"You like tomato, I like tomahto. Let's..."

Opening Morika’s e-mail announcing Norwood CSA included tomatoes as part of last week’s share, frankly got me more excited than a grown man should.  If there is one garden staple I would loathe to forego, it is this wondrous red fruit (in the U.S. a vegetable legally, according to an 1893 Supreme court ruling), this love apple, tomatl to the Aztecs, pomme d’amour, to the French, lycopersicon esculentum to botanists (which translates to edible wolf peach, go figure).   Would we be getting delicate heirlooms or the sturdier beefsteaks?  Perhaps small baskets of intensely sweet cherry tomatoes would be on hand or their cousins the longer, more ovate, grape tomatoes.  Or would we be getting the made for sauce (“gravy” in Italian-American households) thick-skinned San Marzano variety? The possibilities seemed endless and I thought of the several ways I would press my “love apples” into service.  None would disappoint, that was assured.

Arriving in the garden, I headed straight for the tray with my beloved “pomidori” (literally, apples of gold in Italian, their tomatoes must have been yellow back then) in their natural state patiently waiting to be rescued and brought home.  Placing them to the side while I selected the rest of my share, I made sure to make a safe space for them to rest on the short ride back to our kitchen where these “pomi dei mori” (apples of the moors) would make this night’s meal one to savor. 

Safely in the kitchen, I thanked my juicy red friends, my “love apples,” for the sacrifice they would make to help provide us with such a pleasing and tasty dinner.  Is there any food better than a fresh, farm-grown, vine-ripened, Northeastern, August harvest tomato?  Oh, I think not!

Here are two simple ways to enjoy our tomatoes.  One from the Catalan region of Spain, the other an Italian-American staple:

Let’s call this Catalan Tomato Toast:

Ingredients:

1 large ripened tomato (firmer varieties like this week’s are best)

2 cloves of garlic

Fresh basil

2 slices of hard crusted Italian bread (for this dish, I prefer the round Italian bread, sliced uniformly, sold at Madonia’s bakery on Arthur Avenue)

Salt and pepper to taste

1.             Toast 2 slices of bread to desired doneness.

2.             While toasting, grate the tomato into a bowl.  Use the thick, coarse side of the grater.  Discard the skin.  Season the tomatoes with salt and pepper.

3.             When the toast is done, rub the garlic liberally over the toasted bread.

4.             Spoon the liquid tomato over the garlicky toast and garnish with torn basil leaves.

5.             Get your mouth ready to bite into deliciousness.  Why not with a glass of chilled white wine?  I poured Bombino Bianco from Puglia.  Aaahh!

Or here is another easy, quick salad that can turn into a meal. Let’s call it what it is: Italian Tomato Salad

Ingredients:

Fresh beefsteak tomatoes

Red Onion

Basil

2-3 Tbs. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Salt

Pepper

Oregano

1.             Slice the tomatoes into wedges and ring your bowl with these gorgeous smiles.

2.             Slice the onion into half-moons (or any way you prefer to slice them) and add them to the bowl.

3.             Season the salad to taste.  Be generous with the oregano.

4.             Pour the olive oil into the bowl and mix the ingredients, being sure to coat the tomatoes and onions.  Try not to over-soak, however.  Use just enough so there is no pool of oil at the bottom, but all ingredients have been thoroughly mixed.

5.             Cover your salad with foil or wrap (I have these new, re-usable, washable wraps from ETEE, check them out) for about a half-hour.

6.             Use the time wisely and select a nice red wine to go along with this cool summer treat.  My red choice this summer is Amicone-Rosso Veneto.

Have some hard crusty bread to eat along with your Tomato Salad.    This one is truly delightful.  Buon appetito e por centi

The Honorable Harvest

A canon of principles and practices followed for generations by indigenous peoples is known as the “Honorable Harvest.”  These practices govern the exchange of life for life.  Though not written or even spoken, botanist and enrolled citizen of the Potawatomi Nation, Robin Wall Kimmerer, in her book Braiding Sweetgrass, offered the following as the guidelines for a way of life reinforced by small, daily acts:

·      Know the ways of the ones who take care of you, so that you may take care of them.

·      Introduce yourself.  Be accountable as the one who comes asking for life.

·      Ask permission before taking.  Abide by the answer.

·      Never take the first.  Never take the last.

·      Take only what you need.

·      Take only that which is given.

·      Never take more than half.  Leave some for others.

·      Harvest in a way that minimizes harm.

·      Use it respectfully. Never waste what you have taken.

·      Share.

·      Give thanks for what you have been given.

·      Give a gift in reciprocity for what you have taken.

·      Sustain the ones who have sustained you and the earth will last forever.*

*(Kimmerer.  Braiding Sweetgrass. Milkweed Editions. 2013. P. 183)

As part of the Norwood CSA, I am reminded of these principles and practices as my wife and I strive to limit our carbon footprint on our endangered planet.  The act of picking up shares of freshly grown fruit and produce so lovingly shared by the earth, reminds us that we must share and give thanks for the wonderful, weekly bounty.  How different an experience it is to fill your bag with pungent leeks and aromatic celery, fresh dirt still clinging to their roots, than to purchase pale greens lying inanimate in plastic packaging.  I am humbled and grateful to participate in our attempt to abide by the wisdom of those who have always honored the earth.

How about a quick and easy tomatillo salsa verde for this week’s recipe?  I found this one on www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/tomatillos_salsa_verde.  Delicious!

"Salsa verde is really easy to make from scratch, all you need are tomatillos, onion, jalapeño, lime, and cilantro.

To make the salsa verde, you will need to cook the tomatillos, which you can do by either boiling them, broiling them in the oven, or pan roasting them. All three approaches are quick and easy, though with broiling or pan roasting, you get added flavor from the searing of the tomatillos.

Then it’s a quick spin in the blender with the other ingredients, easy!"

“No Onion, No Cry”

Ah, pity the poor onion, rarely elevated in literature or song, disparaged mostly, is the subject for today. The green onion that is, the Nabachen or negi, to be precise.  Almost every bard and songster who speaks of onions focuses on those stinging gases that emit from their fragrant bulbs evoking tears, and tears, and more tears. Oh, Onions, you do make the world cry!

But no, not this variety, not this week in Norwood. No tears will be shed, unless, of course, one’s joy erupts after tasting the delicate foliage and sweet white bulbs of the lovely, long-fingered Nabachen.  Had Marvin Gaye tasted this tall plant would he have sought to kill the onion as he did in “The Onion Song?”  Would The Beatles have been “Bending back tulips” to look for a “Glass Onion?  I don’t think so. One bite of the stalk of the Nabachen lingers and excites the palate in ways that may have inspired lyricists to create paeans of love and joy and smiles.

The sun-loving Scallion Nabachen, Alium Fistulosum for you botanists, or AKA, “Bunching Onion,” is quite popular in Japan, according to the “My Gardener Insider” website. The website goes on to tell us how it is, “…superb for adding flavor to soups, stews and casseroles.  An excellent addition to salads.”  That’s where I’ll turn. A salubrious summer soup flavored with Nabachen and loaded with vegetables sounds like a song right now.

Here’s a recipe for a Soba Noodle Miso Soup that we can use to incorporate the delicate Nabachen from a website called “Yummly”:

https://www.yummly.com/recipe/Soba-Miso-Tofu-Soup-2224725

This soup calls for a tall, cold beer. Tonight, mine is Leffe Blonde. Enjoy!

Written by John LoSasso