Greetings Fellow Eaters,
Thanksgiving in August? Well, yes it is
for me. Not only because I have started
planning my favorite meal of the year-time to
order your heritage breed turkeys, folks-but
because I'm filled with an attitude of
gratitude. Outside of the April washout, it
has been a great growing season for farmers
in my area-they're smiling and the market is
lush with gorgeous sweet corn, all manner of
summer squash, watermelon, the juiciest
peaches, and a rainbow of tomatoes.
Before I started shopping at the farmers'
market, I didn't like tomatoes. Not a bit.
I would queasily pluck any limp disc of fruit
from between my burger bun and banish it to
the outskirts of my plate. I guess that's
because it can be nearly impossible to find a
good tomato outside of the market or your (or
your neighbor's) backyard.
Most of the tomatoes you find in the Mega
Mart get their "red" from a blast of ethylene
gas. They are actually picked green and
unripe so they are hard enough to endure the
rough handling of industrial farming
equipment and the long and rigorous journey
from far flung fields. Once they arrive at a
central distribution point, they are gassed
so they have the fire engine hue we seek in
our salad. As a result, it's hard, if not
impossible to find a great tomato at the Mega
Mart-they're grown for endurance, not flavor.
Not so at the farmers' market where
everything is grown to be enjoyed. The food
is ripe-no more than a day, sometimes just
hours, off the field. And boy, can you taste
the difference.
This month's Sustainable Solutions is
dedicated to the tomato-my recent and deepest
love. I may be late to the party, but I'm
making up for lost time.
Here's to enjoying a season of plenty with
many more to follow.
Keep it Real,
Sherri
The Gift of Good Food
This is no ordinary tomato. It is a
treasure. It's the very FIRST tomato of the
season, grown by my late father's dear
friend, Luke. Luke grows three
things-tomatoes, basil and sweet
peppers-passionately and perfectly in his
backyard in the city. He brought it to me
when I was down visiting in Baltimore for the
4th of July. We were both really tickled;
him because he had a tomato by the 4th
("You've got to know what your doing to do
that!"); me, because I was the honored
recipient who got to eat it.
I hesitated before slicing it up. But not
too long. New England winters offer great
gaping holes between tomato seasons. The
first half of it went on my first BLT of the
summer.
The other half found it's way into a big old
mess of jambalaya that I cooked up for my Mom.
Now one half of a tomato does not go far in
the jambalaya pot. But I'm about as
sentimental about New Orleans as I am about
receiving someone's premiere 2007 tomato so I
found it very fitting that the two should go
together. The dish was all the sweeter for it.
Luke's tomato was not organic, it was not
heirloom, but it was simply-in its own poetic
way-one of the best things I have ever eaten.
Hey, Cat Face
The second tomato gift I received had a mug
that only a mother (or the tomato obsessed)
could love. A great grower of heirloom
tomatoes, Laura from River Bank Farm, gave
me a couple of cat faced tomatoes-those
that have a puckered appearance around the
stem end. She knew that the scrunched up
grimace on these gems wouldn't scare me off.
We have gotten so used to seeing
perfectly round, smooth tomatoes that too
often eaters see
any bumps or lumps as defects when in truth
uniform perfection is a byproduct of
industrial ag's attempt to turn food into
widgets.
As a matter of fact, I look for the often
odd-shaped, heirloom varieties when I am in
the market.
It was heirloom tomatoes that turned me into
a tomato convert. I was curious about the
different colors-red, pink, orange, yellow,
even green striped. When a farmer popped a
slice into my mouth I didn't know what to
expect. Used to the mealy, cardboard
experience of Mega Mart tomatoes, I prepared
for the worst. But it was sweet,
drippy-juicy, and it had something I hadn't
experienced in a long time-the subtle smell
of the garden. That day I brought some home,
sliced them up, drizzled them with olive oil
and began my life as a tomato lover.
If you see heirlooms, snatch them up. These
fruits and vegetables are the descendents of
plants that our grandparents grew. Unlike
hybrids, they reproduce "true," meaning that
farmers can save their seeds. The breadth of
their varieties helps protect biodiversity;
their colors vary, but so do their tolerances
for heat, drought, insects and other vageries
of nature. There's strength in this
diversity-and great flavor.
So don't fear
the grumpy expression or shocking color of an
heirloom -when looking for tomatoes (or
friends or lovers) good taste and character
trump beauty every time.
Tomato Recipes
Handy Roasted Tomatoes
2 lbs paste tomatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
1-2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
(optional)
Salt/pepper
Preheat oven to 425. Cut tomatoes in half
and toss with remaining ingredients in a
2-quart Pyrex dish. Roast until soft and
beginning to brown in some spots, about 25
minutes. Serve with crisp toasts as an hors
d'oeuvre, puree for a pasta sauce or serve as
a side dish with roasted poultry and meats.
Heirloom Tomato Gazpacho
2 lbs Heirloom Tomatoes, cored and
seeded
1 orange, yellow or red pepper, cored and
seeded
1 small white onion, roughly chopped
1 cucumber, peeled and seeded
1/4 cup cilantro, plus 8-12 leaves for
garnish
1 teaspoon cumin (optional)
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper
Puree all ingredients in a blender, working
in batches if necessary. Refrigerate for at
least 2 hours and up to 8. Divide soup into
small bowls or glasses and garnish with
reserved cilantro leaves. Serves 4-6.
Heirloom Caprese
2 Heirloom tomatoes
1 lb fresh mozzarella
1 bunch fresh basil
1/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper
Core tomatoes and cut them and mozzarella
into 1/4" slices. Arrange on a platter in an
alternating pattern. Puree basil and olive
oil, thinning if necessary with a little
water. Drizzle basil oil over platter.
Season with salt and pepper and serve.
Calendar
Show Up, Change the World
Eat Well, Live Well
Only two more sessions left in this
series.
I am very grateful to the Paul Newman
Foundation for sponsoring this series. I'll
be cooking up dishes, full of fresh from the
market ingredients, at the Westport
Center for Senior Activities. All
classes run from 2:30-3:30 Call to reserve your
spot!
- June 27, "Super Salads, Great Grains"
- July 25, "Market Basket Mystery"
- August 22, "Tomayto, Tomahto"
- September 26, "Root Vegetables"
Yes you Can, Can
Learn to put by at these open air workshops
at the Westport Farmers Market:
Sunday, August 5, Pickles
Sunday, September 16, Tomatoes
Sunday, October 14, Chutneys
Sleep Away
Thanks to Annette Nielsen who did a great job
of organizing the activities and feast for
our annual Slow Food Sleep Away. Every year
a group of us from Slow Food trek up to
Washington County, NY for the Al Fresco
dinner in Salem. We get to visit with area
farmers during the day and then enjoy a
fabulous meal that is sourced within about
ten miles of our table. It's a great
opportunity to support this important
agricultural community and to share a meal
with fellow localvores. That far north the
cherry tomatoes had just started to come in
and we were all excited to enjoy them together.
I stayed at the Rice Mansion in Cambridge,
NY, a testament to the area's agricultural
history and the demand for quality Rice Seeds
back in the day. I was trying to track down
some of the antique seed packets as a memento
of my trip and those tomatoes-but they were
scarce and dear. Jack Matzger of Jack's Out
Back antique shop in Cambridge N.Y. gave me
this seed packet as a consolation prize.
Thanks, Jack!
The Real Food Revival:
Aisle by Aisle, Morsel by Morsel
Buy the book! The Real Food Revival is for every
eater who wants to enjoy sustainably raised
foods.
Whether you're new to the real food movement
or an
old pro this book is full of tips and tricks for
reclaiming the food chain.
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Copyright, Sherri Brooks Vinton, 2007
Sustainable Solutions may be reproduced in
whole or
in part by contacting
sherri@sherribrooksvinton.com
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