One unexpected side-effect of having children is joining mom's groups and hence going to a lot of potluck parties. It's always a challenge coming up with things to bring that can be easily eaten without sitting down at a table with a fork and knife. Never mind that kids will actually eat.
But sometimes, mom's groups get together without the kids (shh, those are our favorite events), and then we can go to town with grownup food and ingredients. This tartine recipe is among them. It came again from the Barefoot Contessa episode "French Made Easy." I made it even easier by buying mini-toasts at Whole Foods -- or so I thought. The tiny size called for cherry tomatoes, which are definitely not easy to slice.
Goat cheese also came from Whole Foods, and I wilted like an arugula leaf when one of the moms said, "You can get a whole huge log of this for $4! at Trader Joe's!" Not at Whole Foods. I've never worked with arugula before, the leaf doesn't have much body, so it sticks and conforms well to the goat cheese smear, but isn't easy to work with since it's so droopy and even stretchy.
I thought this was a wonderful combination. The goat cheese was smooth and creamy, but not so strong that the sweetly bitter argula couldn't get a word in edgewise. Sweet cherry tomatoes are a joy all by themselves. The combination was also delightfully colorful. If I had to pick a nit, it's that the arugula leaf wasn't attractive since it wilted so quickly.
Overall this got good reviews from the moms. From me too, though the preparation was a little more work than I'd expected, but I brought that on myself by buying such a small base.
I have to wonder how this would do with basil too...hmm!
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