I always say if there was anyone I’d be other than myself it’s Ina Garten. She’s absolutely fabulous and I adore her. Who wouldn’t want to live in the Hamptons in a beautiful house with a fabulous garden. Besides, Jeffrey has got to be the cutest thing ever. I often watch her show on boring Saturdays or Sundays and always find myself wanting to hop up and start cooking. While watching her show one lazy day I saw her make this recipe. How much easier could it get? Of course I’d have to make a few changes. Being a vegetarian I’d have to omit the Salmon and I’m not sure I’d like egg salad heated up in the oven. Yuck. Maybe I could work this with a few twists of my own.

Start out by preheating the oven to 400 degrees. We then grab a few slices of Bakery Bread. I usually ask them to slice it for me at the bakery counter at the supermarket so that they’re all the same size. Lay them out on a baking pan without overlapping.

Pop them in the preheated oven for roughly 10 minutes or until the slices start to crisp up. You don’t want to let them get to brown otherwise they’ll burn when you return them to the oven. In this time I like to gather my toppings of choice. You could easily use anything that strikes your fancy. Any combination of cheeses, meats, vegetables would be great. If you’re into hot tuna sandwiches you could add that but the thought of heated mayo makes me want to gag. You could also add some Nutella and fruit. The possibilities are virtually endless. Mine are typically made up of the following:

Boursin Cheese which may be one of the best foods on the face of the planet and really flavorful tomatoes. There’s something about this that makes me feel like I’m at a bistro in Paris wearing an Hermes scarf and a reading Sarte. The boyfriend on the other hand happens to be a 5 year old child trapped in a very attractive man’s body. No matter how much I tried I couldn’t get him to stray from his old favorites.


Thats right. My Peter Pan like boyfriend will only have his with Ham and Kraft Amerian Cheese. This might also be excellent for small children or other finiky eaters because he thinks this is the greatest thing on the face of the planet. At this point I get some assistance from my favorite little helper, my cat Funkey Monkey.

Since one of her absolute favorite things are tomatoes she gets to share in mamma’s fun.


Once the bread is sufficiently toasted remove it from the oven and spread/place the cheese. Then top it with the meat/veggies. I like to top mine with some freshly cracked pepper so that it looks like this.


Then I add some Italian Seasoning. Of course you could use any seasoning you like. Oregano, Basil, Thyme, Savory, Dill. It all depends on the flavorings you choose. Perhaps salmon and dill or Tapanade and Thyme. I’d just make sure its whatever you’d like. Make sure that you use dried for this purpose though. Fresh burn too quicky.

Once you’ve got all your toppings situated, pop the sheet pan back in the oven for another 5-10 minutes or until the cheese is melty and the bread is toasty. Once they come out they should look vaguely like this.

Now the thing that I learned from watching The Barefoot Contessa is that slicing the bread into strips is what makes them “Tartines” rather than hot open faced sandwiches.


Serve them up and enjoy!