parent to the cutest, fluffiest, little fur-baby ever to lick you on the face. It was impulsive and I’m not sure I was fully ready for the tornado of parenthood that ensued. Granted, it was the cutest, softest, tiniest, most lovable tornado EVER. No regrets.
The first thing Emma did when we brought her home was take a dump on the carpet. Standard. The second thing she did was hurl her entire tiny body into a bowl of water. Standard. The third thing she did was follow me outside and try to uproot my zucchini plant. Totally standard. Thus began my even more tumultuous relationship with gardening. If I had trouble keeping my undisturbed plants upright and green before Hurricane Emma, it was going to be twice as hard now. She quickly adapted my plot of garden-ready earth as her personal toilet. Ugh. I started to give up. My focus switched from trying to keep lots of little baby plants alive to just trying to keep this one puppy from offing herself by swallowing rocks or chewing on wires. Thus, my garden DIED. Hard. The good news is that Emma is totally still with us. She’s a little over a year old now. She really loves hugs, sweet potato fries, long walks on the beach anywhere, and obsessive games of fetch.
This spring I decided I was going to buy a new tomato plant. I didn’t even care what kind it was. I searched for the one that looked the strongest. Which one was I most likely NOT to kill? Would it survive a friendly “Hello” from my rambunctious animal companion? My goal was simple: Don’t kill it. I threw the plant with the thickest stems into my cart and made the purchase.
I watered it. I cautioned Emma to leave it alone. I talked to it a little bit. I watered it some more.
Then it happened. TOMATOES! We did it. Perhaps it’s a small victory, but it’s my victory. I will take it. Let’s turn those precious little cherry tomato jewels into a galette! Let’s fulfill their delicious tomato destiny by baking them into a savory crust and pairing it with goat cheese and basil. This, my friends, is going to taste like success!
I packed my husband the leftovers for lunch the next day. My g-chat window opened around 12:30pm with a message from him. It went something like this:
Peter: OMG! This leftover tomato thing is so good!
Gina: Right? Doesn’t it taste like a tomato pie?
Peter: Kind of, yeah! It sorta tastes like a dry pizza.
Gina: …
Peter: TOTALLY NOT IN A BAD WAY.
Gina: You should be a food writer.
So, there you have it folks. Months of growing, loving, and whispering to these tomatoes = a super tasty kinda like a dry pizza, BUT TOTALLY NOT IN A BAD WAY treat. Is Bon Appetit hiring? I should totally submit an application. Enjoy!
Cherry Tomato & Goat Cheese Galette {Gluten-Free}
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup all purpose gluten-free flour blend (I used Bob's Red Mill)
- 1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
- 1/4 cup almond meal
- 4 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 tbs ice water
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved lengthwise
- fresh cracked black pepper
- 1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese
- 1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
- Balsamic glaze
Instructions
- Combine flour, almond meal and cornmeal and salt and butter into your food processor. Process until the mix looks like a course meal.
- While your processor us running, add in your ice water through the chute at the top of the machine. Process the mix until it is just combined.
- Scoop your mix into some parchment paper. Wrap it up into a ball and allow it to chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
- Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
- Once your dough had chilled, unwrap it. Place another piece of parchment paper on top of your dough ball.
- Roll out a 13 inch circle using a rolling pin over the parchment paper.
- Remove the top piece of parchment paper to reveal your rolled out dough.
- Arrange your cut cherry tomatoes on top of the dough, cut sides up. You are going to want to leave an inch and a half border of dough around the tomatoes.
- Sprinkle the tomatoes with a pinch of salt and some fresh cracked black pepper.
- Fold the edges of your dough over to partially cover the tomatoes. Be gentle.
- Slide the parchment paper that is holding the galette onto a pizza pan.
- Bake for 25 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.
- Remove from oven and sprinkle evenly with your goat cheese. Bake for an aditional 5 minutes.
- Allow your galette to cool and then sprinkle with your chopped basil.
- Cut into wedges and serve with a balsamic glaze. I bought mine pre-made at Trader Joes, but you can make one very easily by reducing balsamic vinegar in a pot until it becomes syrupy.
- Enjoy!
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