Summer officially starts at the pixxer household when the dense, richly-flavored, dry-farmed early girl tomatoes arrive at our farmers’ markets. Dry-farming is possible in California b/c, as anyone who reads the news anywhere knows, it doesn’t rain for half the year — the warm half — and so watering can be controlled completely by the gardener or farmer. At least something good comes out of fire season!
And as anyone who has lived half a mile from the Bay in Berkeley (as I do) knows, we’re unlikely to get a good tomato out of our back yard (as I write, it’s mid-July and the high today will be 66). So farmers’ markets are the thing. [For the locals: Dirty Girl Produce are THE BEST, and Tomatero Farm is nipping at their heels.]
We put off having a lot of foods we really enjoy until the tomatoes come in. Sure, if you are desperate to top a hamburger in March, you can get something sorta-red and possibly even moist at the grocery store, but for any dish where the tomato taste actually matters, you really want to wait for the good stuff.
Here is what a 10-lb box of Tomatero tomatoes looked like on our kitchen island in 2019.
OK, we don’t always buy 10 lb/week :) But when we do, we can make this superb roasted fresh tomato sauce from our local chef Christopher Wilkes Lee. The requisite 4 pounds of tomatoes almost exactly fill my oblong glass baking dish — I think it’s 9x12”. Chef Lee’s suggestions for use are not limited to spaghetti — be sure to check them out, and cruise his site for information on ingredients. We made this sauce a few times last summer, and froze some of the sauce to enjoy all winter. I added a lot more oregano than is in the recipe, b/c, well, I would.
For this diary, I’m going to present some slightly less usual things that depend on excellent fresh tomatoes. At the end, I’ll also link a bunch of previous WFDs where I included tomato stuff. I hope to acquire more ideas in the comments!
Tl;dr version:
- Tomato clafoutis (photo above) veg
- A “laid out” Nicoise salad (contains tuna)
- A comfort food with hard boiled eggs and peas veg
- Tomato, leek and cheese tart veg
- Tarragon-tomato soup veg
Some super-easy ideas:
- Avocados and tomato condiment veg
- Fried green tomatoes veg
- Bruschetta veg
- Spaghetti with slightly-cooked fresh tomatoes and basil veg
- A smooth (sieved) fresh tomato sauce
And I’ll add some links to previous WFDs at the end.
Tomato clafoutis
Photo at top. This is why we have summer — so we can have tomato clafoutis. The original recipe is by Patricia Wells, from her At Home In Provence, an outstanding cookbook. My version here very generously serves the two of us; it would serve four as a good-sized appetizer. (The original is larger in size.) This flan pan is 8” in diameter at the edge, 7” inside the bottom, and just under 7/8” deep. This version of the recipe just fits. I put a tray on a lower oven shelf to catch drips, but so far haven’t had any.
- 1 ¼ lb richly-flavored summer tomatoes
- 1 ½ tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- about 3/8 cup finely grated Parmiggiano Reggiano
- 2 tsp fresh thyme leaves, carefully stemmed
Peel the tomatoes: plunge them into boiling water for 1 minute, retrieve and let cool so as not to burn your fingers, and remove the peels. [In the main photo rendition above I did not peel them, which worked ok. But peeling is better.] Remove tough cores. Cut the tomatoes into wedges. [I cut 1 1/4” tomatoes into 4 wedges, larger (but not much) ones into more pieces.] Arrange on a double thickness of paper towel. I can just crowd them in on one normal dinner plate. Sprinkle with the salt, as evenly as you can. Top with another double-thickness of paper towels and let sit to purge tomato liquid. “At least 10 minutes and up to 1 hour” — I always allow an hour.
Preheat oven to 375.
Combine eggs, cream, half the cheese, and half the thyme. [Here, Ms. Wells says to salt lightly, but with the salt on the tomatoes already, I don’t find I need to add any more.] [Hint: measure the cream in a glass measuring cup, add everything else and mix by rolling a whisk between your hands— saves a little washing up.]
Fill the baking dish with the tomatoes, and pour the cream mixture over them. Sprinkle the rest of the cheese and thyme over the top. It’s very beautiful here, but you do have to cook it.
“Place in the center of the oven until the batter is set and the clafoutis is golden and bubbling, about 30 minutes.” This can be served warm, or you can wait till it cools to room temperature.
This is one of our favorite summer recipes!
Most beautiful Niçoise Salad
We make this salad pretty much once a week during tomato season — a Niçoise, using a “format” I found through an irresistible photo in Saveur. I’d never had a Niçoise before, so this “laid out” organization is the only one I’ve ever used. It’s fun b/c you can intentionally combine particular tastes in a single bite, or isolate them, as you wish. Also just lovely to look at. But do eat it. We had this for dinner Wednesday.
The essential in this salad is the Dijon vinaigrette, which is, basically, perfect. We make it exactly as Saveur describes it, and use most or all of it for our two servings. [I call this the Miata of dressings, to remind us that any change from the perfect original will give a less-optimal result!]
- Mash one chunked clove of garlic with ½ tsp salt, to make a paste.
- Add 1/3 cup EVOO, 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice, 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard, 1 shallot, minced, and a bunch of freshly ground pepper. Whisk together till well suspended.,
Build this around canned tuna. The veggies can be — well, anything you like! We typically add small Tokyo turnips, which are eaten raw, and leave out the beets, which Mr pixxer is not fond of. Boil the filet beans in salted water for 2 minutes and remove, then toss the potatoes and eggs into the same water; remove the eggs after 10 minutes, the potatoes after 15 or 20, whenever they are completely done. If using beets, those will have to come last or be boiled in a separate pot, unless you want them to color your other veggies.
Looking back at the original recipe, I see our plates are much more densely packed than the one Saveur shows. That’s why all the dressing...
Comfort food — Tomatoes, peas, and hard boiled eggs over bread, topped with white sauce.
This is a somewhat problematic “recipe,” b/c one wants to have it when it’s miserable and rainy outdoors; but of course, that’s mostly not tomato season. Dirty Girl Produce out here does manage to provide outstanding tomatoes into November, so at least there is a little overlap — and what the heck, if it’s overcast and only going up to 66, who cares if it’s actually July — just make this delicious, homey dinner. We had this last week.
I make a white sauce (for two of us) starting with about 1 Tbsp butter and an equal amount of flour, then adding a bit over 1 cup of milk (usually whole milk) and ½ tsp salt. We normally cook up ½ cup of peas (frozen, typically) for the two of us, but the photos are of a time we wanted to use up peas, so we used more. Whatever. Several small tomatoes, one hard boiled egg per person, cut into big chunks, and two slices of Italian or French bread or whatever you enjoy. We had this for dinner a week and a half ago.
Tomato Tart
This is a recipe I make many times each tomato season (this year, starting two nights ago :). We split the entire thing between the two of us for a single-dish dinner. I have been known to make a 4/5 recipe, which works great, and lets you add a salad or something. I think these photos are 4/5 size.
I’ve written this up in a previous WFD (Accidental Vegetarian — my personal favorite :) , which refers you to 1) my blog writeup, which differs from the original recipe (I do not get $ from the ads Wordpress places — Wordpress does) and the original at Google books.
Briefly: make a butter crust, chill (1 ½ hours — not a quick dinner idea) and roll, top with leeks cooked in butter and a bit of water (and salted), top with basil, shredded cheddar, more basil, tomato slices (S&P), fold in the edges and bake. I make it in an oval b/c it will fit into our small oven, but the original round version is lovely.
Tomato and Tarragon Soup
This is an excellent soup closely based on a recipe from a lovely cookbook, Recipes from a French Herb Garden, by Geraldene Holt.
- 4 Tbsp butter
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- ½ stick celery, chopped
- 1 ½ lb ripe tomatoes — plunge into boiling water 1 minute to loosen the skins; cool; peel, and chop
- 2/3 cup dry white wine
- 1 bay leaf
- 4 allspice berries
- strip of orange peel — just the orange part
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 Tbsp fresh tarragon, chopped
Cook the onion, garlic, and celery in 2 Tbsp butter for 2-3 minutes, add the remaining ingredients, but only half the tarragon. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce the heat a bit, and cook another half hour or so. Use a food mill or other sieving device to strain the soup. Check the seasoning, add salt if you like, and the rest of the tarragon. Return almost to a boil and add the other 2 Tbsp butter. Serve with more tarragon on top, or else sour cream (my personal fave).
Four super-easy fresh-tomato things
Tomato-avocado condiment
Here’s something Mr pixxer came up with: a simple, positively scrumptious condiment — or salad, depending on how much you make. Typically the avos and toms are in equalish amount — whatever you like. Play with this. Sorry I don’t have a photo I like of this, strangely enough.
- Avocado, firm-ripe, cut into 1/2” to 3/4” dice
- Richly-flavored summer tomatoes, cut about the same size as the avos
- Maybe a bit of salt on the tomatoes
- Shallot, or mild red onion — not a lot (maybe 1 Tbsp or so for a large avo and similar toms?)
- Balsamic vinegar — the cheap stuff, not aged. Just a splash — shouldn’t be soaked.
- EVOO if desired. Mr pixxer makes it with or without oil.
Instructions:
Fried Green Tomatoes
It’s not just a movie! This is what you do when the season is ending and there are beautiful tomatoes on your plants that are just going to die in the cold b/c they don’t have time to ripen. A firm, green tomato fries up beautifully. The recipe below is from The Joy of Vegetables, which is our name for what is in the real world called The Victory Garden Cookbook, by Marian Morash. I think this book ought to be in the kitchen of any gardener. It has the simplest and also a zillion more complex ways to use most popular garden veggies.
Fried green tomatoes, oddly, tend to taste like apples to me. I love these!
- Wash green tomatoes, pat dry, and slice thickly.
- Dip into your choice of flour, breadcrumbs (the photo shows Panko b/c we had some) or corn meal, seasoned with salt and pepper. [My guess is corn meal would get kinda rock hard but I’ve never tried it.]
- Saute the tomatoes in a butter/oil mixture, or bacon fat, till lightly browned.
Tomato-basil bruschetta
- Ripe tomatoes, cut into fairly small dice
- Basil, chopped or torn into small pieces
- EVOO
- salt
- Bread or baguette slices, lightly toasted (do this on the grill, if you have the grill going anyway)
Mix the tomatoes and basil, and salt to taste (and you actually can taste it, so “to taste” is legal here!)
Add a small amount of EVOO to tie everything together, and mix gently. Refrigerate.
Serve the toasts topped with the tomato/basil mixture.
Fresh tomato-basil pasta
The neighbors (which is to say, pixxer-son and pixxer-DIL) took a brief trip, during which they knew many tomatoes on their two plants* would come of age, so we were invited to raid them. Mr pixxer made this pasta for dinner.
- Cut tomatoes into chunks — maybe, ½ inch or a bit larger?
- Cut or tear basil leaves
- Cook the tomatoes and very briefly in EVOO, salting and peppering to taste.
- Cook spaghetti and add to the tomato/basil mix; toss to coat. [Use the spaghetti water to heat the pasta bowls, and drain just before serving.]
Another very simple fresh tomato sauce for pasta
This is the sauce I use for some ravioli recipes. It’s based on a recipe from La Cucina Italiana, (Italian version) to which I subscribed Mr pixxer several Christmases ago. I use Paul Bertolli’s recipe for pasta dough: 1 cup flour, 1 large egg, minimal water; and stuff 2/3 of the dough with ½ cup fresh, fluffy ricotta, mixed with ¼ tsp salt, and a bunch of freshly grated nutmeg. World’s easiest ravioli. (I cut the rest of the dough for other uses — like lunch.)
Quantities are up to you. May as well make lots.
Cut an X through the stem end of each tomato, drop in small batches into boiling water for 1 minute, let cool, peel them, seed and chop. If you have a fine enough food mill, you can skip the “seed” step b/c the seeds will not go through the sieve.
Place the chopped tomatoes into hot olive oil in a frying pan (Mr p uses cast iron for this. I know, I know, that’s not legal...). Cook 1 minute. Press through a food mill. Cook another 3 minutes, adding salt to taste. Add the cooked pasta (ravioli or other delight) to the hot sauce and gently mix to coat thoroughly. Serve in well-heated bowls (you can use the pasta water to heat the bowls).
We normally make a lot of this and just leave what we need in the pan for the current pasta. Of course, you can add tons of stuff to it — herbs of your choice, sausages, mushrooms — whatever amuses you.
Oh, so many more things to do...
You can have tomatoes in your plain old tossed salad — or these less usual ones: “Taco salad;” or Salad Miranonte (with toasted almond slivers, bacon, gruyere, garlic croutons, and romaine). Or the great tomato classic, Caprese. It’s time for BLTs, or a slice of tomato in your cheese sandwich, for tabboulli, gazpacho, Greek salad, panzanella, or just to coat your tomatoes with olive oil, salt and pepper, and fresh herbs (consider thyme) and broil them for breakfast.
The links in the above paragraph go to old WFDs of mine where you can find the recipes described. I hope other WFDers will provide links to diaries with fresh tomatoes in them, too.
Want something simpler? WaPo has an article on “tomato sandwiches,” the first of which uses the tomato slices as the “bread,” and the others of which are more traditional. Look super! [This is likely firewalled, with a couple articles/month free — I am a subscriber so I don’t see this.]
And I haven’t even mentioned pizzas!
*An odd tomato story:
pixxer-son and pixxer-DIL, despite the west-west Berkeley odds against them, planted two tomato plants in summer 2020. They grew up and had a few tomatoes, but the tomatoes were uninteresting and the gardeners basically gave up on them. (Mr pixxer and I did get some fried green tomatoes out of it.)
Remarkably, this spring, the plants started producing bunches of tomatoes, and one of the vines actually had quite tasty ones by June. Have you even heard of a tomato plant producing better fruits in its second year?? (Did I mention we have very mild winters?)
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