Tomato tart with smoked mozzarella and prosciutto

Peter made his annual tomato tart last night. It is so good I just had to invite him to post this guest recipe.

This is one of my favorite recipes to make when our homegrown plum tomatoes and basil are reaching bumper crop abundance, and I wait all year for the arrival of August to make it at least once. It is really a hybrid of my favorite pizza (available on this very blog) and the classic “Caprese” salad of tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella. While this tart would work okay with supermarket tomatoes, I suppose, I personally wouldn’t bother: at the least, you should use native field plum tomatoes (i.e., not hothouse or hydroponic), since the tomatoes are the stars here, and should really shine. Served with a chilled glass of dry wine, and a salad (since we also have a ton of kale in the garden, I’d made a recipe for “Massaged Kale Salad” with mangoes and pepitas earlier in the day to serve with our tart, inspired by the new program “Aarti Party” on the Food Network), this makes for a light supper or lunch on a hot, late summer’s night that evokes the scents and flavors of the Mediterranean, or the south of France.

The layers of grated Romano and Parmesan cheese, prosciutto, and grated scamorza cheese on the bottom layer of the puff pastry tart shell not only add richness and complexity to enhance the tomatoes’ balance of sweetness and acidity; they serve the equally important purpose of providing muliple barrier dams that allow the shell to remain perfectly crisp instead of becoming soggy from the tomatoes’ juices. Salting and blotting the tomatoes between double layers of paper towels provides added insurance against the dreaded sogginess (and I use this same technique whenever I use tomatoes to top a pizza).

Concerning the puff pastry, the two brands that seem most readily available in Denver are Dufour, which I can find at Whole Foods, and Pepperidge Farm, available at Safeway and King Soopers. Dufour may have the tiniest of advantages in that it comes in a single sheet, which saves a bit of work: Pepperidge Farm’s product comes two sheets to a package, so you have to overlap them with an egg wash, and use a rolling pin to seal them together to form one piece. To my way of thinking, this really isn’t such a hassle, and the quality of both products is so consistently good that I’d personally choose Pepperidge Farm given its considerably lower price.

If you’re unfamiliar with puff pastry, it’s a good idea to work with it as quickly as possible while it’s still nice and cold once you haul it out of your fridge: as it warms, it becomes more and more elastic and gooey, just like Dali’s watches. The firmer it remains, the easier it is to handle.

This may be due to Denver’s altitude, but I always find that the bottom, cheese-dusted layer of the tart sheel rises and puffs up substantially no matter how thoroughly I prick it with a fork before its first baking. No problem: I know now to expect this, and simply press down firmly with a broad metal spatula to deflate and even out the bottom layer as soon as I remove it from the oven.

Tomato tart with smoked mozzarella and prosciutto
--1 package of frozen puff pastry (Dufour or Pepperidge Farm), thawed in the refrigerator overnight).;
--Four, for dusting
--1 large egg, beaten
--1/2 cup grated Parmiggiano Romano cheese;
½ cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese;
--3 oz thinly sliced prosciutto
--6 oz grated smoked mozzarella cheese (scamorza);
--1 lb Roma tomatoes
--1 tsp. kosher salt
--2 generous Tbls Extra Virgin Olive Oil
--2 medium cloves garlic, minced or pressed
==Freshly ground black pepper to taste
--Fresh basil leaves, enough to stack, roll tightly, and slice into thin ribbons equally 2 tablespoons

1.) Preheat the oven to 425 degrees with a rack in the lower-middle position. Lightly flour a large, flat, wide work surface. If using Dufour puff pastry, roll the sheet out to a rectangle about 9” x 18”. If using Pepperidge Farm, brush one end of one sheet with about a 1” band of egg wash, over-lap the second sheet on top, and, using a rolling pin, roll and press to even out the seam. You should then have a 9” x 18” rectangle of dough. If not, roll in length and width slightly until you do.

2.) Using a very sharp knife, cut a 1” strip of dough evenly alongside the long side of the rectangle of dough, setting the strip alongside on a long piece of foil, parchment, or paper towel. Cut a second 1” strip from the long side of the dough rectangle, and place it with the first strip. Cut a 1” strip of dough from the short side of the rectangle of dough, and place with the longer strips. Cut a second 1” strip of dough from the short side. Brush all four strips of reserved puff pastry dough one by one with egg wash, placing one long strip each as evenly as possible on top of the left and right-hand sides of the dough rectangle, egg side down. Repeat with the short strips, placing them egg side down on top of the short (top and bottom) ends of the dough rectangle. Brush the unbaked tart shell evenly with egg wash, and sprinkle bottom layer of tart evenly with a blend of the grated Romano and Parmesan cheeses. Prick the bottom layer evenly all over with a fork to prevent excessive puffing.

3.) Transfer the shell to an unrimmed baking sheet lined with either parchment paper or a silicone mat. Bake for 14 minutes. Lower oven temperature to 350 degrees, and bake 14 more minutes. Remove puff pastry shell from oven, and allow to cool completely on a wire rack (if bottom has puffed, press down evenly to flatten it with a metal spatula. Shell can be baked several hours in advance. Before proceeding to step 4 below, return oven to 425 degrees).

4.) Evenly arrange thin layers of prosciutto over bottom of tart shell to cover as completely as possible. Sprinkle smoked mozzarella evenly over prosciutto. In a small bowl, combine olive oil, garlic, and black pepper well. Set aside.

5.) Thinly slice tomatoes, place them in a single layer on a double thickness of paper towels, and sprinkle evenly with salt. After ½ hour, tomatoes should have extruded excess liquid. Using another double thickness of paper towels, press the tomatoes gently but firmly to blot them as dry as possible.

6. In rows, overlap tomato slices in scallop patterns until all tomato slices are used up. Using abrush, dab the surface of tomatoes evenly with olive oil/garlic/black pepper mixture.

7. Bake tomato tart for 15-16 minutes. As you remove it from oven, sprinkle tart evenly with chiffonade of basil leaves. Let cool on a rack for 5 minutes. Slice and serve hot or warm.

(Will serve 4 to 6 as a light supper or lunch entrée, 6 to 8 as an hors d’oeuvre).

A Soup

I blogged the other day about the lupin beans I found in a middle-eastern market. In planning our meals for the week (actually we only do it a day or two ahead) we decided we wanted to use some of the beans in a dinner soup.

Sometimes our soups are based on cleaning out leftovers from the fridge. In this case, not. I had to go do my hausfrau thing this morning at Sunflower Market to acquire the stuff we needed to make this a one-dish meal.

A Soup
2 medium red potatoes, ½” dice (don’t peel them)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter

3 bratwurst, casing removed, chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium tomato, chopped
1 bunch kale, stems removed and roughly chopped

4 cups chicken broth

1 - 2 cups potato cooking water
1 cup beans (any kind…from a can)
pinch each of dried oregano, thyme and tarragon
salt and pepper to taste
lemon juice

grated carrot (optional)
more olive oil (optional)
croutons (optional)

In a medium pot, cover the potatoes with cold water. Put on the stove over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Adjust the heat to an energetic simmer and cook until the potatoes and al dente, about 8 minutes.

Use a spider and remove the potatoes to a colander, rinse with cold water, drain, and set aside. Reserve the potato water.

Add 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp butter to a soup pot. When the butter has melted and the foam has subsided, add the onion, garlic, tomato and sausage. Cook until sausage is done throughout, about 10 minutes.

Add broth to the pot along with the kale. Ladle in some of the potato water if it seems needed. The extra water can also mitigate any excessive saltiness which might come from the sausage. Bring to a simmer. Bring to a simmer. Taste and adjust seasonings. Serve with a splash of lemon juice, a drizzle of olive oil, grated carrot, and croutons if you wish.

Orzo salad with tuna and fresh tomato

Disclaimer: I didn't get a nice sharp picture of my own dish. However, this one looks a lot like it...thanks to FoodNetwork.



The inspiration for this came from a trip to Denver's excellent farmer's market, Heinie's, where we found fresh Colorado tomatoes (ours in the garden aren't ready yet). The herbs are ours, though. I wouldn't make this with a store-bought tomato - the fresh taste of what I used is incomparable.

Orzo with tuna and fresh tomato
Orzo pasta
6 oz. pouch tuna in water
1 large fresh tomato
1 tsp fresh thyme, chopped
1 tbsp fresh basil leaves, julienned
1 tbsp chives, chopped fine
1 jalapeno pepper, ¾ deveined and seeded, diced fine
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp olive oil
juice of ¼ lemon

Cook the orzo in well-salted water according to package directions. Drain and rinse under cold water. Set aside.

Cut the tomato into a fine dice. Combine the tomato, orzo, tuna, thyme, basil, chives and jalaeno in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil and the lemon juice. Toss thoroughly to combine. Let stand one hour at room temperature before serving.

Fried green tomatoes

We can all get many vegetables all year round. The supermarket tomatoes in winter are inferior, but you can make do with romas and cherry or grapes for lots of uses. Canned tomatoes are pretty much the way to go in any dish you're going to cook.

Zucchini is ubiquitous and seems pretty much the same in any month of the year, as are potatoes, egg plants, onions, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, etc. Canned veggies should pretty much be avoided at all costs. The only ones I use are beets and artichoke hearts.

Then there is the freezer department. Peas, only available fresh during a short season of early summer (and expensive), are good frozen - as is corn, okra, and artichoke hearts.

But I didn't intend for this to be a Baedeker's on vegetables. Today I'm inspired by one thing you can only prepare from the real thing: a green tomato just off the vine. They start to ripen in only a couple of days so it's probably best to store them in the fridge unless you're using them right away.

I owe homage to Alton Brown for this recipe, and also to my partner, Peter, for the additional technique of salting the tomatoes and then toweling them dry after 1/2 an hour. Alton's ingredients are for more than we can eat in one sitting, so basically this is adjusted downward by 2/3. My contibution is the addition of cayenne pepper to the party.

Confession time: while Alton would use a thermometer to get his oil to a precise 350°, I use an old-fashioned method. When you think it's about there, flick a few bits of water from a respectful distance into the oil. If it pops instantly you're good to go.

We've been making our own breadcrumbs from leftover ends of loaves that are two small to be used for a sandwich. Just toast in until cry and crispy and chop them in a food processor. Again, a modification of Alton's plan: we used oyster crackers instead of the saltines he prefers. If you think about it, there is little difference between the two other than shape and size. Breadcrumbs of any kind (unseasoned) will do if that's all you have on hand.

Fried green tomatoes (serves two as a side dish)
1 large green tomatoes
flour
1 egg, lightly beaten with 1 tbsp water
oyster cracker crumbs
salt
pepper
cayenne
vegetable oil (enough to coat your frying pan about 1/3" deep)

1/2 hour ahead, slice the tomato (use 2 smaller ones if yours isn't large) to 1/4" rounds. Start by trimming a small slice from each end, which you can discard.

Place the slices on paper towels and sprinkle kosher salt over them. Let them stand for 30 minutes (or more if you want), then press them with paper towels to remove as much moisture as you can.

Sprinkle them with a little more salt, black (or white) pepper, and cayenne to taste. Dredge them in flour, then coat with egg (allowing excess to drip off), and press them into the cracker crumbs. Set them aside on a baking rack for a few minutes, test your oil and, when it's ready, carefully slip the tomato slices into it. If you use a ten-inch skillet with straight sides you can fit one whole tomato in. If you bulk up this recipe, cook the slices in batches.

It will take about 3 minutes per side. Just take a peak and turn them when the first side is golden brown. So as not to disturb the coating, turn them by picking them up by the sides with a a pair of tongs.

When side two is done, tranfer them to a paper towel with a plate. Take a second towel and dab the tops gently to remove some of the oil. You can add another sprinkle of salt (and/or pepper and cayenne) at this point if you wish.

Serve immediately and enjoy.

For a free excerpt of my book, “A Year of Food,” in which I opine, report, cook, muse and philosophize about everything that passed my lips for an entire year, write to me at: scrout1944@msn.com.

Stewed fresh corn and tomatoes

I didn’t expect to have anything to share today. However, we decided to do something a little different with our Colorado corn and tomatoes. On Monday I bought 5 ears of Olathe corn (the good stuff) at King Soopers for just $1.

I made a fun stewed corn and tomato mixture. We ate it at room temperature. There’s leftovers which I think I prefer to eat slightly warmed, perhaps tonight.

When I made rib eye steak the other day, we ended up with quite a quantity of leftovers. It’s been marinating since Sunday (3 days ago) in a mixture of black vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and sherry vinegar (roughly equal parts black vinegar and W. sauce and about ½ part sherry vinegar). The hope is that the steak will tenderize. It was pretty tough on Sunday, although very flavorful. We’re going to make tacos for dinner. I’m not going to write down a recipe. It will just include flour tortillas (heated on the stovetop grill), steak and cheese and some chopped cabbage.

Let’s face it, you can stick anything into a warm tortilla and eat it.

Today our foodie group, the FEDUPs (Foodies Eating Diverse, Unusual Platings), meets for lunch at Denver’s Buckhorn Exchange. This restaurant is known for its game, such as rattlesnake, Rocky Mountain oysters (if you don’t know what they are, don’t ask), buffalo burgers, ribs, moose, elk, etc. Would it amuse you to know that we have declared that anyone who withdraws from FEDUPs will be known as a FEDEX? We haven’t lost anyone yet.

When I began preparing the tomatoes for this dish I briefly debated boiling water to blanch and skin them. I decided not to and cored the stem ends. Then I changed my mind. Guess what – it’s not difficult to peel tomatoes without blanching them. It takes a little longer, but nowhere near the time consumed by waiting for a large pot of water to boil.

Stewed fresh corn and tomatoes

3 ears corn
2 medium tomatoes
basil leaves
1 large clove garlic, minced
lemon juice
parmesan cheese
salt
pepper
red pepper flakes
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp chicken broth

Cut the kernels off the corn. Peel and chop the tomatoes. Chop the basil. Grate the cheese, using an amount to your taste. We used about 1/3 cup.

Heat the oil and butter in a skillet. When the foam subsides add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the corn, tomatoes, broth, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and heat to a simmer. Cook just until the corn is tender but still a little crunchy, 5-7 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in basil, cheese and lemon juice. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Gazpacho

Gazpacho, no surprise here, is a Spanish word with perhaps Moorish overtones. It may be related to the word caspicias, meaning "leftover bits." Indeed it is made with bits and pieces of whatever you have and/or prefer, served cold or room temperature in a fresh tomato base. As such, it is best made in the summer with luscious vine-ripened tomatoes.

I have made gazpacho many times. Every recipe for it is the same in one regard: tomatoes are at the heart of it; and different in another regard: add what you like despite whatever the recipe says.

The game plan below is derived from two recipes I found in our personal collection (375 pages built up over nearly 25 years and bound in 4 3-ring notebooks). It is modified to accomodate some things we had in the fridge, and some things I just chose to include.

According to my philosophy of food preparation, you should make this exactly as below - or not. I intended for it to be a one-dish meal - hence the addition of egg and beans as protein components. The use of canned tomato sauce gives the soup an undertone of richness. The commercial veggie juice brings its own interest, and the tomatoes, among the earliest of the 2008 summer season, make it seem overwhelmingly refreshing.

The amounts below are reasonably precise. What you must do at home is taste the final product and ask yourself if you can tell that every single ingredient is evident - nothing should overwhelm, but you should be able to say to yourself: the saltiness is to my taste, I feel the vinegar, I want more spice, etc.

Gazpacho
3 tomatoes (about 1 1/2 to 3 cups after chopping)
1/2 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded, and finely diced
2 scallions, finely chopped
1/2 large red bell pepper, finely diced
3 garlic cloves, minced or mashed
1/2 jalapeno or other pepper, minced
1/8 cup sherry vinegar
1/4 cup tomato sauce
1 1/2 cups Knudsen "Very Veggie" juice (or V-8, or tomato juice)
1 cup small white beans, or black beans
4-6 basil leaves, rolled up and cut in a julienne
salt, pepper, cayenne, to taste
4 hard boiled eggs, sliced or chopped
juice of 1 lime
1/2 cup fresh corn kernels (optional - we had some on hand)

Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Cut a small "x" in the base of each tomato. Place them in the boiling water for exactly one minute. Then transfer them to a sink full of cold water to cover. As soon as you can handle them, cut out the stem spot and slip the skin off. Chop the tomatoes very fine.

Add all ingredients together in a large bowl (except the lime juice and egg, which you should add right as you serve the gazpacho). Mix well and taste. Add more of anything you wish.

The yield is 5-6 cups, enough to serve 4.