Easy Cheesy Salami Tomato Tart #FridayPieDay

Easy to throw together, this tart starts with puff pastry, topped with pesto, salami, fresh tomatoes and semi-soft cheese, for a savory slice of deliciousness that’s perfect for lunch or dinner. Or enjoy it cold the next day for breakfast. I did!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

It is my pleasure to join my friend, Heather, today for another edition of Friday Pie Day. Make sure to scroll on down to the bottom for the link to her take on classic mince pies.

One of the standard items in my freezer is pre-rolled puff pastry. It thaws fairly quickly and I find it can be ready to unroll by the time my oven preheats, which makes tart making a breeze. The filling is easily adapted to whatever you have on hand - as long as you make sure to include some melty cheese! - so it’s perfect for busy days when you want a special meal but are short on time. Like during the holidays.

This tart is adapted from a recipe at cuisineAZ.

Ingredients
8 oz or 225g all butter puff pastry dough
3 1/2 oz or 100g salami
3 medium tomatoes (Mine weighed about 9 oz or 260g.)
8 3/4 oz or 250g semi-soft cheese (I used Morbier.)
3 tablespoons fresh pesto (Mine was made with wild rocket or arugula.)
Freshly ground black pepper

Optional garnish: chopped green onions

Method
Preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C and line your tart pan with baking parchment.

Unroll your puff pastry dough circle (or roll it out with a rolling pin if it’s in a block) and fit it into your tart pan.

Dock the dough with a fork and bake in your preheated oven for about 8-10 minutes.

Remove from the oven and then turn the temperature down to 350°F or 180°C.

Spread the base of the tart with the pesto.

Top with salami.

Slice your tomatoes very thinly. Cut the hard rinds off of your cheese and slice it as thinly as possible, which frankly is a little tricky with a semi-soft cheese. Do your best.

Top the salami with the tomato slices.

Then top the tomatoes with the cheese slices and give the whole tart a good few grinds of black pepper.

Bake in your preheated oven for about 25-30 minutes or until the cheese is all melted and golden.

Sprinkle with chopped green onions, if desired.

Allow to cool slightly before cutting and serving. You can also serve it at room temperature.

Enjoy!

This easy cheesy salami tomato tart is my contribution to this month's Friday Pie Day, the brilliant creation of Heather from All Roads Lead to the Kitchen. (Formerly girlichef.)

I am pleased to join her on the last Friday of each month for pie and crust recipes, techniques, tools of the trade, and other inspiration.

This month Heather has baked mini cranberry mince pies, an essential for Christmas!

For more information and recipes, please check out her #FridayPieDay page!


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Salami Cheddar Lentil Muffins #MuffinMonday

Spicy salami, extra sharp cheddar and tender lentils combine to make a delicious savory muffin that’s great for breakfast or lunch, with flavor and protein enough to get you through the day. 

If you’ve never cooked lentils before, you can surely used canned ones for these tasty muffins, but lentils are one of the easiest legumes to cook, taking only about 25-30 minutes and no soaking beforehand. Just add a little salt and cover them amply with water. Bring to the boil and then simmer until tender. Rinse and use how you will. (I save the broth for soups too!) I often make a pot of lentils and then drain them and freeze the little green nuggets of goodness. They are great in salads, soups, muffins and quiches or throw a few in an omelet. I also make a lentil burger that I should share someday. Meanwhile, there are muffins!

Ingredients
2 cups or 250g flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 1/3 oz or 150g extra sharp cheddar cheese
7 slices salami (about 2 1/4 oz or 65g)
1/2 cup or 105g cooked, drained lentils (I like the French Puy lentils.)
3/4 cup or 180ml milk
1/4 cup or 60ml canola or other light oil
2 eggs

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your 12-cup muffin tin by spraying with non-stick spray or lining with muffin papers. I tend to just use the spray when I’m baking a cheesy muffin, in case the cheese sticks to the paper liners.

Grate your cheddar if it didn’t already come grated and slice your salami into long strips. Set aside a handful of the cheese, a handful of the drained lentils and 12 of the longest salami strips for topping. Chop the rest of the salami up in smaller pieces.

Combine your flour, baking powder, paprika and salt in a large mixing bowl.

Isn't that paprika a fabulous red?!

Add in the smaller pieces of salami, the bigger piles of cheese and lentils and mix well. Use your fingers, if you have to, to separate the pieces of salami from each other.

In another smaller bowl, whisk together your milk, eggs and oil.

Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ones and stop when it’s just mixed.

Divide your batter between the 12 muffin cups.

Sprinkle the tops with the reserved cheese and lentils. Roll your long strip of salami up into a spiral and poke it into the top of the muffin batter.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Allow to cool for a few minutes in the pan and then remove to continue cooling on a wire rack.

If you can't stand it, go ahead and cut one open and eat it. They are lovely inside.

Enjoy!

Cantaloupe with Salami and Feta

Have you ever seen a cantaloupe the size of an apple?  Neither had I until just a week or two ago.  They are in season here in Egypt, or at least, I assume they are in season because, suddenly, they are everywhere and cheap.  I pick them up in the stores and surreptitiously give their stem ends a sniff, because ripe cantaloupes smell of cantaloupe.  Unripe ones smell of nothing.  I finally found a good one and brought it home.  Much to my surprise, it was green inside.  But the flavor, like the smell, is unmistakably cantaloupe, just like the sign said.

The plan:  An appetizer for our anniversary meal because the tiny cantaloupe is perfect for two people.

Ingredients

1 small cantaloupe or 1/4 of a regular one - any color works!

1/4 small purple onion

6 slices Italian salami

3 oz or 85g Feta cheese

1-1 1/2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar

2-3 tablespoons olive oil

Sea salt

Black pepper

Method

Slice your onion very thinly and cover with the vinegar.  This takes the sharpness out of the onion, still leaving the lovely oniony flavor.

Cut your cantaloupe in half and then into wedges.  Scoop out the seeds and discard.  Using a sharp knife, cut the melon from the peel. 

Slice your salami diagonally and arrange about the salad plate. 

Cut your feta into small squares or crumble with a fork.   

Put the cantaloupe on the plates with the salami and scatter the feta over the salami and cantaloupe.

Add the olive oil and sprinkle of sea salt a couple of good grinds of fresh black pepper to the onion and mix well.   Drizzle this all over the cantaloupe, salami and cheese. 

Make sure you get a bit of everything in each bite you take: salami, cantaloupe, feta and onion.   The sweet melon is divinely offset by the rich salami and salty feta with the balsamic onion dressing.

Enjoy!

Update:  Maybe the season is short, because the pile in Carrefour today was much diminished.  They are still 5.95 Egyptian pounds per kilo (about US$1, so less than 50 cents a pound.)

What's left, nestled amongst the coconuts.