soupnancy

My favorite ways with tomatoes

Tomato salad with crinkleroot oil, smoked sea salt and greens, maybe some cheese or a poached egg to take it up a notch.

-Slice tomatoes, drizzle them with some good olive oil. I use crinkleroot oil (wild horseradish) for its arugula like bite. Sprinkle on some sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper, a few chili flakes. Dress the greens the same, but with restraint, adding a splash of a good vinegar like balsamic or sherry. Add some fresh mozzarella or some Reggiano, any good cheese. If I want to make it more substancial, I’ll add a poached egg or some garlic toast, some smoked duck or some lardons.

Fresh tomato salsa, “tortilla soup”, and gaspacho

-Halve and seed tomatoes, squeezing out excess juice, and dice. Add some minced shallot, some freshly chopped coriander, a squeeze of lime and/or red wine vinegar, salt, chili, pure or in the form of tabasco, some olive oil. You might want to add a pinch of sugar depending on your tomatoes.

-When I’m alone, I don’t seed or juice them. It makes for watery salsa, but when I’m done, I have this tasty liquid into which I like to dump all the bits of chips from the bottom of the bowl to make “tortilla soup”. It makes a snack into a meal, perfect for midnight after a shift, in front of the TV.

Fresh tomato sauce

-Generally, I prefer a quick cooked tomato sauce, that has that fresh tomato taste, with lots of olive oil. Sometimes, I’ll pump up the mirepoix (vegetable) ratio, add wine, more seasoning, and cook it longer, if I want something more complex, or if I’m adding meat.

-In any case, start by sweating some onions. I usually add a bit of minced carrot and celery, some red pepper. Then garlic, a touch of white wine, good vinegar or lemon juice. Then the spices. I use chili, fennel seed, thyme and oregano. Then go in the tomatoes. Canned is fine, although I usually use half canned, half fresh. If you don’t like skin, then blanch and peel your tomatoes, seed them if you want. You might not want to use all the juice, especially if you won’t be cooking it long. Stick in a bay leaf, even a cinnamon stick if you’re feeling adventurous (particulary good with a pork based sauce). Simmer for 30 min or 1 hour, longer if you’re doing a big batch. Pull out the aromats, douse with a good measure of good olive oil, salt and pepper, and blend.

-With this base, you can play around.....

-add anchovy, olives and capres

-add bacon and mushrooms, (and cream or not)

-add beans, extra peppers and pork or not, spices (cumin, chili, oregano, thyme, cinnamon)

-add curry, yogurt, shrimp or chicken, coriander and coconut

-add tarragon, lemon and cream for mussels, any seafood or chicken

Roast tomatoes as a topping for fish, pasta, even meat

-Halve tomatoes (preferably Roma), toss with olive oil, garlic cloves, herbs of choice, and roast on a baking tray at 400F for 30 minutes. Pull out, peel off the skins if you want, and serve along with the pan juices to dress up fish, meat, pasta or eggs.

-You can do this over a very low heat (160-200F) for hours, and then you have confit, use in the same way.

Ratatouille

-Degorge (slice and salt) your eggplant for at least half an hour. Wipe dry.

Dice up all your vegetables ( 1 onion, 1 eggplant, 2 zucchini, 1-2 red pepper). Mince up 1 celery stick, a couple of cloves of garlic.

-In your big pot, sweat an onion, add a little minced celery, one or two diced bell peppers. Then goes in some minced garlic, some chili flakes, some cumin seeds, maybe some fennel seeds, some thyme, a little rosemary. Deglaze with a ½ cup or so of red wine, and a good shot of red wine vinegar.

-On the side, in a frying pan, saute your eggplant in a good measure of olive oil, toss into big pot. Sauté zucchini in more olive oil, and add to ratatouille. Add a good pinch of salt, sugar and pepper, and allow to simmer for 30min-1 hour. Throw in some fresh basil, and rectify seasoning.

-serve hot or cold, with couscous, pasta, lamb, sausage, eggs or poultry... anything