Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Tomatoes to help get me through the "cruelest month"


tomatoes are the epitome of summer. a fresh, local, seasonal tomato tastes like sunshine and sweetness. for me, the supermarket, flown in from who knows where, winter/spring tomatoes are just not acceptable on so many levels. the food miles of course are an important issues; a tomato from california or south america is just too drenched in guilt and petroleum for me to enjoy. not to mention they taste like nameless mush; i can't even really call those specimens tomatoes. canned tomatoes are an (less desirable) option for me out of season, when i really need a little boost of color to my diet. i confess i do balance health concerns with seasonality...and i just need the variety sometimes. so while i don't entirely adhere to a name your mileage diet, i do attempt to eat as locally and in season as possible. to this end, having roasted and frozen my over abundance of csa tomatoes have really become an amazing spring treat that helps me hold back from buying crazy supermarket veggies that i know will only disappoint in the end.
these tomatoes are a variety of beef steak, and were huge and juicy and full of flavor last summer. i had so many of them that i decided i would put some by, and am glad for it. these tomatoes were simply cut in half, drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled with crushed garlic and salt and roasted for about an hour on low heat (around 300 f).
for this dish, i simply sauteed an onion (from the farmer's market) in some oil, chopped the thawed roasted tomatoes, and let simmer with a little extra salt and some pepper. i tossed it through with some linguine and finished it with a little bit of chopped parsley to brighten the flavor. the end result was a satisfying (and guilt free) earthy, roasty sauce that was definitely just what i needed to help me over this april hump!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

What a great way to use tomatoes, thanks for sharing!