It’s summer, and it’s the perfect season for tomatoes.  Instead of dull red, tasteless little rocks, summer tomatoes are rich and ripe and sweet.  When you eat good, vine-ripened tomatoes, you actually get why tomatoes are considered a fruit instead of a vegetable– they’re so sweet that they have nothing in common with the lowly carrot and zucchini.

Okay, enough fawning over the almighty tomato. Below, you’ll find a recipe for one of my favorite things to make with ripe tomatoes: Tomato Tart Provencal.  It’s the perfect thing to have as a light dinner with a salad and crusty bread (and plenty of wine!).  Or to have around when you want a snack and want to pretend you’re eating something good for you (after all, tomatoes are a vegetable, right?).

You might think this recipe sound similar to pizza, but… sorry, you’re wrong.  The flavors of the gruyere cheese, the herbs de provence, and the dijon transform this little French dish into something totally unique.  This recipe makes individual tarts, though you can do the same with larger one.  Either way, it’s a must try.

Individual Tomato Tarts Provencal Recipe

Ingredients:
4 C. flour, plus extra for dusting
2 egg yolks
1/2 tsp. of salt
1 C. butter, at room temperature
cold water or milk, as needed
2/3 c. Dijon mustard
2 c. Gruyere cheese, shredded
8-10 medium vine ripened tomatoes
3 tsp. dried herbes de provence
salt & pepper, to taste
extra virgin olive oil, to taste

Instructions: 1. In a mixing bowl, combing flour and salt.  Add egg yolk.  Mix butter into the dough with your hands.  Add just enough cold water (be careful!) or milk to help you make the dough into a firm ball.

2. Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, slice tomatoes into just over 1/4″ slices.  Set in a strainer to drain until ready, at least 30 minutes.  You don’t want too much extra liquid.

4. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough out into a large rectangle and cut into 6 equal-sized rectangles.  It’s easier to do it in two batches.  (You can also make your tarts round, if you like.  Or, if you’re feeling fancy, use individual tart shells).

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I just love this super easy curry recipe. It takes no time at all and tastes just wonderful. The coconut milk cools the heat of the curry paste, and gives the curry the rich sweetness that you’re looking for with a Thai Curry. I’m wondering how this will be with a green curry paste…

Red Thai Curry with Shrimp and Spinach

Ingredients:
1 lb. shrimp, peeled & deveined
3/4 lb. fresh baby spinach
1 onion, chopped
1/2 red pepper, chopped
2 tbsp. fresh gingerroot, grated
2 tbsp. red thai curry paste
1 1/2 tbsp. thai fish sauce
4 kaffir lime leaves
1 can light coconut milk
1 tsp. ground cumin
2 tbsp. brown sugar
2 tbsp. chopped cilantro

Instructions: 1. In a frying pan, cook the shrimp in a bit of oil just until cooked through. Remove from pan and set aside.

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Sound a little weird? Well… they aren’t. Though this recipe uses lavender for flavoring instead of the traditional cinnamon and vanilla, the lavender flavor in these muffins is wonderfully light and subtle– not at all overpowering. It gives these muffins a lovely, unusual flavor… slightly floral, but just enough to make them interesting. This is a great recipe for girls-only brunches, where eating things like lavender seems wonderfully girlie and fun. My hubby wasn’t crazy about these, so I’m not sure it’s a great recipe for guys.

Slightly Unusual –but Totally Good– Apple Lavender Muffins

Recipe makes 12 muffins.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 C. all-purpose flour
1/2 C. granulated sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 C. milk
1 tbsp. dried or fresh lavender flowers
1/4 C. butter, melted and cooled
1/4 C. vegetable oil
1 egg, beaten
1 lg. baking apple, peeled and finely chopped (about 1 C.)

Instructions: 1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

2. Grease muffin pans or line with muffin papers.

3. In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder.

4. In a smaller bowl, mix milk, lavender, butter, oil, and egg.

5. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, and add milk mixture. Stir just til combined– don’t overmix.

6. Fold in diced apple.

7. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, until golden.

I looove green chilies. But I have an admission to make. When I lived in the States, I generally bought them in a can. It was just so much easier that way– and I’m infamously lazy. And while they do have lovely canned roasted red peppers here in Spain… it’s hard to find green. And so I had to learn to make them at home.

Now, making roasted peppers (both red and green) isn’t very difficult. If you’ve ever done it, you know that peeling them is really the only hard part– and that if you don’t roast them just right, peeling can be a big pain in the butt. Want to make perfect roasted green peppers (or chiles– whatever you want to use) every time? It’s as simple as:

1. Using oil, not water
2. Getting them black as sin
3. Letting them steam

1. Wash and dry peppers thoroughly.

2. Preheat the broiler. Brush peppers generously with oil (I use EVOO).

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I love love love Mexican food. But it’s all smothered in cheese and greasy, lardy sauces and all kinds of horrible-but-ultra-tasty stuff. I’m amazed, actually, that Mexicans are still here. You’d think they’d all have died of heart disease by now: the food is so good, I don’t know how they can stop eating.

Yesterday I posted a recipe for Heart Healthy Brown Rice and Pinto Bean Salad, which I served with this chilis rellenos casserole recipe. I love chilis rellenos, but they’re greasy, full of cheese, and a pain in the rear to make. And while I will never give up on Mexican food (never, I say!) I do want to find ways to make it a little less, well… a*s-expanding. So here’s my recipe for a low fat chilis rellenos casserole. No, it doesn’t taste just like real chilis rellenos. But it’s healthy, cheap, vegetarian, and pretty darned good.

Low Fat Chilis Rellenos Casserole

Serves 3

Ingredients:
4 large freshly roasted green chilis
1/4 C. chopped canned jalapeño
1 C. low fat cheddar, shredded, separated
3 lg. eggs, beaten
1/4 C. nonfat milk
1/3 C. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. chili powder
3/4 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1/4 tsp. salt
Salsa, to garnish
Low fat sour cream or Greek yogurt, to garnish

Instructions: 1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

2. Layer freshly roasted, cleaned chilis in the bottom of a greased casserole dish. (Or use a couple of cans of whole green chilis, if you like– it’s easier but not as tasty). Sprinkle with chopped jalapeños and 1/2 c. low fat cheddar.

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