Thursday, August 23, 2007

August Tomatoes

Wow! It has been way too long. The hot humid days finally kept me from the kitchen in late July. Then we were out in California traveling for my brother's wedding.

Brian just e-mailed me this article from the NY Times and I totally LOVE it!

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/22/dining/22appe.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Each week I head down to Union Square for their luscious fruits and vegetables at the Greenmarket. My favorites this year have been the peaches and tomatoes. Isabella can eat almost a whole peach on her own and devours the chunks of tomatoes I place on her tray. Last week I asked one of the farmers about heirloom tomatoes. She gave me a brief lesson about the various colors and how that will tell you a bit about their flavor. The yellow have a very mild flavor, the reddish brown was can be very acid and strong in flavor the the rest are somewhere between the two in flavor. She then picked out a few for me to try within the few following days. I really liked all of them. She also told me to not salt them, at least until I have tried it first. The yellow one had a very delicate tomato flavor and the reddish brown was very robust and I thought it was great without salt (Brian salted his serving). The green was good, but a little mealy. As the author in the above article states, that probably means it was a little past its time.

At another stand I bought some fresh San Marzano tomatoes. I've tried many brands of canned San Marzanos but never the fresh ones. I, unfortunately, picked mealy ones and they weren't very good.

Just yesterday while I was at the market I picked up a pound and a half of Roma tomatoes and I plan to make a batch of oven roasted tomatoes. So delicious! I think tomorrow will be the day. Although I have been so spoiled by the unseasonably cool August weather (highs have been in the 60's). I fear tomorrow will start to heat up again.

I've been dreaming of pizza lately.

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