Man-Eating Plant Tart

 Welcome back Meshi Maniacs!  Dungeon Delvers?  Laios Lunatics?  What do we call fans of Dungeon Meshi?  I think I like Meshi Maniacs.  Sounds fun and easy to say. Welcome back, Meshi Maniacs!  You've kept up your end of the deal and have come back to see how I approach making the 2nd dish in the series!  So without delay why don't we jump straight into the Man-Eating Plant Tart?

Ah, the lovely tart. Crisp, clean, smooth, adjective four.  Such a great dish.  Goes great with tea as well as it does coffee.  But before we get to the tart part why don't we talking about the Man-Eating Plant part?  Take a look at these beauties.

Fantasy has such a fascination with giant pitcher plants that grab large humanoids!  There's just something so exotic about plants that straight up eat.  But there is a darker side to the Man-Eating Plant.  Join me, if you will for a walk into Nih's Past!  Like any nerd I was in a Dungeons and Dragons group in college.  A long shuttered club called the Miskatonic Student Union. Ah memories. Why bring this up now?  We had one member who had an actual fear of plants moving.  Not plants themselves but the concept of plants moving on their own. If you said, "Did that shrub just move?" the poor guy would freeze. I never found out how this particular fear began but trust me, it was very real.  Through the haze of memory I don't recall anyone bullying him over it, thankfully.  And it is good to know your player's actual fears so that you can avoid putting their characters up against those monsters/situations. Thanks to time and distance I've lost contact with most the members of the old MSU but I hope they are doing well wherever they are!

If you are still reading thanks for indulging me a trip down memory lane!  Now onto the main event, the MAN-EATING TART!  I was so excited to make a fruit tart. Love fruit tarts! And SO MANY OPTIONS!  But then I noticed something.

Wait...what's Chilchuck saying there?  INHANCE!

"It's not sweet! It's salty."  Salty....SALTY!  What the heck, Chilchuck?  I go to bed dreaming of a fruit (sweet) tart and you tell me what you're eating is salty?!  Blasted Half-Foot.  If I ever get my hands on him there's only one way it'll end.

But this is the reality we live in an a salty tart it's going to be.  After doing some slight research (crying while typing words into Google) I discovered an entire realm of savory tarts!  Looking at the original image I think a good candidate will be a Goat Cheese and Tomato Tart!  Goat cheese is more tangy than salty which isn't 100% what Chilchuck is eating but goat cheese is a favorite of mine.

 All tarts start with the base so let's talk crust.  I'll admit that I have made a pie crust or two in my time and I've never been a fan.  A lot of effort to make a dough and having to bake, freeze, bake. And then you put the metal beads in. TOO MUCH!  A lot of steps.  Looking at Senshi here gave me an idea.

Smash and smush.  That sounds like a Graham Cracker Crust to me!  Much better and fewer ingredients.  Let's take a look at my setup.

What are you looking at here?  Simple:

• Graham Crackers (about 11 sheets)
• 7 cuts of butter
• Sugar
• Brown Sugar
• Rosemary (I thought this could make the crust a little more savory!)

The real beauty of the Graham Cracker Crust is how quickly it comes together. You just put the crackers in to a food processor

and WHIIIIRRRRRRRRRRR it up!

Sandy!  Next is melt the butter. I really want to get better at browning butter so I decided to give that a try.  I've not been great at this in the past, believe it or not I don't have the best sense of color so I've let some butter get too golden. Burnt butter is a weird taste!  Recently I've been focusing more on sound and smell.  A bit more concentration but take a look below:

How's it looking, Senshi?

Now the fun part.  You all the ingredients together, create a neat little sand and then push it all into a plate (preferably a tart pan but any pan will do).

Kinda like clay...or that kinetic sand you could buy and make sandcastle out of.  Now that we have the base set up so how about we look at the main event?  The Goat Cheese and Tomatoes!

These tomatoes come from the gardens of my back porch.  Looking a little herloomie. Weird as they may look they have a nice taste.

And the goat cheese mixture is just goat cheese, ricotta and garlic powder.  That's it! Simple, baby!

All you have to do is mash the cheese together.  That's it!  But it wasn't all smooth sailing.  Before I could bake the pie I had to roast the tomatoes.  They need to get as much liquid out as possible.  And...well...

Burnt ><.  And it doesn't look like I chopped enough.  Roasting takes nearly 30 minutes so I'll add more to the tart after it has been baked.  *sigh*  It's not going to look pretty but it'll still be editable, right?  Into the oven this all goes at 425 for 20 minutes. ANNNNDDD

MORE BURING!  This time the edges of the crust. *sigh take two*  But I've made this so let's eat!

I did add more tomatoes after baking and I am not good at plating.  Seriously, this was the best shot I could get.  Disappointed but undeterred I took a bite and

WOW! It was genuinely good! The goat cheese worked well with the graham cracker crust.  The sweet and savory was such a great balance.  Sure it's not the best looking trat but looks aren't everything when it comes to food.  Also, letting it set overnight gave the flavors a chance to mellow.  It's a fantastic breakfast or tea snack.  I'm going to add this to my recipe book and try my best to make a version I'd serve to friends.  That is what cooking is all about!  Right, Senshi?