Confession.... I killed my garden this year... I have never had such a garden fail before!!! We had some kind of alien invasion of some evil weed that had a personal vendetta against me and my tomatoes. It has been all kinds of tragic this summer. About a month ago my husband went over the entire garden area with an all veg. killer because there was just no possible way to weed out this intruder! I have never seen anything like it before. I swear the weeds popped up over every square inch of my garden overnight and grew at least 2 inches a day. It was awful! So sadly *tear* I haven't had any home grown heirlooms or baskets and baskets of peppers and all manner of lovely garden glory to cook with this summer. It has almost ruined my life, but not quite. ;) I can tell you that I do have the most awesome hubby ever, who looks out for his gal. He brought me an entire case of heirloom tomatoes home from work to make up for my garden fail. Heirloom tomatoes are my #1 favorite food on earth. There isn't anything that can beat a nice ripe tomato right from the vine. If you haven't been harvesting these from your own garden, I am truly sorry. "You are a sad, strange little man. You have my pity." (Quote from Toy Story.) Yes, we watched that today. And yesterday. :) Back to my tomatoes... I have made a plethora of deliciousness with said case of heirlooms, but this right here was my fav. I saw a glimpse of something similar on the front of a magazine and it hit me! I must make this!!!
As fast as my little feet would carry me, I headed over to Harmons to pick up some artisan bread. I picked the roasted garlic loaf. YUM.
I would like to call this treat: The Mighty Ombre Heirloom Tomato Toast.
This dish requires me to gush a little more, I'm afraid. It has everything going for it. Grilled artisan bread, parmesan cheese, heirlooms of many colors, kale chips, fig balsamic reduction drizzled with a little olive oil. It melted my brain. It was THAT GOOD. Ok, gushing session is now over. :)
If you would like to come along with me to heirloom heaven, tie on your apron and lets get to it!
Preheat your grill to high heat.
Pick your artisan bread of choice and slice it in thirds. I saved the top third for later. (It isn't very flat and is hard to balance with toppings on it.) Spread some olive oil over the bread (or butter) and season with freshly cracked pepper and kosher salt.
Place bread face down on grill and let is toast well. Flip bread over and toast the other side. Remove from grill when it is nice and golden.
Sprinkle shredded parmesan cheese over grilled artisan bread and set it aside.
Preheat your oven to a low broil. Meanwhile, line a baking sheet and toss on 2-3 cups of baby kale leaves. (I get mine at Smiths in the pre-washed and ready to eat bags.) Drizzle with a few tablespoons olive oil. Sprinkle kosher salt and freshly cracked pepper over kale. Toss well to coat evenly and broil in the oven for a few minutes.. Like 3-5. It only takes a few minutes to get these little kale chips perfectly crispy. May I just say, wow these are great! You know the amazing caramelized bits of crispy brussel sprouts when they are broiled or fried??? No? Well they will straight up change your life. The entire pan of these kale chips taste like that. It makes me happy.
Oh my goodness gracious. These are lovely.
Now it's time for the fun part! Pick your prettiest colors of heirlooms and get slicing! In the case that hubby brought home I had many options but here are the ones I chose. Gorgeous. I love the striped skin of these dark beauties. Thinly slice your tomatoes of choice and arrange them according to your creative eye. They would be pretty all mixed together randomly too. I went with kind of an ombre arrangement. Lay the slices out on the grilled bread over the parmesan cheese.
Once that is done sprinkle on a generous amount of your kale chips. To finish off the job, drizzle some fig balsamic reduction (or regular balsamic reduction if you can't find the other) and a touch of olive oil too. Give this toast one last sprinkle of kosher salt and you are ready to eat something special. :)
Introducing your my new favorite food. Mmmmm. I think I just drooled. For real.
Of course you might like to serve this up with a little bowl of the extra kale chips. Cause ya know, we don't want those little morsels from heaven to get left out.
It helps if you get to chat with adorable people of the tiny variety while enjoying this kind of good food. It makes it just that much better. Just love their sweet smiles and mischevious table manners. ;)
Sometimes we eat without shirts on.... Well, not mom.
CLICK ON RECIPE TO VIEW A PRINTABLE JPG
xo
Laura
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