The peak growing season is winding down and I am determined to eat as many summer tomatoes as possible. While visiting my sis in Southern California, that was easy enough to accomplish. In her backyard garden, there are tomato plants taller than me!
We spent one morning picking and preserving a whole bunch of Romas, making a super simple sauce that we simmered and ladled into freezer bags. It will be the foundation she can later build on, turning it into anything from eggplant parm to a fiery enchilada sauce. The flavor of those sturdy plum tomatoes was absolutely delicious on its own, having an almost meaty quality. Making the sauce involved sauteeing some chopped garlic in olive oil, adding halved tomatoes and covering with a lid until they've broken down a bit. Once the tomatoes turned sort of saucy, I mashed them further with a tater masher. Added a little salt at the end, simmered for 20 minutes and it was bursting with fresh, bright flavor. So good!
When it came time to pack my bags, I tried to figure out to take a little bit of the Sunshine State home. Hmm. How to transport? Scanned the kitchen and spotted an empty egg carton! It worked!
While the container of green mole did NOT make it through TSA screening -- it might not be "liquid" but it's considered a paste, like peanut butter and that is a no-no -- the carton of tomatoes were not a problem.
So, I re-created that sauce last night and served it on top of grilled eggplant, finished in a flurry of shaved Pecorino. It was a big hit at the dinner table, keeping the tomato season sizzling along a little longer.
-- Leslie Kelly
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