Tough Tomatoes - Dealing with Grumpy Veggies

Sometimes the cooking gods smile on my kitchen. Fresh veggies spill from all corners, my herbs and spices have all decided to stay in one sensible area (instead of slipping away to the far reaches of dark cupboards or in my backpack, or a friend’s house, or the food coop…) and the only thing in greater supply than my endless cookbooks are the self-created recipes popping up in my head. So many options and possibilities I can’t even stand it! Except that I love it.

This, of course, doesn’t always happen. Sometimes, ingredients are in short supply, spices mysteriously go missing, and inspiring ideas few and far between.

On one of the last summer afternoons in August, I invited a few friends over for our last dinner together before we headed back to school. As often happens, I grandly declared I would make dinner. But when I opened the fridge door a few hours before said dinner-date, I found its contents utterly disappointing. To be fair, the random assortment of forlorn and thoroughly limp and discouraged vegetables huddled together in the back of the fridge didn’t exactly try to be inspiring. They seemed to stare back at me in a quiet resentment that acknowledged that as the last survivors in my onslaught on the farmer’s market veggies, they were the least attractive ones of the bunch. All week long, I had pushed these aside in favor of their brighter, fresher or somehow tastier-looking companions.

And as for seasonings? Garlic, my most staple of all ingredients, had gone completely MIA! I have the bad habit of using garlic as a sort of security blanket. I have no idea how to cook without it. What to do?

Well, we all have to get pushed out of our comfort zone occasionally. And, hint, in case you want to stop reading because you think this story is going to end in a big disappointing mess, it has a really happy ending!

Basically, this recipe is a lesson in plumping, brightening, encouraging and otherwise bringing to life those occasionally tasteless ingredients we cooks encounter. It’s also about stretching the little taste those ingredients do have as far as it will possibly go.

In this case, I created a freeform tomato tart. You will notice that tarts/quiches/pies are my common response to uninspiring ingredients. Buttery, flakey crust will go a long way towards making people happy. I can’t imagine how anybody eating such a beautiful thing as a crispy, golden pie crust could even think of complaining about the rest of the meal. But maybe that’s just me J I brought out the taste of the tomatoes using a quick marinade composed of shallot and fresh herbs simmered in olive oil. Throw everything together and yum!

Judging by speed with which the pie was eaten, I think I got the best of those grumpy ol’ tomatoes. The evening was spent in a glorious, end of summer haze of friendship, warm weather and food.

Free-Form Tomato Tart

- 4/5 medium sized tomatoes

- 1 large shallot

- 1/4 cup olive oil (minced)

- Herbs of all sorts (If you really want specifics, think a pinch each of rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil)

- 2 medium sized eggs

- 2 tbs milk

- Dash nutmeg

- 4 tablespoons feta crumbles

- 1 large tbs lemon juice

- salt and pepper

- 1 pie crust

Directions

1. Sprinkle the feta crumbles evenly over the pie crust.

2. Beat the eggs with the milk and pour over the feta. You're aiming for a thin layer of egg that will form a custard in the oven but you don't want to drown the crust so use your judgement. You should probably stop pouring the egg mixture once the whole bottom of the pie has a thin layer of egg mixture.

3. Sprinkle the tiny dash of ground nutmeg over the egg mixture. Nutmeg helps boost up and give texture and personality to the egg.

4. Slice tomatoes into eigths and arrange the slices prettily so that they fill up the crust.

5. Saute the shallot and rosemary in 2 tbs of the olive oil on medium high heat for about 2 minutes.

6. Add the rest of the olive oil and herbs. The choice of herbs is quite arbitrary. Different mixtures will have different tastes but as long as you stick with your basic Italian/French garden herbs, you're home safe!

7. Let everything simmer on very low heat for about 5 minutes. The point of this is to infuse the olive oil with the flavor of the various herbs. You're really stretching out what few ingrediants you have.

8. Drizzle the fragrant olive oil over the pie.

9. Salt and pepper to taste

10. Bake at 400 for about 30 minutes and then keep checking at 5 minute intervals until the crust is golden and the custard looks like it has set.