An immediate turn-off for me in recipes or in restaurants is the superfluous use of cherry tomatoes. I feel like they are very often unwarranted and generally pretty gross. Too just… nothing while simultaneously being far too dominant? I used to get them by the bucket load, as a ‘healthy’ sad snack. They would inevitably end up in a confit to make them more passable.
Growing up with legendary Dutch wasserbomben I was really never into tomato to begin with. My love affair only began when I started visiting France again (and subsequently moved there). Now I have bread with tomatoes and butter or good olive oil and a pinch of good salt all summer long.
Still, for the less fortunate (and the off-season) I recently encountered two recipes that use shitty cherry tomatoes to make something tasty. I thought I’d share them here with you.
Italopop: Swinging Italian
First up, the caprese con mollica picante, from Vanja van der Leeden‘s brilliant Italopop: Swingend Italiaans (Swinging Italian). This is a caprese with roast tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella and fennel-chili breadcrumbs. You say fennel, I say: put it in me. Vanja agrees with me that while Dutch tomatoes aren’t as horrible as they used to be, they still aren’t great. So she roasts hers in the oven to amp up their flavor and create a nice dressing.
Italopop is otherwise funky as ever, with some stellar photography by Vanja’s husband Remko. I hope an English translation happens, as Vanja has one of the most unique voices in food writing I know and an extraordinary palate to boot. As previously shown with her book on Indonesian food, Vanja knows how to rock. Her writing and recipes just sparkle. Kicking against convention with determiniation and some amazing inventive flavors to boot. For Italopop she doesn’t just disrespect some of the oppressive ideas surrounding Italian food all by herself, but also portrays a number of modern Italian chefs both working in Italy and abroad.
I haven’t cooked a lot from it yet because I’m waiting for things to be in season, and my nerve to make my own pasta to pick up. But beyond this caprese, high on the hit list are the eggplant and tomato tarte tatin, risotto with lambrusco, figs and gorgonzola, baked asparagus and asparagus-broccoli in tonnato cream, roast paprika with bagna cauda and burrata (hello???), tortellini with pumpkin, walnut and black garlic butter, carbonara blasfema, bean ‘brandade’ with cod and nduja croutons, oxtail pithivier and parsley lime salsa and definitely the pizza with potato and spicy anchovy-fennel salsa, among others.
Microwave Meals
While Vanja likes to put some extra elbow grease into her recipes, Microwave Meals exists on the other end of the spectrum. So maybe Tim Anderson doesn’t say he does this because cherry tomatoes suck, but his lovely little tome Microwave Meals: Delicious Recipes to Save Time, Effort and Energy offers a similar ‘roast’ tomato situation. Sorry Vanja, but I don’t know who wants to turn on their oven in the summer heat, so I thought I’d include Tim’s recipe here too. He tops his with burrata, pine nuts and shichimi instead.
If Vanja thought her carbonara was blasphemous, Tim puts his in the microwave! Horrified looks aside, Tim does a great job of explaining the benefits and technicalities behind microwaving all manner of things in the intro of this book. Previous titles have shown you can really trust Tim’s recipes. So while the carbonara is maybe a bridge too far for me (maybe), I have no doubt that that recipe works. There’s a lot more to microwave cooking than you’d think, and Microwave Meals has been especially helpful to me in terms of getting more veg on the table, quickly.
The other thing I love about this book is that Tim, who is mostly known for his Japanese cookbooks, finally let’s his Midwest-sensibilities shine. I know us Europeans tend to look down on the US, and middle America in particular. But they sure do know how to do comfort food and I really hope Tim gets to write a book about his roots at some point.
Some other recipes I have and want to make from Microwave Meals are the crab and artichoke gratin, steamed aubergine with smokey lime and fish sauce dressing, crispy fried shallots and garlic, chicken crackling, cheats cowboy beans, buttery butter beans, roast shallots and fennel and the three beans chili. YES, all from the microwave!
On to things to do with sh*t tomatoes
I give you both recipes below, with both options for toppings. The principles are the same. Though Vanja serves her tomatoes hot while Tim recommends serving them cold. Obviously you’ll want some nice bread with this. Tim’s version is the one you see in the photos.
If you don’t have any old bread for Vanja’s bread crumbs, just leave out a slice overnight and it should be dry enough to process according to the recipe.
Tim offers some more alternatives as well. He says you can use basically any crunchy nut and chili powder or flakes as a topping. Or just leave them completely. And of course you can replace the burrata with mozzarella or even silken tofu. Of course the same goes for Vanja’s recipe. The mozzarella is replaceable and I’m sure a different seed than fennel would be equally exciting.
Full disclosure: I consider both Vanja and Tim friends of sorts. I have worked with both of them as well. Tim is so kind to send me any of his new releases, this includes Microwave Meals.
Things to do with sh*t tomatoes
Equipment
- Oven for Vanja's method
- (stick) blender id.
- Microwave for Tim's method
- Frying pan both (sorry Tim, I am not putting the pinenuts in the microwave)
Ingredients
- 250 g - 8 oz cherry or baby plum tomatoes halved
- crusty bread to serve
For Vanja's tomatoes
- 2-3 cloves garlic thinly sliced
- 50 ml - vergine olive oil
- 1 pinch salt
- peel of 1/4 lemon avoid the bitter white pith and be sure to get an organic lemon or scrub it very well before peeling
For Vanja's topping
- 50 gr - old bread
- 1/4 t fennel seed
- 1/4 t chili flakes
- 2 T olive oil
- 2 bufffalo mozzarella balls buffalo really is nicer, or just not the cheapest mozzarella you can find
- basil leaves to taste
For Tim's tomatoes
- 2 T olive oil
- 1 clove garlic thinly sliced
- 1 pinch dried oregano
- 1 pinch salt Tim writes 'a good pinch', so don't be stingy
For Tim's topping
- 20 g - 1/8 c pine nuts seems like a lot but very necessary
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 burrata mozzarella works too, drained either way
- generous pinches sea salt salt all the things!
- shichimi togarashi or similar chili blend, to taste
Instructions
For Vanja's tomatoes
- Preheat the oven to 160°C -320°F on the convection setting or 180°C - 350°F for a conventional oven.
- Place the 250 g - 8 oz of halved cherry tomatoes on a large baking tray. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt, add 2-3 thinly sliced cloves of garlic and pour over 2 T of olive oil. Add the peel of 1/4 of a lemon, avoiding the bitter white pith and shake the tray to ensure everything is covered in oil.
- Bake for 50-60 minutes until the tomatoes start to look scorched but are still intact.
For Tim's tomatoes
- Toss 250 g - 8 oz halved cherry tomatoes in a small microwave proof bowl with 2 T olive oil, a good pinch of salt and 1 thinly sliced clove of garlic.
- Place in your microwave on high for 1 1/2 minute. Toss and microwave on high for another 1 1/2 minutes before leaving to cool first on your kitchen counter and then in the fridge.
For Vanja's topping
- Grind down 50 gr - OZ of stale bread with 1 T olive oil, 1/4 t fennelseed and 1/4 t chili flakes with a stick blender before frying the bread crumbs to a crisp in a dry frying pan.
For Tim's topping
- Brown 20 g - 1/8 c pine nuts with a pinch of salt in a dry frying pan. Be sure to stay close because they can catch fast if you're not careful. Leave to cool.
To serve
- Place the tomatoes on a large plate, including the juices, and top with either mozzarrella or burrata. Sprinkle over the bread crumbs and some basil leaves, or the pine nuts and some shichimi togarashi to taste, and serve with crusty bread.
Notes
- I have halved Vanja's recipe so the end quantities are roughly the same.
- I would say this portion serves 2 as a side or starter, if you double it it'll serve 4 as a starter, side or part of a mezze spread, if you use a smaller burrata or mozzarella it can serve 1 for lunch as it did me.
- Obviously you can serve Tim's topping with Vanja's tomatoes and vice versa.
- If you want to use Tim's tomatoes warm, please leave them to cool for at least 5-10 minutes as microwaved food can be very hot.
- Tim's tomatoes also make a delicious quick pasta sauce, you can of course add more flavorings if needed and grate over some parm and serve with some fresh basil for example. Obviously Vanja's does too but it won't be as quick.
