Fresh Tomato Tart and Roasted Green Beans w/Lemon and Pine Nuts

Oh my I wish you could smell this blog post. Garlic, basil, cheese, tomatoes. Smells like summer!

I have been very busy cooking for other people the last few weeks. My CSA goodies and my own garden harvests have been sadly neglected. Plus I also accumulate leftover ingredients from parties. Tonight was my first night off in awhile, so I foraged the fridge and counters and immediately thought: Tomato Pie!

Tomato Pie is a Midwest summer classic - fresh tomatoes, mozzarella, fresh garlic and basil, with a little mayo and garlic thrown into a pie crust and baked til melted and yummy,

I used this recipe from Midwest Living, but you can certainly make it up depending on what's hanging around. For some reason (probably testing of some recipe), I had one half of a package of Pillsbury Pie Crust in the fridge. Definitely tomatoes, including some nice yellow ones, which got lost under the cheese. The only thing I'd say about the recipe: Use a mini food processor, no need to drag out the big mama for garlic and basil.

I'm thinking leftovers for breakfast.

Next up - a nice container of tipped and tailed green beans ready to cook. My last couple of dinner parties have gotten steamed green beans with sun-dried tomatoes and toasted almonds. Plus I found my few green bean plants happily producing despite being dwarfed by the squash planted too close to them.

Roasted green beans are not the prettiest dish, but they sure are delicious. And easy. Toss them on a sheet pan. Drizzle with olive oil (lemon flavored if you have it). Zest a lemon with a microplane over them. Season with salt and pepper - I used roasted garlic sea salt and a little of Penzey's Trinidad seasoning. Then throw in some pine nuts. I had a handful leftover from friday's dinner. Roast in a hot oven - 425 at least. Toss after about 8 minutes. Then keep an eye (and nose) on them, You want them slightly blackened, but don't burn the pine nuts. Toss with some parmesan cheese as soon as you take them out of the oven.

These are good hot or cold.





Then I found some sliced zucchini and red onion from a kebab party last week. Roasted those with a little olive oil and I decided to try the Penzey's prime rib seasoning on them. Interesting with a bit of celery seed in there.





Ok that's only the inside fridge. Tomorrow I am tackling the garage fridge....