This past weekend Ruby had a play date with an adorable little boy named Stellan. He and his lovely parents came over to our house and the adults pretended it was a play date by listlessly looking over in the general direction of our children every once in a while and and saying "oh, look how nicely you two are playing together." In reality, the play date was just a guise for the adults to drink white wine, eat the most luscious heirloom tomato tartlets and enjoy the gorgeous summer day. After a while, I think Ruby and Stellan were on to us and so they began to try and capture our attentions by looking impossibly cute in Mr. Potato Head's glasses and drinking out of our empty wine bottle (not sure if I should have let the wine bottle drinking continue, but it was cute, right?). We remarked on how adorable they were, snapped a photo and then just went right on ignoring them. The tomato tartlets were unbelievably, melt in your mouth, delicious with fresh from the farmer's stand heirloom tomatoes in 3 different varieties, goat cheese from a local dairy, fresh garlic and basil picked from the plant on my porch. They make perfect summer afternoon hor d'oeuvres and couldn't be easier to whip up.

Yield: Makes 18

Ingredients:

2 puff pastry sheets
1/4 cup chopped basil plus 18 basil leaves
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup goat cheese
2 tbsp olive oil
3 medium tomatoes
salt and pepper

Thaw the puffed pastry in the refrigerator overnight or on the counter for about 1 hour. Do not let the pastry get too warm. It should be thawed but still very cold as it is much easier to work with when it is still cold and stiff. Place back into the refrigerator if it gets too warm and sticky. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a small mixing bowl, combine the goat cheese, chopped basil, garlic and 1 tbsp olive oil. Lay the puff pastry sheets out on a lightly floured surface. Use a four inch circular cookie cutter to cut the pastry sheets into 18 rounds. Line two baking pans with parchment paper and place the rounds onto the pans. Spoon one tablespoon of the goat cheese mixture onto each round and spread evenly. Spread over the round, but leave the edges uncovered. Place the tomato slices onto each round. Drizzle the tomato with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the edges of of the pastry are golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack before serving. Serve warm.

Heirloom Tomato Tartlets