Music and Cats

My friend Christina remarked recently that 2007 has been a very good year for tomatoes in western Washington. I hadn’t thought of it that way, but it had crossed my mind, on more than one occasion, that the local tomatoes I’ve eaten this year have tasted more like my grandmother’s home-grown tomatoes - that perfect tomato of memory, in my book - than any I’ve eaten since I left Texas.

Is it any wonder that I’d want to hang on to that taste into the winter? During September, I cooked pounds of perfectly ripe tomatoes into a rich tomato puree. (Just thinking of the jars on the basement shelf makes me smile.) By mid-October, the tomatoes arriving at the farmers’ markets were not quite ripe — abundant still, but harvested just shy of perfection. Too impatient to wait for them to ripen on a windowsill that might not be sunny, I went looking for some other way to preserve them, while intensifying their flavor — and it seems that everyone is slow-roasting tomatoes.

Molly roasts tomato halves cut side up, for 4-6 hours, with coriander and sea salt, Kayln for 9-11 hours, cut side down, with fennel and other herbs; the list goes on. The variables are herbs used and hours in the oven; the constants olive oil and low heat. After reading lots of blog posts and recipes, this is what I did:

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Slice tomatoes in half lengthwise, and arrange cut side up on a baking sheet. Using a pastry brush, lightly coat cut sides of tomatoes with olive oil. Sprinkle tomatoes with ground coriander and, if you wish, a little salt. (I did one batch with salt, the following six without.) Roast the tomatoes for 8-10 hours. This timing is ideal for overnight roasting; I put the tomatoes in the oven around 10 p.m., and take them out, perfectly done, the next morning.

A couple of these tomatoes and slivers of good, sharp cheese are the perfect topping for a toasted piece of chewy sourdough bread. Thinly sliced, they add a bright, fruity note to an earthy green lentil soup. But my favorite way so far of eating them (other than straight from the oven) is in a simple, quick, but delicious pasta.

Put some pasta on to boil. While it’s cooking, chop up a few overnight tomatoes and a handful of flat-leaf parsley. Strip the leaves off a couple of sprigs of thyme. Combine the tomatoes and herbs in a bowl, and splash in a little balsamic vinegar. Grate some nice Parmesan cheese. When the pasta is cooked to your liking, drain it, then return to the pan. Toss with a healthy glug of good olive oil. Mix in the tomato-herb-vinegar mixture. Sprinkle on the parmesan cheese, and grind some black pepper on top.

Yum.

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