Tomato Concasse Recipe 395

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine the tomatoes with their juices, garlic, salt, vinegar, 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and half the basil. Cover and let sit for 30 minutes or longer. Stir, taste, adjust salt and add pepper.
• Meanwhile, wilt chard by blanching in boiling salted water for about a minute or by steaming above 1 inch of boiling water for about 2 to 3 minutes, flipping the bunch top to bottom using tongs halfway through. Transfer to a bowl of cold water, drain and squeeze out excess water, taking up the chard by the handful. Chop coarsely.
• Heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add chard and heat through, stirring, until coated with oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Remove to a platter or to plates, spoon on the tomato sauce, sprinkle t remaining basil over the top and serve.

Steps:

• Tomato Concasse:
• Blanch tomatoes briefly in boiling water to loosen the skins, then peel, seed and juice them. Dice the tomato flesh. Add chives, salt, and white pepper.
• Fried Green Tomatoes:
• Tomatoes that are showing a little pink coloration amid the green, as they just begin to turn red, are thought to have the best flavor. Slice them, skin on, so that you have 3 (1/4-inch) slices from each. Sprinkle the slices with a mixture of kosher salt, sugar, and black pepper.
• For the coating, mix together the best stone-ground white cornmeal you can find (Weisenberger Mills cornmeal is excellent), and flour. Dip the seasoned tomato slices in the cornmeal mixture.
• Film a heavy skillet (in Kentucky, a black cast iron skillet is favored) with a generous amount of bacon fat. (Have more bacon fat ready to add to the skillet if the tomatoes absorb too much. If you've dietary qualms about this, use half bacon fat and half canola oil. For the saute, any kind of fat or oil will do, but the bacon clearly gives the best and most authentic taste.) Heat the oil until fairly hot, but not quite smoking. Fry the coated tomatoes approximately 2 to 3 minutes on each side, being sure not to crowd the skillet. Drain the slices on paper towels, and keep warm in a very low oven.
• To assemble:
• Slice cheese into very thin slices.
• Make sure the fried green tomatoes are still very warm (you may want to slightly increase the oven temperature at the last minute to make sure). On each of 4 warmed plates, spoon out a thin layer of the tomato concasse in a circle that will extend beyond the tomato stack. Place a tomato slice on each plate, and cover (overlapping just a bit) with the thin cheese slices; place another tomato slice on each, and repeat the cheese placement; top each with the remaining slices. Do this as quickly as you can so that the cheese melts just slightly (you may place the plates briefly back in the oven to do this, but guard against the tomato crusts becoming soggy).
• When ready to serve, top each stack with micro-greens (we like baby arugula for this extra taste treat), and garnish the plates with nasturtium flowers, adding the piquant taste of watercress to the dish. (If you don't have nasturtium flowers, you might dot the plate with droplets of reduced balsamic vinegar.) Serve at once.

Steps:

• Blanch tomatoes (place in boiling water 30-60 seconds).
• Remove with a slotted spoon and plunge into ice water.
• Peel.
• Cut tomatoes in half, then seed and dice.
• In a small nonstick fry pan sweat (saute-low heat) shallots and garlic without browning.
• Add tomatoes and herbs.
• Season.
• Cover.
• Simmer 20 minutes until soft and all liquid has evaporated.
• Remove garlic and herbs.
• Adjust seasoning.
• Store in a tightly covered glass jar.
• Let cool and refrigerate.
• Keeps up to two weeks.
• Enjoy!

Steps:

• Fill a large bowl with ice cubes and water and set aside.
• Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
• Cut an X in the bottom of each tomato with a knife.
• Place prepared tomatoes in the pot of boiling water and cook until the skins begin to peel off, 10 to 40 seconds.
• Transfer tomatoes to the bowl of ice water and allow to cool for 2 to 3 minutes. When cool enough to handle, peel the skin off each tomato.
• Cut each tomato in half crosswise and remove and discard the seeds; finely dice the flesh.

Steps:

• In a medium pot, combine all the ingredients. Simmer over medium heat for 10 minutes. The mixture should not be too dry; add tomato juice, a little at a time, if necessary.

Steps:

• In large saucepan bring water to a boil; add tomatoes. Cook 20 to 30 seconds. Remove tomatoes; plunge into ice water. Peel, seed and finely chop tomatoes. In large frying pan heat olive Oil until hot over medium high heat. Add onion and garlic; cook until onion is tender. Add salt, pepper, bay leaves and chopped tomatoes. Reduce heat io medium: simmer 3 to 5 minutes to blend flavors. Remove bay leaves. 4 cups.

Steps:

• Saute the shallots in the olive oil.
• Add the tomatoes, and lightly crushed garlic cloves as well as the stripped thyme leaves and chopped basil. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
• The juice from the tomatoes should be completely gone by that time and you should be left with a flavourful reduction.
• Allow to cool completely and either use immidiately or freeze for later use.

Steps:

• In a bowl combine well the tomatoes, the oil, the vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste and stir in the basil. The concassé may be make 2 hours in advance and kept overed and chilled.