Tomato Season in the South

It's one of my favorite times of the year here in New Orleans.  No, it's not Mardi Gras or Jazz Fest, it's tomato season, when my most favorite food is in abundant supply in all shapes, forms, sizes and colors.  Our friend Mary gave us a bag full of big, ripe Creole Tomatoes this weekend and Kerry has our little garden overflowing with cherry tomatoes.

We were having a little get together last night for our group that is coming with us to Positano this year, so I decided to make use of all this beautiful fruit and make a few tomato dishes.  Both of these are so simple yet amazingly delicious. 

The first is classic tomato bruschetta, and when I say classic I mean the way the Italians make it in Italy.  There is no vinegar or onions just five simple, fresh ingredients assembled and served with good, grilled crusty bread.

Bruschetta al Pomidoro (Tomato Bruschetta)

This is a summer staple on the Amalfi coast since Campania is also the DOP of San Marzano tomatoes.  You know, those delicious, deeply flavored plum tomatoes that we are only fortunate enough to get in cans.  But a quick lesson on bruschetta; it is pronounced bru-SKE-ta and bruschetta refers to the bread, not the topping.  The best bread for bruschetta is a stale, dense loaf like a sour dough or country style bread. The bread is cut into slices, grilled, and brushed with good quality olive oil then rubbed with fresh garlic cloves.  There are many recipes you can make to top your bruschetta, but the pomidoro is a classic.

To make the topping:

-4 medium sized ripe tomatoes cut into 1/4" dice

-2 cloves of garlic minced

-10 fresh basil leaves torn into small pieces

-1/2 to 1 teaspoon coarse salt

-few turns of the pepper grinder

-a pinch or two of peperoncino

-2 tablespoons of good quality extra virgin olive oil

For the bruschetta:

-12 slices of dense, stale bread, no more than 1" thick, and about 3-4" long

-olive oil  

-1 clove of garlic cut in half

Mix the topping ingredients, stir to combine and set aside.  Using indirect heat on a grill quickly toast the bread slices until the edges get slightly dark.  Remove from heat, brush on some olive oil and rub with the clove of garlic.  Add the topping and consume immediately!

Now what to do with all of those tomatoes Kerry has been so proudly attending to?  Cherry tomatoes always make my mouth water for a classic Sicilian dish and Lidia Bastianich's recipe is tried and true. Delicious, light, fresh and very unique, this is the perfect summer pasta dish. I've fallen in love with this brand of dried pasta called Cipriana that is sold at the Fresh Market on St. Charles and now use it anytime I'm not making fresh

Pesto Trapanese 

From Lidia's Italy

Serves 4 to 6

¾ pound (about 2-1/2 cups) cherry tomatoes, very ripe and sweet

12 large fresh basil leaves

1/3 cup of whole almonds, lightly toasted

1 plump garlic clove, crushed and peeled

1/4 teaspoon peperoncino or to taste

½ teaspoon coarse sea salt or kosher salt, or to taste, plus more for the pasta

½ cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 pound spaghetti

½ cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Grana Padano

Recommended equipment:

A blender (my preference) or a food processor

A pot for cooking the spaghetti

Rinse the cherry tomatoes and pat them dry. Rinse the basil leaves and pat dry.

Drop the tomatoes into the blender jar or food processor bowl followed by the garlic clove, the almonds, basil leaves, peperoncino and ½ tsp salt. Blend for a minute or more to a fine purée; scrape down the bowl and blend again if any large bits or pieces have survived.

With the machine still running, pour in the olive oil in a steady stream, emulsifying the purée into a thick pesto. Taste and adjust seasoning. (If you’re going dress the pasta within a couple of hours, leave the pesto at room temperature. Refrigerate if for longer storage, up to 2 days, but let it return to room temperature before cooking the pasta.

To cook the spaghetti, heat 6 quarts of water, with 1 tablespoon salt, to the boil in the large pot. Scrape all the pesto into a big warm bowl.

Cook the spaghetti al dente, lift it from the cooking pot, drain briefly, and drop onto the pesto. Toss quickly to coat the spaghetti, sprinkle the cheese all over, and toss again. Serve immediately in warm bowls.

Tagliatelle with Fresh Tomato Herb Sauce and Gulf Shrimp

Saturday evenings in the summertime are usually spent at home.  Knowing we had a 50+ mile ride planned for Sunday, I had the perfect excuse to make a pasta dish, surprise, surprise.  But I wanted to keep it light, no heavy cream sauces or meat, and I wanted to keep it simple, not too much fuss or mess.  So Gulf shrimp are a given, and with our extremely hot summer temperatures, I enjoy making sauces and pestos that don't require cooking.  And Kerry's abundance of fresh herbs in the garden offers me lots of possibilities.

I made the dreaded run to Whole Foods on a Saturday for supplies, me and 5,000 other people, and was happy to see a huge table of heirloom tomatoes at the shocking price of $3.99/lb.  So I load up with a those, some kale and lots of other stuff to get us through the week, and drove home to get started.

I picked up the tomatoes for a sauce I wanted to make that sort of reminds of a cross between the Sicilian Pasta Trapanese, that I adore, and an herb pesto.  Based on a similar recipe from the Sicilian island of Pantelleria by Mario Batali, this one uses fresh tomatoes as the base with a mixture of 3 different herbs, spices and olive oil, no cooking required except for the pasta and shrimp of course!.  It is delightfully refreshing and the addition of mint to the herb mixture gives it a different spin.  You'll have some leftover that you can use the next day and serve over fish, toss with steamed veggies or whatever else you come up with!  I served this with my sauteed kale recipe and the deliciously fresh Vitiano Rosato from Umbria, but sadly only 1 glass since we had to ride the next day...oh well, there's always tonight!

Serves 2
Ingredients

    * 3/4 lb. fresh Gulf Shrimp, shelled and de-veined
    * Olive oil, salt, pepper
Sauce
    * 1/2 cup mint leaves
    * 1/2 cup basil leaves
    * 1/2 cup parsley leaves
    * 2 cloves garlic
    * 2 tablespoons capers, drained
    * 2 medium heirloom tomatoes, roughly chopped
    * 1-1/2 teaspoons crushed red pepper
    * 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
    * 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

    * 1/2 pound fettuccine (when I don't have time to make my own, or buy it from Chef Dan, we use the Bionaturae brand and are especially fond of the tagliatelle)

Directions

Bring 4 quarts water to boil and add 2 tablespoons salt.

Quickly saute shrimp in a little olive oil until just barely pink.  Season with a touch of salt and pepper. Remove from heat and set aside, reserving the pan (it should be fairly large) and oil for later.

In a blender or food processor, mix mint, basil, parsley, garlic, capers, tomatoes, black and red pepper and extra virgin olive oil to form smooth paste. If needed, add a little more olive oil. The color is a little odd, but it tastes amazing!

Cook fettuccine according to package instructions until al dente and drain well.

Heat up your shrimp pan again to medium heat and put the lightly cooked shrimp back in the pan.  Add the drained pasta, stirring to coat it with the oil and shrimp, and cook for about 1 minute.  Turn off the heat, add the fresh tomato pesto and toss together until well mixed. 

Serve immediately, garnished with fresh basil ribbons and a little grated Grana Padano cheese.

Pistacchio Pesto, Sicilian Sunshine in a Bottle

We've been coveting this bottle of Pesto di Pistacchio di Bronte since we returned from our trip to Sicily in October. We were leaving our home in Lingaglossa on Mount Etna and stopped in the little wine shop that we frequented during our visit. As Sicilian's take great pride in their local products, the little store was packed with honey, chocolates, pistacchios, jams, wine and other culinary delights from that part of the island.

Not wanting to open it, we hid it in our pantry waiting as close to the expiration date as we could. So one night last week we grilled some Tuscan style steaks, reluctantly but excitedly, opened the bottle and stirred up the contents. Scents of Sicilia instantly rose from the jar, bringing us right back to the eastern coast of the island where pistacchio di Bronte have an almost sacred status. Check out this site, bronte insieme, if you want more information on this most amazing place and nut. Below is a recipe from their site:

PISTACHIO PESTO
Ingredients: one bunch of basil, one bunch of parsley, 50 grams pistachios, 20 grams pine nuts, 30 grams toasted almonds, olive oil, 30 grams parmesan, salt and pepper.
In a blender, puree the pistachios, pine nuts, toasted almonds, parmesan and a handful each of parsley and basil. Add as much olive oil as needed, along with salt and pepper. Blend until it forms a smooth paste.
This pesto goes well with penne pasta, spaghetti and gnocchi.

Pesto Trapanese

It all started with a beautiful bowl of heirloom cherry tomatoes....

Our friend Cynthia from New York (Farmhouse Table and our partner in crime for the Divine Sicily tour), was coming in to town with 3 incredible wines that she brought back from Sicily made by this unconventional and somewhat controversial producer that we will be visiting on our trip, Frank Cornelissen. I wanted to keep things simple to allow the wine to be the star of the show, and also wanted something that was utterly Sicilian.

Off to the Tuesday Crescent City Farmer's Market I went, in search of local ingredients I could use for this meal. I am a tomato fanatic so I went a little crazy at the heirloom tomato lady's stand and then again at the cute guy's stand and came home with bags of heirloom tomatoes in all different sizes, shapes and colors, plus a big bag of fresh basil.

So, I started digging through all of my cookbooks and found this classic Sicilian pesto made with fresh cherry tomatoes. I decided to use Lidia Bastianich's version as I have found all of her recipes to be tried and true. And she did not disappoint on this one! Delicious, light, fresh and very unique, this is the perfect summer pesto. Just add some of Chef Daniel Esses' homemade fettuccine, good friends and a few bottles of wine for an amazing meal!

Pesto Trapanese
From Lidia's Italy

Serves 4 to 6


¾ pound (about 2-1/2 cups) cherry tomatoes, very ripe and sweet
12 large fresh basil leaves
1/3 cup of whole almonds, lightly toasted
1 plump garlic clove, crushed and peeled
1/4 teaspoon peperoncino or to taste
½ teaspoon coarse sea salt or kosher salt, or to taste, plus more for the pasta
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound spaghetti
½ cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Grana Padano

Recommended equipment:
A blender (my preference) or a food processor
A pot for cooking the spaghetti

Rinse the cherry tomatoes and pat them dry. Rinse the basil leaves and pat dry.

Drop the tomatoes into the blender jar or food processor bowl followed by the garlic clove, the almonds, basil leaves, peperoncino and ½ tsp salt. Blend for a minute or more to a fine purée; scrape down the bowl and blend again if any large bits or pieces have survived.

With the machine still running, pour in the olive oil in a steady stream, emulsifying the purée into a thick pesto. Taste and adjust seasoning. (If you’re going dress the pasta within a couple of hours, leave the pesto at room temperature. Refrigerate if for longer storage, up to 2 days, but let it return to room temperature before cooking the pasta.

To cook the spaghetti, heat 6 quarts of water, with 1 tablespoon salt, to the boil in the large pot. Scrape all the pesto into a big warm bowl.

Cook the spaghetti al dente, lift it from the cooking pot, drain briefly, and drop onto the pesto. Toss quickly to coat the spaghetti, sprinkle the cheese all over, and toss again. Serve immediately in warm bowls.