Tomato tartines are tasty and simple to make

A few pages into Laura Calder’s newest French cooking book and I was inspired to hop a plane to Paris to recreate the gorgeous dishes she reveals through the book’s almost 300 pages of recipes.

Instead, I stopped at a Rothesay market on the way home to try my hand at one of Laura’s creations.

The first task was choosing which delicious dish I would attempt. With at least two pounds of tomatoes fresh from a Hampton garden ripening in my kitchen it seemed a wise move to select a tomato-based recipe.

The book, called French Taste: elegant everyday eating, revisits three seasons of recipes from the Food Network television series French Food at Home, which Laura, a Kingston Peninsula native, hosts.

Each recipe begins with an introduction from the author about her experiences with the dish, tricks and tips to make the recipe better and where and when would be appropriate to serve the meal to friends.

As an inexperienced cook who only attempts the simplest of recipes, I had many questions about Warm Crushed Tomato and Parmesan Tartines, my chosen dish. The first: what are croûtes?

I flipped to one of Laura’s quick essays and there it was – an easy set of instructions for making croûtes, or crisp rounds of baguette.

From there, the recipe had me peeling, deseeding and chopping up a pound of tomatoes, mincing a shallot, playing with spices and using real Parmesan cheese (instead of the kind in the green container – a major faux pas in Laura’s theory that all good dishes start with quality ingredients).

After some chopping, sautéing, simmering, brushing and toasting, the tartines were ready. The final product was a melding of the warm, flavourful topping with the crisp, toasted bottom. The fresh, homegrown tomatoes helped this appetizer taste rich and full – a testament to Laura’s way of cooking.

The directions were simple and clear and the entire recipe from start to finish took me about 40 minutes to complete (a more experienced foodie would likely have finished quicker).

The success I had with this recipe has led me to think I could pull off more and more of the French recipes … I’ll let you know which one will be next!

For more about Calder, her books or television series, visit www.lauracalder.com.

Candice Mac Lean is the editor of KV Style. Reach her at maclean.candice@kvstyle.com.