Mozzarella, Tomato, and Pesto Desperation Tarts

You’ve heard the phrase “Desperation Dinner” well these were my “Desperation Appetizers”.  After accepting an invitation to watch the Michgian vs Alabama Football game last Saturday, I went the whole day not registering the fact that I needed to bring an appetizer.  And the last thing I wanted to do was head to the store about an hour before kickoff when I realized that I needed to bring something, especially since I had no idea  what I wanted to make.  So, I guess you could say I challenged myself to come up with something made with ingredients that I already had.  The pickings were slim shall we say and I stood for many minutes with the doors of the refrigerator wide open and stared at the sad assortment of ingredients that I had to pick from.

I found half of a ball of mozzarella cheese, and I had some Campari tomatoes sitting in a bowl on the counter.  And in the freezer I had a one of the last jars of pesto that I made last year that I pulled out to thaw and a box of puff pastry.  I was good. 

Mozzarella, Tomato, and Pesto Desperation Tarts

1 package of puff pastry, thawed

Mozzarella cheese, shredded

Pesto sauce

Small tomatoes, sliced into thin circles

Parmesan Reggiano cheese

After the puff pastry was thawed out, I used a fluted cutting wheel and cut the pastry into appetizer sized squares and moved them to a foil lined baking sheet.  I should have used parchment paper because I did have a few that stuck to the foil. 

 

I spread each square with pesto sauce and then sprinkled on some mozzarella cheese.  I topped each square with a tomato wheel.  After all of the squares were assembled, I sprinkled Parmesan Reggiano over top of all the squares.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 12 minutes.  I used both pieces of puff pastry that were in the box and it took two baking sheets to get them all baked. 

We were a little late to the party, and missed the kickoff because I still had tarts in the oven!  But off we finally went to watch Michigan get humiliated by Alabama.  Michigan played terrible!  Let’s hope they play better today against Air Force.  BUT, the real game  today is on at the same time.  Central Michigan University vs Michigan State at 3:30pm.

All I can say is Fire Up Chips!   (and Go Blue!)