Tomato sauce made from chopped raw tomatoes, crushed garlic, olive oil, and torn basil leaves is simply the easiest and most elegant dish for a late summer evening. When tomatoes and basil are in season, you almost owe it to them to prepare a dish that lets their freshness shine.
Truly, this is something that you can only enjoy in these parts for two to three weeks of the entire year. I’ve done this sauce with beefsteak tomatoes, plums and heirlooms. Surprisingly, heirlooms are too sour for the sauce, beefsteaks too, um…beefy, but plum and cherry tomatoes are just perfect. I just kissed the tips of my fingers.
That said, this is something I’ve made at least a dozen times and as I contemplated what to do with the nearly thirty tomatoes I received with this week’s CSA delivery, I decided to try something new. I wanted to push the sauce beyond mild and sweet and instead make it bold and hot. The answer was right under my nose…
>> How to heat up your raw tomato sauce, after the jump. >>
Let’s clear one thing up before we go any further. Bruschetta is pronounced like this: Broos-ketta. You say it with a hard C. I know it’s very Seinfeldian of me to be peevish over such a thing, but it drives me crazy!–especially when I hear waiters at really nice Italian restaurants saying brooshetta. No and no. If you want to pronounce it like Furio from The Sopranos, that is, like a goon with a heavy Naples accent, then you say broosh-ketta. But it’s still a hard C no matter how you slice it.
Tomatoes are finally, gloriously in season. After last year’s tomato blight, I’ve been awaiting their return like I used to wait for the Sears Wish Book as a child. (Have you noticed our header recently? I’m tomato crazy.) They’re just starting to trickle in to my CSA vegetable share with a couple of juicy beefsteaks this week and a dozen or so red and orange cherry tomatoes.
Over the weekend, I stopped by the ever reliable Manhattan Fruit and Vegetable Exchange at Chelsea Market where I purchased the first of the big Jersey tomatoes bearing their fiery, orange-red skin. I also had a few plum tomatoes hanging around at home, so I decided to combine my entire tomato bounty into one meal.
I chopped them into small pieces, adorned them with just sea salt, olive oil, a clove of garlic, and some torn basil leaves from the plant on my window sill. Finally, I spooned the colorful mixture on to slices of bread that had been toasted in a frying pan with a touch of olive oil.
>> After the jump, a plate of bruschetta that matches the curtains and tips for storing your tomatoes. >>
Every year my good friend Stevie plans an extravaganza around his birthday. He makes it clear that he doesn’t want gifts or cards, only the participation of his wide group of wonderful friends. Years ago, we rented out part of a club and danced till dawn. Last year it was karaoke and bowling. Two years ago, we had a simple, cheap dinner in Chinatown which ended around 11pm. But the party didn’t really begin until we were escorted to a plumber’s van which drove us to a roller rink on the southern tip of Staten Island.
This year, Stevie rented a house near Hudson, New York for a week of reading, swimming, singing, throwing the ball around the yard, hammock sleeping, star-gazing, and of course, eating. I love Stevie. He cultivates pleasure and then shares it generously.
>> Click here to read about zucchini that looked like bacon!>>
I spent the holiday weekend in the Hudson Valley at the home of a friend who recently planted a lush, beautiful kitchen garden. Every time the breeze blew, the scent of cilantro, basil, and dill would waft through the backyard. Though I consider myself content in the big city, I seriously envy the ability to maintain such a kitchen garden. Oh, to step outside my door and pick fresh mint for lemonade!
Given it was the 4th, our group felt it would be un-American to eat anything but grilled burgers, though we also wanted to take advantage of all the fresh herbs. Rather than go potato salad crazy, I decided to put a large mixture of herbs in the burger meat.
>> Read on for the best herb-flecked burger this side of the Mississippi. >>
My participation in the local neighborhood CSA has completely changed the way I buy and use vegetables. This is how it works: In late winter, I purchased a share in the summer crop of Windflower Farm, located in between the Hudson River and the Vermont border. Every Tuesday the farmers brings the week’s bounty to two spots here in Washington Heights where CSA members gather to pick up their share.
If the crop does well, we get a ton of vegetables. If, like last year, there is tomato blight, well…we get less. But most importantly, our urban neighborhood is able to support local farming and organic practices with little effort and great reward. The best part is that I’ve been introduced to vegetables I never otherwise would have considered, which is why GFS is proud to present a new regular feature….Farm Friday!
One share feeds a family of four, so I split the share with my friend and fiction writer Melissa Swantkowski. (She also has a famous pug named Gus, who will be turning up in future posts.) Today, we welcome Melissa to the GFS family as she shares with us her creative use of one weird lookin’ vegetable.
>> Click here to find out what to do with the purple monster. >>
