Heart-Shaped Tomato Tarts

Ok, I'm making a commitment. From now on I will be more organized with upcoming holidays so that I post the holiday snack the week before the holiday occurs instead of after it's over.

Except for today which is heart-themed for valentines! I actually like Valentines Day, and did even when I didn't have a significant other to celebrate it with. I love corny valentine cards(especially if they're pun-ny) and the excuse to make things heart-shaped.



This snack was really easy as it was mostly assembly-based and would be pretty simple to make in a different shape (I would go with circle since tomatoes are round). I also wish I'd had some fresh basil. Unfortunately, my grocery store didn't have any in stock so I used dried. A few springs of the fresh would have looked really pretty on these and tasted amazing.

Heart Shaped Tomato Tarts

Ingredients 

1 package of frozen puff-pastry (2 sheets) This can be found the freezer section near frozen pie crusts.
2 tomatoes
1 Tbsp dijon mustard
1 egg
basil (preferably fresh)

 Directions

Defrost the puff pastry according to the package directions. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Use two different cookie cutters of the same shape but different sizes. Cut out as many as you can of the large shape (I used hearts). Cut out the center of half of the large shapes with the smaller cutter. Lay the outside piece on top of one of the whole larger hearts to make a raised outline. If you don't have a bunch of cookie cutters you could just cut rectangles pretty easily for this.

Spread a little dijon mustard on the center of each pastry. Top with a piece of tomato cut with the smaller cutter (or pieced together, but this doesn't look as pretty). Brush the exposed pastry with a little beaten egg. Sprinkle with basil.

Bake on an non-greased baking sheet for 12-14 minutes until pastry has puffed and is golden brown. Garnish with fresh basil. Serve warm or at room temperature.

The original recipe for this (or at least the one that I originally used) is at Winos and Foodies.com  

our valentines day dinner

candles and dim light made an intimate table at home

I do also make food beyond snacks. Nathan loves meat loaf so I made special mini meat loaves for our valentines dinner (going out is crowded, over priced, and much less intimate).
Any meat loaf recipe can be mini (which makes it way faster to cook). Just shape meatloaf mix into desired shape on a baking sheet and top with glaze of choice. Mine baked for about 25 minutes at 350 and were perfectly done.
I used the same large shaped heart cookie cutter and packed the meat mixture inside it. Then slid it off. the meatloaf kept its shape really nicely!.
I served them on a bed of mashed potatoes with some roasted asparagus bundled with prosciutto (yum!). Nothing was too complicated to make (because I didn't want to be stuck in the kitchen).
When we were done we were able to adjourn to the sofa for snuggling, champagne, and chocolate covered strawberries. You can't do that at a restaurant!