Lost in France!

Cheese Sister in the Field, Julie Hardridge

For those of you who have been following my stories from France, I must apologize for the lack of input lately. My husband and I have been traveling a lot recently with the holidays and our most recent break from school. When not traveling, school keeps us busy, busy, busy. Things seem to be calming a bit now and hopefully there will be more time for eating cheese.
I should have some interesting opportunities to report on coming up soon. One is to visit a small artisinal cheese maker near our small town here in the South of France with a lovely American lady who now lives here with her husband. Her name is Jean and she is also a decorative painter. In talking to her the last time we visited, she began to mention this quaint little cheese shop that she loves to visit when back in the states and wouldn’t you know it but she was talking about Cheesetique. So Jill, kudos to you, you're even famous here in France. Small world isn’t it? I am also going to have the opportunity to make homemade foie gras pate with a fellow student of mine. She is going to obtain the secret family recipe from her grandmother and allow me to share it with all of you. As you might recall, some time back we did a story on the foie gras museum here in our region. We paid a visit and had the opportunity to taste some of the foie gras made there. While tasty, if you like that sort of thing, apparently there is no comparison to the homemade pate that is famous to this region of France. I’m looking forward to this.
To make up for the lack of reporting lately, I am including one of my favorite recipes I have learned here in France and one that I make quite often, tomato tart with goat cheese. While the cheese used in this recipe is fairly ordinary as far as things go here in France, it is still savory and delicious. If desired, I am sure that Jill can recommend some other options to give it a special Cheesetique flavor. I actually learned this recipe from a fellow student from Corsica where they are known for their wonderful goat cheeses. The Corsican varieties are delicious eaten alone but especially when eaten with fig confiture and fresh brown bread. A delicious treat.

Tomato Tart with Goat Cheese

Crust
8 oz. All purpose flour
4 oz. Salted butter chopped into cubes
4 TBS. Water

In large mixing bowl, place flour and cubed butter. Mix butter in with fingers. When crumbly, add water and cut in with knife. Gather into a ball, bowl should be left clean. Add more water if necessary. For a more buttery crust you can opt to add additional butter to mix. Press into buttered and floured tart pan and set aside. You can also buy pre-made pastry crusts but I highly recommend the homemade version. It’s easy and there is no comparison.

Filling
1 Medium onion, chopped
4-5 thick slices of maple or regular bacon sliced
4-5 vine tomatoes
Goat cheese
Shredded gruyere
Shredded emmental
2 eggs
3/4 Cup cream, half and half or crème fraiche
Salt and pepper

In frying pan cook bacon pieces until browned, set aside. In bacon grease or olive oil, sauté onions. Line bottom of tart with cooked onions. Slice tomatoes and layer on top of onions. Add cooked bacon pieces. Crumble goat cheese into tart, quantity optional. Sprinkle with a handful of gruyere. In separate bowl mix together eggs and cream with a bit of salt and pepper. For additional flavor add some fresh rosemary. Pour mixture over tart and sprinkle with a handful of emmental cheese. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 400 degrees. Enjoy with a glass of Red wine.