Maggie and I faced a tough decision.

Should we eat our tomato sandwich in the sweet Dixie style–a thick-sliced, lightly salted Brandywine nestled in a slather of Duke’s Mayo* on white bread?

Or should we dream of Italy, and prepare our bread in the manner of Chianti country–bruschetta rubbed with garlic, adorned with tomatoes like jewels, glistening with fruity olive oil, topped with a frill of genovese basil?

Hmmmmmmm. Or-

Or what if we married the best of both?
What if we took that mayo, and whisked in a mince of garlic, basil, and a thimble of that Riserva olive oil……

that could be very very good, now couldn’t it?

Cheater Basil Aioli
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon Sea Salt or Kosher Salt
1T. your fave fruity Olive Oil
1 heaping Tablespoon Fresh Basil leaves, super-finely sliced “chiffonade”
a few grindings of black pepper
1/4 cup Duke’s or Hellman’s Mayo

In a small bowl, infuse olive oil with minced garlic, salt, pepper, and basil. Stir well, to macerate basil and garlic with the salt. Whisk in the mayo. That’s it.

* I have always been a proponent of Hellman’s Mayonnaise—and I won’t forsake it, but on good recommendation I sampled Duke’s, and am a convert. It has as the right flavor and texture, but contains No Sugar.

One potato, two potato, three potato, four….bushels!

These days, everyone’s CSA share baskets are spud-loaded.
Baby yukon golds, fingerlings, heirloom purple caribes, butte russets…

Even our own easement guerrilla garden experiment with sprouted eyes has been productive. As the vines die back, I’ve been digging and unearthing a surprising number of red new potatoes, most the size of a golf ball, and a few the size of my fist. Miraculous, I tell you.

With all these potatoes comes the need for new recipes. And while these tubers will keep for a spell in a cool place, they are also meant to be enjoyed now!

This French Roasted Potato Salad is delicious, healthy, and simple; the pommery vinaigrette makes it. We teach this recipe in our teen cooking camp as part of a menu that includes marinated grilled flank steak and asparagus salad with lemon aioli. It’s one that’s well-loved by adults and kids alike.

The salad is tasty whether it’s served warm or room temperature. And, unlike mayo-based versions, there are no worries about the dish sitting out too long, going out of temperature, and forming enough toxins to do in your father’s side of the family at the reunion.

Take it to the picnic fearlessly.

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French Roasted Potato Salad
2-3 lbs New Potatoes, cleaned, dried, and cut into medium thick slices
(or try another potato–white, yukon gold, fingerling, or a variety)
1 medium Onion, sliced
Olive Oil
Sea Salt
Black Pepper
fresh Rosemary–a few sprigs
1 cup pommery vinaigrette (recipe below)
1/2 cup chopped fresh Italian Parsley
1 bunch Scallions, chopped

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place sliced potatoes and onions on a roasting pan and toss with olive oil until all is well coated. Sprinkle with sea salt, black pepper, and chopped fresh rosemary. Roast until browned, about 25-30 minutes. With a slotted spoon, remove the potatoes and onions and place into a mixing bowl. Pour the pommery vinaigrette right onto the roasting pan, scraping up the browned bits and pieces of onion and potatoes as the vinaigrette deglazes the pan. Pour over the potatoes and toss well. Taste and adjust seasoning. Garnish with chopped fresh Italian parsley and scallions. Serve warm or room temperature.

Serves 10-12

Pommery Vinaigrette

¼ cup Red Wine Vinegar
1 Tablespoon Coarse Grain (pommery) Mustard
1 clove minced garlic
½ teaspoon Salt
¼ teaspoon coarse grain black Pepper
Pinch sugar
½ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Thank goodness that we had a bountiful plum harvest. I suppose I’ll have to thank the squirrels for that.

Unlike the birds, (actually one very clever mockingbird) who—despite all the netting–managed to get 95% of our blueberry crop, the squirrels were equitable. They gave us a fifty-fifty cut of the plum share–more than enough to make this delicious tart—-and plenty of other plumgood things.

I also picked these beauties just as they were getting that first blush, and allowed them to ripen in a great bowl in my kitchen. This helped keep things fair and balanced (!) with our bushy-tailed friends.
(Blueberries, regrettably, won’t continue to ripen once picked. Birds could care less.)

I enjoyed monitoring the plum ripening process; the colors ranged from light green to red violet. Spectacular.

It’s pretty simple to prepare the plums. I wash and stem them, then toss them whole into a large pot. I add a cup of water, a cup of sugar, turn the heat on low, and allow them to simmer. Over time, the juices come out, the skin dissolves, and the pulp cooks and thickens. You can add more sugar if you like. I start out with a small amount, in case I want to use the mixture in something savory. You can always make it sweeter.

Eventually, you’ll have a batch of cooked plums, with pits that are not difficult to fish out of the pot. It’s thick, tangy, and ready to use for preserves, sauces, or vinaigrettes.

Or, this luscious tart.

I was inspired by a posting on Joy of Cooking foodblog. Joy Ramirez presented an Italian sweet pastry crust recipe that she uses with marmalade—-crostata di marmellata. I thought this could be perfect to use with my plums, although my preserves as filling on their own might be too much. Then, I recalled a cream cheese pie that I used to make. If my preserves were cooked as both base and topping with an almond cream cheese filling, it could be just right.

It’s rich, and a little different, in a good way. I love the look of the plum stripes against the cream; the stripe at the bottom of the tart takes people by surprise. I brought it to a party recently; one of the guests eating a piece said, “This is ridiculous!” In a good way.

Sweet Italian Pastry Crust (makes enough for 2 crusts)
12 T. chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg plus 1 egg yolk
2 cups all purpose flour
pinch salt
2 T. icy water

In a food processor outfitted with a pastry cutter, pulse together all the ingredients, until it forms a large mass. Divide the dough in half, form into balls, and wrap in plastic. (You may freeze the additional doughball.)

Let the dough rest in the refrigerator for at least an hour. (can be made up ahead the day before.)

Almond Cream Filling
12 oz. cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 t. almond extract

Mix all ingredients until well blended.

1 1/2–2 cups Plum Preserves
1/2 cup chopped toasted almonds

The Assembly

Roll out pie crust and fit over pie or tart pan, pressing and crimping.
Spread about 1 cup of plum preserves over the bottom of the tart.
Add almond cream cheese filling.
Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. When the top feels set, spoon remaining plum mixture over the top, spreading it so that it covers entirely. Sprinkle with almonds and return the tart
to the oven to cook for another 5 minutes. Turn off the oven and allow the tart to sit undisturbed for 10 minutes.

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Like a sunburst, aren’t they!

There’s something especially marvelous about eating flowers–at once primal–bovine, really–and decadent. It’s no wonder we humans added these to our roster of good things to eat. Emerging from beneath huge verdant leaves, the brilliant yellow-orange blooms of zucchini, yellow squash, pumpkin plants drink up the light and look positively delectable.

I have had limited experience with them–ephemeral squash blossoms carry an aggressive price. Hence, the decadence…But recently a friend who acts as a market liaison between farmers and chefs had an unsold container of blossoms that wouldn’t be viable the next day. Would I like to have them?

Who could refuse such a gift?

I had to act quickly, which meant using ingredients already on hand. Fillings made with ricotta or chevre would be my preference, but having neither, I opted for the plain cream cheese in my fridge. With some modest enhancements— acidy-sweet sungold cherry tomatoes and peppery lemon basil—it got that nice tang you’d expect from better cheeses.

Let me say also that I normally resist battered-and-fried. But a tempura-like batter, or the beer-based one that I used, adds this wonderful crunchy overlay to the blossom. The subtle squashy flavors inherent to the flower come through, and the filling bursts with creamy goodness. For an every-once-in-a-while treat, I’ll indulge all the way.

Stuffed Squash Blossoms

The Filling
1 lb. Cream Cheese, softened, cut into small slabs
3 T. chopped Lemon Basil
1 T. chopped Garlic chives
6 Sun Gold or cherry tomatoes
Salt
Black Pepper

Pastry bag with tip

Place cream cheese, cherry tomatoes, and herbs into food processor outfitted with the swivel blade. Pulse the mixture until all the ingredients are chopped and blended throughout. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

Gently remove the pistil from each blossom.
Fill pastry bag and pipe filling into the flowers. Refrigerate until ready to batter and fry.

Stuffs 16-20 blossoms

The Batter
½ cup Flour
2 T. Cornstarch
½ t. Baking Powder
¼ t. Baking Soda
¼ t. Salt
1 Egg
½ cup Club Soda or Beer

Canola Oil

Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl. Beat in egg and club soda or beer.

Heat oil (about ½ “ deep) in large skillet. One by one, dip blossoms into batter; allow excess to drip back into bowl, and place into sizzling oil. Fry until golden brown—about three minutes—and flip over. Repeat. Remove crispy fried blossom and place onto a paper towel to drain.

Best when served immediately.

The blossom stems make perfect handles…

A pleasing combo of crunch and cream

Sometime in the mid ’90’s, in what now seems like the way-back machine in terms of the life and times of our Nashville Farmers Market, it wasn’t so easy to find the best homegrown tomatoes. The plethora of vibrant heirlooms had not arrived on our agri-scene. You could count on Smileys’ Farm for Bradleys. The Howells had Beefsteaks. From time to time, smaller vendors would show up with their garden varieties and set up stands in the back market shed.

There, we discovered that the tastiest tomatoes also happened to be the ugliest. This we gleaned from one vendor–a gentleman with a shock of white hair and twinkly blue eyes who hawked his malformed “maters” along with his chow-chow and pepper sauces.

“Over here we got the best for the best price,” you’d hear his voice carry across the market shed. “Not a pretty face, but got a pretty taste. Come get your Catface tomatoes.”

Who could resist that call? You’d have to check it out…

He had quite the homely collection of reds: gnarled, scarred, with strange protuberances, overall resembling more the other end of the cat. But, the price was right; our man was convincing. We took a chance on a box of catface tomatoes.

Our white-haired friend explained that the “catfacing” happened early on in the development of the fruit—something about cooler temperature and watering issues—and that the later fruits of the plant “grew proper.”

“Even if they don’t look it, they still have the flavor.”

Oh yes. Those wonky catface tomatoes had an intense acid-candy sweetness. For catering purposes, we couldn’t use them on trays of caprese, for instance. But brushed with olive oil, roasted with onion, garlic, and a few sprigs of thyme, they made a chunky sauce that was moanin’-good.

These days, I don’t hear about the catfaces. All the odd-formed tomatoes are lumped together and sold under that all-encompassing term “culls.” Tally and John of Fresh Harvest Co-op have a considerable number of these less than perfect appearing fruits, offered for half the price of their primos. Such a deal!

Throughout the season, I ‘ll buy a lot of these culls, roast them, and freeze the sauce in tupperware containers. The roasted tomatoes freeze beautifully. They keep that taste of summer and will provide real solace during the winter drear. Tally asked me to post my recipe and remind us all that it’s a good idea to get our favorite tomatoes now and throughout the season to put up–one way or another—-while they are available. Who knows what twists and turns the summer weather will take?

Another reminder: Roasting is easy, but this year I will learn to can. I’m told it’s easy too. There’s only just so much freezer space….
More on that later!

These are ready to oven roast.

Post-roasting, the skins practically come off by themselves.

Keep some sauce in jars to refrigerate and use within a few days. Freeze the remainder.

Chunky Roasted Tomato Sauce
5 lbs. Tomatoes
1 medium Onion
4-6 cloves Garlic
Olive Oil
a few sprigs of fresh Thyme
Sea Salt
Coarse Ground Black Pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Core tomatoes and cut in half, placing the flat surface down onto a roasting pan. Cut an onion into sixths or eighths and place around the tomatoes. Scatter the garlic cloves and sprigs of thyme. Drizzle or brush the vegetables with olive oil, then salt and pepper them. Roast for about 25 minutes, until tomatoes skins wrinkle and blister.
Cool, and then remove the tomato skins. (They slip off easily.) Chop large pieces and pack into containers to freeze. Or toss over some capellini and dust with a little parmesan! Makes 2 qts.