EATING IN SEASON: Tomato heaven

I find it hard to eat all the tomatoes that my plants produce. And guilt settles in. I can’t let them go to waste.

Stockbridge — It’s that time we all anticipate. When tomatoes are abundant, flavorful and on the daily menu. Their taste is perfection. I find it hard to eat all the tomatoes that my plants produce. And guilt settles in. I can’t let them go to waste. My nana used to can them. I love putting up the harvest in cans. But, I confess, it is a laborious process. Over the last several summers, I have found a much easier and quite frankly, yummier way to preserve my tomato harvest. Roasting, and then freezing!!

I also want to share with you one of my go-to favorite summer pasta dishes. It honors the fresh tomato and my other favorite summer treat, the lobster. Fusing those two ingredients to produce a sauce for homemade fettuccini is unparalleled. I hope you agree.

So, put up some of the abundance and when you are done, treat yourself to a bowl of fettuccini with tomato basil and lobster sauce. Let me know what you think!

Roasted Heirloom Tomatoes
Tomatoes, ready to be roasted.
Tomatoes, ready to be roasted.

Ingredients

1 quart cherry tomatoes, halved OR 4 cups tomatoes, dices

2-3 cloves of garlic, minced

1/4 cup basil, minced

3 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

Heirloom tomatoes, roasted.
Heirloom tomatoes, roasted.

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Clean and halve the cherry tomatoes or diced tomatoes. Toss with olive oil, garlic, basil, salt and pepper. Spread over a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Roast for 25 minutes.

Remove from oven. Either toss with pasta OR cool and store in quart-sized freezer bag. Store flat in freezer and take out mid-winter for a taste of summer.

Yield: one quart-sized bag.

 

Fettuccini with tomato basil lobster sauce

 

fettucini
Fettucini, with tomato basil and lobster sauce.

Ingredients (Tomato Basil Lobster Sauce)

  • 2-3 Tbsp Olive Oil
  • 20 plum tomatoes (diced with the seeds and the skin)
  • 1/2 cup white wine
  • 4-5 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 2 cups heavy cream (or 1 cup heavy cream and 1 cup half-an-half)
  • 1/2 cup basil, chopped
  • Meat of 3 lobsters
  • Salt & pepper to taste
  • Parmesan cheese to taste

Directions

  1. Heat olive oil in a large heavy skillet. Add tomatoes and cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes.
  2. Add the white wine and continue to sauté until wine has been cooked off.
  3. Add garlic and cook until aromatic.
  4. Add the cream and continue cooking until the cream is heated through.
  5. Add the basil and the lobster, and then toss sauce over your pasta of choice.
  6. I recommend making your own homemade fettuccini. Enjoy!

Screen Shot 2015-08-27 at 9.14.12 AMIngredients (Homemade Fettuccini)

  • 3 1/2 cups flour (semolina if you want); keep ½ cup to the side to add as needed and to flour the surface when ready to roll out the dough
  • 4 eggs, beaten
  • pinch of salt

 

Directions

  1. Mound 3 cups of the flour on a clean, dry surface.
  2. Create a well in the middle and add the eggs and a pinch of salt.
  3. Work from the center out to mix the eggs into the flour. Once it is all incorporated into smooth dough — here’s where you may need a drop of water or a little more flour—knead the dough for 10 minutes or so until there is a satin finish.
  4. Here’s the fun part — all by hand! Of course, by all means use a pasta maker if you have one!! If using a pasta machine use the fettuccini setting. If not, divide the dough in half, sprinkle the counter with flour and start rolling out from the middle, flipping and flouring the surface as the disk gets bigger.
  5. Continue until the sheet is about as thick as a penny, or to your liking.
  6. Cut into fettuccini
  7. Dry fettuccini on baking sheets or, as my nana did, on tea towels draped over the dining room chairs!

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Editor’s Note: An early version of this article lacked certain key ingredients and instructions (see comment below). Those items are now included in the text.