It's now late summer, and if you have a vegetable garden like I do, you're festooned with a glut of tomatoes. Maybe you've already made gazpacho, fresh tomato sauce, Turkish salad, and more tomato things. The tomatoes keep coming in from the gardent.

It's time for something French: a tomato tart.

This recipe is pretty simple, but it does require some gourmet ingredients. It also requires you to be comfortable working with puff pastry. Since the ingredients are so critical here, some notes on them before the recipe.

This tart is really much better with all-butter puff pastry, which I realize is hard to find in the US. I used Trader Joe's, possibly the only butter puff pastry in the US that is both good and affordable, but is sadly only available seasonally (and not in summer). This recipe is sized for TJ's 18oz box of puff pastry (which comes in 2 squares). If you're using Dufour's 14oz box, or some other brand, you'll need to scale accordingly. And, if all you can get is palm-oil-based puff pastry, use it anyway -- or made your own rough puff.

The cheese I used was homemade, a Neufchâtel-style cheese I made from some raw milk a friend gave me. You won't have this, so use chèvre, ricotta, camebert (rind removed), or a similar soft cheese with mild flavor. The cheese needs to be very soft, but not too wet, so if you do use ricotta or farmer cheese make sure to drain it or press it dry.

This recipe also uses olive tapenade. French tapenade is generally very mild flavored and that's what you want here. If you can't get any, then just puree a cup of pitted ripe black olives (not canned). Another option is actually mustard; French tomato tarts often feature it instead of the tapenade.

French-style tomato tart

• 18oz fridge-temperature puff pastry
• 8-10 oz soft mild cheese (see blog post)
• 2-3 oz olive tapenade
• 6 to 8 medium tomatoes or 4 to 6 large tomatoes
• 2 tsp fresh thyme leaves, or 1 tsp dried
• 1 oz finely grated Comte, Gruyere, or Parmigiano cheese
• Fresh ground pepper
• Olive oil for drizzling
• Baking sheet(s), sharp knife, baking parchment, pie weights, rolling pin, spreading spatula

Heat the oven to 375F with fan, or 400F if you don't have a fan. Spread out the puff pastry on top of baking parchment, using one sheet of parchment for each square if using the TJ's pastry. Flatten it out a bit using the rolling pin.

Using the point of a small, sharp knife, cut around 1/8" deep square/rectangle around 1/2" from the edges of the pastry. You're making a box for the filling, where the edge of the pastry will be the "crust". Use a fork or a dough docker to dock (make indents) all over the pastry inside the box. Cut some more parchment to fit the inside of the box, place it on the pastry and pile pie weights on it to keep the center of the pastry compressed.

Bake for 15 minutes. The edge portion should puff up and the pastry should be very lightly browned and dry. If the pastry is still "wet" and the parchment won't pull free, give it another 3-5 minutes. Let cool for at least 15 minutes.

Spread the center of the pastry with the cheese and the tapenade. Which order you spread them in depends on their relative softness; you want to spread the softer thing on top.

Slice the tomatoes around 1/4" thick and cover the cheese with the slices, slightly overlapping. Sprinkle the thyme leaves across the top, along with a little ground pepper. Evenly cover with the grated Comte or Gruyere, and drizzle with a little high-quality olive oil.

Put the tart back in the oven and bake for another 12-18 minutes. It's done when the pastry finishes browning, and the tomatoes soften just slightly. Do not overcook, as it will turn into tomato/cheese soup.

Remove from the oven, slide the tart onto a cooling rack, and allow to cool for at least 10 minutes. Slice into squares. The tart can be eaten warm, but is easier to handle at room temperature. It does not reheat or freeze well; allow left overs to come to room temperature and eat them that way.

Serves four as a light meal with a green salad, or 6-8 as a first course.

One of the few remaining good food magazines is Culture Cheese Mag, to which we've subscribed for more than ten years. Because we love cheese. And one of the things that Culture does periodically is reader giveaways; we've actually won twice, once a decade ago, and once this month. What do they give away? Well, cheese, of course.

This month's contest was six assorted cheeses from Widmer's Cheese Cellars in Wisconsin. It included a butterkase, "Alpine" cheddar, mild cheddar, colby jack, brick cheese, and cheese spread. After a little recipe searching, we have plans for this cheese.

The mild cheddar was used for sandwiches. I'll use the brick cheese for Detroit pizza, the butterkase for spaetzle, and the colby for quesadillas. My sweetie used the "Alpine" cheddar for ... a souffle!

Since this was for a casual weeknight dinner, she cooked Jacques Pépin's maman's souffle. Mme. Pépin's is a great recipe; it's easier, faster, and doesn't dirty as many dishes. That's because she doesn't separate the eggs. According to Jacques, when she got married she didn't really know how to cook, so she made a souffle ... but she didn't know to separate the eggs. And it worked anyways! It's a little less fluffy than a beaten-egg-white souffle, but still quite good and great for an easy meal.

Even though you haven't won free cheese, I know you'll want to make one too, so here's a recipe:

Jacques Pépin's Maman's Cheese Souffle

• 6 Tbs unsalted butter, plus more for greasing
• 6 Tbs all-purpose flour
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 5 large eggs
• 9 ounces grated cheese (see below), plus optionally 1oz in thin slices.
• 1/2 oz parmesan cheese or similar
• 2 tablespoons minced chives
• bowl, whisk, medium pot, 2qt wide baking pan or gratin dish

Heat oven to 375F.

Melt the 6 Tbs butter in the pan. Whisk in the flour until well combined. Cook over medium heat for around a minute. Pour in the milk (cold is fine), whisking. Cook, whisking frequently, until the milk begins to simmer and the white sauce becomes thick. Remove from the heat and season with salt and pepper, and stir in the cheese. Set aside to cool for 10-15 min.

Grease the baking pan with butter. Powder it with the parmesan until lightly coated.

Whisk the eggs in a bowl until well beaten and fairly frothy. Add the minced chives. Whisk the cheesy white sauce into the eggs, and then pour the mixture into the baking pan. If using, decorate with a few more chives plus the slices of cheese.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until puffed up, brown all over the top surface, and completely done. This souffle can be a bit soupy in the middle, so if you don't care for that (we don't), cook it for another 3 minutes or so after you think it's already done.

Serve very hot, with a simple vinagrette salad.

Note on cheese: this souffle works best with a semi-soft, melty cheese with a medium-strong flavor, such as cheddar, swiss, gruyere, gouda, manchego, raclette, or kasseri. It will not work well with a blue cheese due to the higher fat content.

French onion soup, classically, relies heavily on the flavor of beef stock as a key ingredient. So some 20 years ago I decided that I would figure out a vegetarian version of this winter warmer dish that was as good, or better than, the standard meat version. According to multiple guests, I succeeded -- some even prefer this to the beef stock version because the onion flavor is clearer and sweeter.

Like other dishes where I replace a rich, meat flavor with vegetarian ingredients, the recipe relies on a lot on slow flavor layering. This means that you can't really make further major substitutions, or take shortcuts on the recipe below -- if you don't have the full two hours or some of the ingredients, just make something else. This is not part of my Good First Recipe series.

My version starts at the grocer's. You need brown onions for this (also called yellow onions), and importantly the onions you buy should have thick, brown skins unblemished by mold or dirt.

You're going to need those skins, because you're going to use them to make a brown onion stock. That's one of my tricks for replacing beef stock; the brown onion skins not only give the stock additional flavor, they also give it a rich, dark brown color, so that it looks rich as well as tasting rich. White or red onions will not work.

Before:

After:

The other big part of this soup is low-and-slow caramelization of the onions. You need to take the full 40 to 70 minutes to carefully render the onions deep brown and sweet over a low flame. Don't rush it, and above all don't sear the onions, which will make the soup taste bitter.

You can, however, get as far as making the onion/stock soup, and then set it aside for quite a while; hours, or even overnight in the fridge. So consider making this one a day ahead.

francophilic onion soup

5-6 large brown onions with thick brown skins,
    around 3.5lbs
1 quart vegetable stock or broth
2-3 cups water
4 sprigs thyme
1 bay leaf
2 cloves garlic, crushed but not peeled
salt to taste
3-4 Tbs butter
3/4 cup red table wine
8-10 oz gruyere, emmenthaler or other swiss-style cheese, with a rind 
1/2 a baguette or other European-style bread
Equipment: 4qt soup pot, strainer, large dutch oven or large (14") deep saucepan, 4-6 oven-safe ceramic soup bowls, cookie sheet, cheese grater, broiler

First, make the brown onion stock: halve the onions, cut the ends off, and skin them. Dump the clean ends and skins in the stock pot with the veggie stock and the water. Cut the rind off the cheese, peel off any paper/wax, and add it. Add the bay leaf, two of the thyme sprigs, garlic cloves, and a little salt if you feel the stock needs it. Bring to a boil, turn down to low, then simmer for at least one hour while you prepare the onions.

Once the stock is simmering, slice the onions about 1/4" thick. Heat the butter in the dutch oven or deep saucepan until the butter foams, then add the onions. Turn the heat to low and cover for 5 minutes to get the onions started. Caramelize the onions over medium-low heat (uncovered) for 40 to 65 minutes, stirring and scraping the bottom about once every 10 minutes.

Once onions are soft, sweet, stringy, and caramel-colored, deglaze the pot with the wine. Bring to a boil, then strain the stock into the onions. Add the rest of the thyme, stir, correct the salt, and simmer covered over low heat for about 10 minutes.

Heat the broiler. Slice the baguette 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick, and trim slices to mostly fill the top of each bowl. Put the slices on the cookie sheet, and toast them on both sides under the broiler, briefly.

Grate the cheese. Line up the bowls on the cookie sheet, fill each one 3/4 full of soup and onions (do not overfill), and float a toast or two on top, so that most of the surface of the soup is covered. Cover the toasts with a generous helping of the grated cheese.

Place under broiler until the cheese bubbles and starts to brown, 3-5 minutes. Serve immediately, while still bubbling. Serves 4 as a main dish, or up to 8 in smaller ramekins as an appetizer.

Ingredient Notes: Onions need to be brown/yellow onions with thick, dark brown, non-moldy skins. Vegetable stock-in-a-box works fine for this. Quality instant stock or boullion would also work, if it's not too salty. If you don't have fresh thmye, use 1 tsp dried thyme, divided. The wine should be a dry, medium-bodied red that's not too tannic, such as a ligher pinot noir, a merlot, or a mild burgundy. Kaltbach, comte', appanzeller, and several other cheeses will also work for this; the one to stay away from is Jarlsberg, which tends to separate when heated. The bowls you use should be something heavy, ceramic, and oven-safe. Emile Henry bowls, pictured, are the classic.

Failure Modes: if this soup turns out bitter, it is likely because either you burned the onions, the skins were moldy, or you used a wine that was too tannic. Unfortunately, there isn't a good way to rescue a bitter soup. If the soup is too sweet, try adding a little more salt.

Vegan version: I don't know that this can be made vegan. While vegan cheeses have improved a lot in recent years, they still tend to separate when heated, and lack a rind which is required for the stock. If you want to do this vegan, you'll need to do several batches of experimentation.