Breakfast Tartine

Tartine is a French way of saying open face sandwiches. “shall I make you a  tartine” is so much more alluring than “shall I make you an open face sandwich”, is it not? Don’t they understand romance? Tartines look so beautiful and are flavourful and satisfying. When making tartines I prefer to use Poilane bread if possible, imported from France, or another good quality country loaf, home made or from a good bakery. Poilane is a renowned bakery in Paris, France on rue du Cherche-Midi, producing beautiful, chewy country breads that are shipped all over the world. Holt Renfrew in Toronto sells Poilane loaves at their bakery and at their Holt’s Cafe they make wonderful tartines using thin long slices of the imported bread. Urban Fare in Yaletown in Vancouver used to carry the bread as well. Needless to say I have the bread shipped to me and I love making various tartines with it or just eat it with sweet butter. So good. Now after I have said all that, the bread in the image is not Poilane. Check the tartine category to see images with the real thing.

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Ingredients:

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Round country style loaf, preferable Poilane’s

Goat cheese, softened

Roasted peppers (see below)

Roasted tomatoes (see below)

Poached egg

Good quality olive oil

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Directions:

Slice the bread so you end up with a long thin slice from the entire  loaf. Drizzle olive oil on one side and grill in a panini maker.

Spread goat cheese on the bread, top with roasted pepper, and roasted tomatoes.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper and a few leaves of fresh thyme.

Poach an egg and lay over the tartine.

Drizzle with olive oil, more salt and pepper and serve immediately.

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Roasted Red Peppers 

How to roast peppers:

You can roast pepper over an open flame, such as the gas flame on your cooktop, until the skin is all charred, turning them as needed to get all sides burned, or follow this method for broiling in the oven.

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2 red pepper

1/4 cup olive oil

2 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced

1/4 cup parsley

Salt and pepper

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Directions:

Cut the stem end off the peppers and then cut them into segments along the natural sections. Remove seeds and veins.

Line a baking sheet with foil and brush with olive oil or non-stick spray to prevent the peppers from sticking. Place the peppers segments, cut side down, on the sheet.

Pre-heat broiler to 450℉. When the oven has reached the temperature place the baking sheet in the top rack close to the heat source. The idea here is to char the skin without overcooking the flesh. Let cook for about 10 minutes or until the skin of the peppers looks charred and black on most of the surface. Keep checking to make sure they are not overcooking and turn the baking tray around once through the broiling process.

Remove from the oven, transfer the peppers into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. This will allow the skins to steam up and make it easier to peel it off.

When the peppers have cooled remove charred skin, and place in a shallow dish. Add chopped garlic and parsley, cover with good quality olive oil.

Keep refrigerated but bring to room temperature before using as the oil congeals in the fridge. If you are making this especially for the tar tine above, use immediately and refrigerate what’s left over.

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Roasted Cherry tomatoes

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Ingredients:

A bunch cherry tomatoes

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

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Directions: 

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Toss tomatoes with just enough olive oil to make them glisten. Spread on a foil lined baking sheet and roast in 400℉ oven until they are shrivelled and begin to turn golden in spots.

Remove from oven and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

If you are using immediately proceed with the recipe. If you refrigerate them place the tomatoes in a glass container, pour olive oil over them to cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

These are good on pasta, added to other vegetables or served on their own as a condiment.

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