Long Time Since I Blogged at Ya

Tomatoes, I know enough about tomatoes to be considered the Cliffy Claven of Lycopersicon Esculentum. Interestingly enough, oh wait, things are never remotely compelling when interesting is used in its adverb form.

Thanks or blame to Arthur Allen’s charming Ripe, Double hat tip to Andrew Smith for his Tomato in America & his editing on Food and Drink in America  - then there were 2 relevant articles in the newest issue of Gastronomica – I love/hate you with your collection of fascinating subjects that get crushed by academic prose and the ‘lighter’ articles where academics try to write in a loose style about things that aren’t that interesting unless you are into navel gazing.

Anyway, during my last few weeks spent on own personal Tomatoathon™, (Or perhaps Tomatoquest ought 10™) I was asked if I like tomatoes. Yes, I like tomatoes – raw tomatoes occasionally cause me to break out in hives. That coupled with the belief that tomatoes taste better when cooked, means I am not ever going to get weepy at pile of heirlooms or a San Marzano – I do like Early Girls though – the tomato people, the tomato.

The Saucykitchen goes through about a half-gallon of red sauce every month. Not quite sure what to call it Marinara – means from the sea, nothin’ briny about it; Primavera – most of the time I used canned tomatoes, which isn’t especially springy. What I make is a tomato-basil sauce – good enough to go on spaghetti but versatile enough to be pizza sauce, a flavor booster for Red Beans, a welcome edition to soup. It is light enough to top baked eggplant but hearty enough to be cooked with chuck, wine and soffritto to make a hearty ragu. Maybe if I had a more Mediterranean sounding name or maybe just spell it in a quasi-Latinized style, like DaVid, I could name it after myself.

Whatever the name, the sauce is made the same way: Fresh basil, rosemary and parsley; 2 tablespoons of fennel seed infused vodka, dried oregano and bay leaf. One carrot, 6-10 cloves of garlic, an onion. Oddly the biggest variable are the tomatoes. I will use fresh when they are around and affordable,  Muir Glen diced tomatoes are the preferred canned variety, a large can cooked with Cabo’s super sweet ‘plum’ cherry tomatoes is my favorite combo, but I will substitute for sales, promos and seasonal goods. Despite being rather fungible with the main ingredient, the sauce has pretty consistent results.

Tomatoes are temperature sensitive. Once picked, they shouldn’t get below 45°, this means your fridge. Some complain about the texture of cold tomatoes – this is a fair assessment; some varieties (I’m talking to you beefsteak) are more adversely effected by the cold than others. We call it that tomato flavor, science calls it is (Z)-3-dexenal, and it is destroyed when temps drop below 45° after the tomato leaves the vine (There is serious opinion and research on what low temps do to tomatoes on the vine).

At the other end of the spectrum is high heat. I like cooking sauce DaVid, still doesn’t really work, I like cooking tomatoes at a medium low temp. This is avoids overkill, tomatoes are cooked in the canning process. And tomatoes have an enzyme that is activated between 130-140 that helps the cell walls of the tomato hold their shape. In sauce, low cooking temps provide the added bonus of softening the onions and garlic without browning them, preserving the sweetness of the carrot, boosting the herbal flavors. Just saying, tomatoes don’t like to live in the extreme.

For now, tomatoes and I are done - In written form, there is Chicken fried eggplant and Sauce DaVid, nope still doesn't work tonight, next week, there will be an egg or two. 

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