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Across the Kitchen Table:
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Reveling in Ripe Tomatoes (5 Easy Recipes)
Kebabs for the Grill (Quick, Easy, and Oh-So-Tasty)
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Reveling in Ripe Tomatoes
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| Just as all politics are local, so are all delicious tomatoes. In fact, it should be against the law to eat anything but a local, vine-ripened, straight-from-the-garden tomato during the month of August. If you grow your own, bring a salt shaker with you to the garden on a hot day, and just stand there, eating your sun-warmed tomato like a lush, juicy apple.
If you don’t grow your own, either schmooze your gardening neighbors until they give you some of their crop, or take the time to stop at a farmstand and select the best local specimens you can find. Smell the tomatoes: you will get a pungent whiff of tomato vine. If the tomatoes aren’t quite ripe, put them in a paper bag out of the sun. Never refrigerate tomatoes; never leave them for extended periods on a sunny windowsill (temperatures over 80°F will cause decay, not further ripening).
Five Easy Ways to Use Ripe Tomatoes
1. Uncooked Tomato Sauce for Pasta
Actually, this is so delicious you might want to eat it by the spoonful and skip the pasta, but it’s a perfect sauce for a hot day. Pass the Chianti and a loaf of crusty bread to mop up the juices.
6 dead-ripe tomatoes
3 or 4 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil (or more to taste)
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 pound linguini or fettuccine
3 ounces fresh goat cheese, crumbled
Core and chop the tomatoes and place in a medium bowl (include all of the juice). Stir in garlic, olive oil, basil, parsley, vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper. Cover bowl and place in the sun or in a warm spot for at least one hour, preferably five or six. Stir occasionally.
Cook pasta and top with sun-warmed sauce and crumbled cheese. Serves 4.
2. Summer Tomato Salad
This is adapted from a recipe in Jeanne Lemlin’s Simple Vegetarian Pleasures.
3 medium, perfectly ripe tomatoes, cut into small wedges
1-1/2 cups torn lettuce or your favorite greens
1/2 cup cooked or canned small white beans, rinsed
1/2 cup slivered red onion
1 cup toasted croutons (homemade or not)
Dressing:
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 large garlic clove, minced or pressed
1/4 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper
Combine the salad ingredients in a large bowl. Place the dressing ingredients in a jar with a lid and shake vigorously to combine. Just before serving, toss the salad with the dressing. Serves 4.
3. Layered Salad
This composed salad of overlapping slices of good summer ingredients looks beautiful on a platter and is a lovely contribution to a potluck supper. It tastes best if left to "mingle" at room temperature for up to an hour.
4 ounces fresh mozzarella (avoid the rubbery packaged stuff if possible, or substitute a mild fresh cheese), sliced thin
3 large ripe tomatoes, cored and sliced thin
about 20 fresh basil leaves, washed gently
1 small tin anchovies, drained
1/2 cup chopped cured black olives
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
On a beautiful large plate or small platter, make a complete circle of overlapping ingredients, starting with a slice of tomato, a slice of mozzarella, a basil leaf, a small piece of anchovy, a few pieces of olive and repeating until these ingredients are used up. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with a little kosher salt and a grinding of black pepper. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest in a cool spot for up to an hour before serving. Serves 4.
4. Chilled Fresh Tomato Soup
This easy alternative to gazpacho tastes good hot, too, but a chilled soup on a warm summer night seems like the right combination. Be sure tomatoes are completely ripe; in fact, this is a good way to use up overripe ones.
1 large onion, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
6 to 8 dead-ripe tomatoes (about 4 pounds), peeled and cut into wedges
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1 teaspoon brown sugar (or more to taste)
1/2 teaspoon salt
Sauté onion in olive oil in a soup pot until softened. Add tomatoes, cover, and cook for about 15 minutes, until tomatoes are soft. Place in a blender or food processor and blend just until fairly smooth. Empty into a bowl and add lemon juice, fresh basil, brown sugar, and salt. Taste and add more seasoning according to your preference. Chill for several hours and serve. (To serve hot, heat without boiling.) Serves 4 to 6.
5. Fresh Tomato Salsa
Adapted from a recipe at www.meyertomatoes.com. This tastes best at room temperature alongside grilled chicken, fish, or steak. Or, of course, with a bowl of tortilla chips!
5 or 6 medium vine-ripened tomatoes, cored and diced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
5 green onions, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, seed and minced
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar or lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Place diced tomatoes in a bowl and add salt; let sit for 1/2 hour and pour off juice. Add remaining ingredients and chill in refrigerator for a couple of hours. Bring to room temperature before serving. Makes about 3 cups of salsa.
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Meat cooked on a spit over a fire — it’s a classic image in our food memory, and even if we have never roasted a haunch of anything over an open fire, we can imagine the smell and sound of the grease spitting into the fire, the smoky anticipation as the meat is cooked.
 Making kebabs is the quick version. Meat or seafood cut into chunks and marinated, then skewered and set over hot coals, cooks quickly, stays juicy and flavorful, and makes a stylish and easy summer meal without roasting the cook in the process.
A wide swath of our globe, from the Mediterranean east to the Pacific, features kebabs in its culinary heritage. One of the most popular dishes in the Middle East and Asia, shish kebab was probably "invented" eons ago by soldiers or tribesmen on long marches who impaled bits of meat on their swords and cooked them over small wood fires.
Here are some favorite recipes gleaned from the Web. You can easily make up your own recipe, keeping a few general tips in mind:
- Soak wooden skewers in water for half an hour before cooking so they won’t burn.
- Any kind of boneless red meat, poultry, or seafood (large shrimp, scallops, even chunks of tuna or swordfish) works well. Cut pieces to a uniform size so they will cook in the same amount of time.
- Marinate ingredients beforehand for a minimum of one hour, preferably longer. For a marinade, combine equal parts oil and an acidic ingredient such as red wine or lemon juice with salt, pepper, and seasonings of your choice. Or use one of the many bottled marinades found in the supermarket.
- Grill over hot coals and baste with additional marinade, if desired. Discard used marinade (it will be contaminated by raw meat juices).
- Grill time for most kebabs is 5 to 8 minutes, depending on size, so be sure to have the rest of the meal ready and waiting.
- Alternate meat or seafood, if desired, with cherry tomatoes, pieces of pepper, mushrooms, onions, pineapple chunks, lemon wedges, or other ingredients that will cook quickly, stay on the skewer, and complement the flavors of the meat and marinade. Combining meat with vegetables or fruit seems to be a modern twist, albeit a good one.
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Shish Kebab from Uzbekistan
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2 pounds boneless mutton (or lamb) or beef
1 teaspoon salt
3 onions, chopped
wine vinegar
red or black pepper
coriander
additional onion for garnish
Cut meat into pieces, and add salt. Mix with remaining ingredients in an enamel or china bowl and marinate for several hours (in the refrigerator). Remove meat only and thread onto skewers so that the final piece on each skewer is a fatty one. Grill over hot coals and serve with additional sliced onions.
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Kiyma Kabob (Minced Kebab) from Uzbekistan
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| In this recipe, ground meat is made into sausage shapes and grilled. It is traditionally served with a salad made from onions and tomatoes. |
2 pounds lamb or mutton, ground (including fat)
3 onions, finely chopped
1 egg
pinch of cayenne
salt (about 1 teaspoon)
3 to 4 tablespoons flour
Mix the ground meat well with the onions, egg, cayenne, and salt. Shape mixture into small links, thread on skewers, and dust with flour. Grill over hot coals, turning carefully.
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Afghani Chicken Kebabs
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1-1/2 pounds boneless chicken breast, cut into suitable pieces
1 cup plain yogurt
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon red or black pepper
3 cloves garlic, minced
Flatbread or pita for four people
3 tomatoes, sliced
2 onions, sliced
Fresh cilantro to taste
2 lemons or limes, quartered
Marinate chicken pieces in a mixture of yogurt, salt, pepper, and garlic for 1 to 2 hours at room temperature or up to 2 days in the refrigerator.
Thread chicken pieces onto skewers and grill over hot coals. Place bread on each plate (toast briefly over the coals, if desired), divide meat among them, top with tomato and onion slices and cilantro, and fold the bread around the filling. Squeeze lemon or lime juice over the top, and enjoy. Makes 4 servings.
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Scallop and Shrimp Kebabs
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1 pound sea scallops
1 pound large shrimp, peeled
juice and zest of 2 limes
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cumin
dash of Tabasco
1/2 teaspoon salt
Combine all ingredients except scallops and shrimp in a bowl or large ziplock bag and mix well. Add scallops and shrimp, turn to coat, and marinate for at least two hours, refrigerated. Remove from marinade, skewer, and grill over hot coals, turning frequently. Scallops will be golden brown and opaque when they are done; shrimp will be pink. Serve over rice or pasta with a crunchy salad and chilled white wine. Serves 4 to 6.
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