I’m glad agricultural technology has advanced to where it’s possible to get a juicy, decent-tasting tomato year-round, even if it comes in a plastic clamshell. This does not, however, keep me from lining up at the farmers market for the real sun-ripened deal before local supplies dry up. With ever-growing varieties bearing names as distinctive as their colors, shapes and flavor profiles (Mr. Stripey and Bloody Butcher, to name a couple), tomato shopping has never been so thrilling — or confusing.
That makes me the ideal target for Martha Holmberg’s “Simply Tomato: 100 Recipes for Enjoying Your Favorite Ingredient All Year Long” (Artisan, $30). Her credentials are solid: Paris-trained chef, former magazine and newspaper food editor (of Fine Cooking and the Oregonian, respectively), and author or co-author of several award-winning cookbooks.
Moreover, she grows quite a few tomato varieties at her home in Spokane, Washington. And being a bit of a food science aficionado, she’s researched the hundreds of compounds within their fragile membranes to help us maximize the potential of whatever tomatoes we have to work with: from the garden, the produce bin or the can.
Recipes cover snacks, drinks, salads, pastas, mains, side and savory pastries. She shows us how both the seeds and the leaves can be delicious. To extend a glut, she suggests “semi-preserving” them by roasting, pickling or freezing; or turning them into jam, confit, paste, syrup and more.
She won’t tell you how to can tomatoes with a water bath (there are other books and websites for that), but she will share how to make Fresh Tomato Salsa That Clings to the Chip. Already I’ve been wowed by her savory-sweet salad of Plums, Tomatoes, and Blueberries in Spiced Pomegranate Molasses Dressing and casserole of (canned) Tomatoes, Shrimp, and Chickpeas Baked with Feta and Crunchy Crumbs.
As I ponder what to do with the rapidly ripening tomatoes on my counter, I’m eyeing the instructions for Tomato Syrup. With many sweltering days still ahead, having the makings for a G&T&T (Gin & Tonic & Tomato) as near as the freezer can help me endure.
Susan Puckett is a cookbook author and former food editor of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Follow her at susanpuckett.com.
Sign up for the AJC Food and Dining Newsletter
Read more stories like this by liking Atlanta Restaurant Scene on Facebook, following @ATLDiningNews on Twitter and @ajcdining on Instagram.
About the Author
