Tomato Tart with Brown Rice Crust

I ended up giving a good bit of brown rice left over from the Baked Brown Rice I posted about last week. I found a great use for it while paging through my copy of The Essential Vegetarian Cookbook by Bay Books. I adapted the recipe quite a bit, but used the Brown Rice Tart with Fresh Tomato Filling on page 148.

We've had nice weather here lately so we've been firing up the grill quite a bit. Rather than oven roasting the tomatoes, we threw them on while our chicken was grilling last night. Of course they would be delicious either way.

Tomato Tart with Brown Rice Crust

Brown rice crust:

2 cups cooked brown rice

1/4 c shredded cheese (I used mozzarella b/c I had it)

1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 400 F. Spray a pie or tart pan with cooking spray. Mix rice, egg, and cheese together and press into greased pie pan. Bake for 15 minutes.

Tomatoes:

6 Roma tomatoes, washed and halved

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Rub tomatoes with olive oil, salt and pepper to taste and roast in oven for 30 min. Alternately, grill on medium heat, skin side up first, for 3-5 minutes per side.

Filling:

4 large eggs

1/4 c milk

2 oz goat cheese or feta

2-3 oz basil pesto

Fresh ground black pepper

Arrange tomatoes on rice crust. Crumble goat/feta cheese over tomatoes. Beat eggs and milk together, season with pepper, and a pinch of salt if using goat cheese rather than feta. Pour egg mixture over tomatoes. Drizzle or scatter pesto over top of egg mixture and tomatoes. Bake in 350 F oven for about 30 min, until eggs are cooked through.

The leftover rice dried out a bit, which allowed it to make a crust with crunchy edges, which I really liked. This was delicious, with Mister Gurgly and Little Gurgly approving. I suspect the leftovers will make a great lunch tomorrow. Because it will be great warmed or at room temperature it is great for a brown at lunch, and would also be great picnic food if you sliced it ahead of time and wrapped each portion in some foil.

We served with a large garden salad and it is fantastic. I don't know that I would make rice for the sole purpose of making this, but I will certainly add to the rice I make so I have extra to make this.