Honey Tomato Bruschetta with Ricotta

Yes I'm still on my tomato kick, it may last for another month or so, so please bear with me. I promise to never bring you something dull, like the tomato sandwich on white bread with mayo and salt that I just gobbled up. I came across this bruschetta recipe by cookbook author Susan Spungen the other day. Ive always been a fan of sweet and savory recipes like this one. Recently at the farmers market I was actually asked what I did with all these tomatoes, as I have been stopping by weekly picking up a bucket of assorted tomatoes. I was about to say, 'going home to make honey tomato bruschetta...' I thought that sounded kind of obnoxious, so I said 'lots and lots of tomato sauce.' The woman at the farmers stand seemed satisfied with the answer, bagged my tomatoes and said she looked forward to seeing me next week. Driving home I felt a wee bit bad about my white lie, perhaps Ill bring her a sample of my honey tomato bruschetta next time I swing by.

• 2 pints of cherry or grape tomatoes
• 1 1/2 Tb olive oil
• 3 Tb clover honey
• 2 ts thyme leaves
• 1 ts kosher salt
• ground pepper
• 12 baguette slices cut 1/2 inch thick
• 1 cup fresh ricotta (I drove 20 minutes to get the good stuff from a little Italian market)
• 6 basil leaves thinly sliced

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl toss the tomatoes with the olive oil, 2 Tb honey, thyme leaves, salt and pepper. Place the tomato mixture on the baking sheet with tomatoes turned cut side up. Bake for about 1 and 1/2 hours until the are shriveled and brown. Let cool.

Preheat broiler. Spread out baguette slices on a baking sheet. Broil for about 30 seconds on each side until the edges are lightly brown. Spread the ricotta over the baguette slices and top with the tomatoes. Lightly drizzle with the last Tb honey, sprinkle with the sliced basil. Ok folks, lets put it this way. First you have the crunch of the baguette, then the creaminess of the ricotta, the roasted flavor of the tomato and finally the sweetness from the clover honey. Do I sound like Rachel Ray or what? I'm not even a fan.