Good morning. A friend with a garden gifted me some of the last tomatoes on his vine this week. In exchange, I gave him half a homemade challah. I just love our neighborhood barter economy. I used those tomatoes in salad with watermelon and mint. But had they been overripe, they’d still have an important place in my kitchen. Read on for more!
Melissa Explains It All There’s no such thing as too many tomatoesSeveral readers wrote in after I shared images of slow-roasting my overripe heirloom tomatoes on Instagram, wanting to know how to make them. It’s easy, and something I do every year when I buy too many tomatoes at the farmers’ market. First, I put my cutting board into a sheet pan to catch all the juices. Then I cube up the tomatoes as best as I can. The aim here is to get the peel into small bits so it’s not very noticeable after roasting. I don’t worry about the tomato flesh, which usually just collapses under the knife. I then pour the pulpy mass into the sheet pan (or two), spreading in one layer; drizzle it all with olive oil; and sprinkle it with salt and herb branches (rosemary, thyme, oregano, sage, basil, whatever’s abundant on the deck). Sometimes I smash and peel a few garlic cloves and add those to the pan, too. Then I bake it all for two to three hours at 300 degrees. The tomatoes are ready when the tops are golden and the juices are syrupy and caramelized at the edges of the pan. You can use them immediately, but I like to freeze the tomatoes in half-cup containers and then use them over the winter when I need a reminder that summer really did exist. Stir them into pasta sauces, soups, bean dishes, stews — anywhere you’d want to add a little sweetness and an umami depth. And if you’d like your roasted-tomato goodness in less time, David Tanis has this wonderful recipe that transforms those overripe (or even underripe) beauties in less than an hour. View this recipe: Roasted tomatoes More food for thoughtHere’s a selection of recipes that, like the roasted tomatoes above, really lean into the starring ingredient. Yotam Ottolenghi uses both fresh and preserved lemon in his five-star double-lemon chicken, and Ali Slagle’s hearty coconut rice and quinoa calls for rich coconut milk and toasty coconut flakes. For a limited time, you can enjoy free access to the recipes in this newsletter in our app. Download it on your iOS or Android device and create a free account to get started. And before you goOne fantastic way to turn eggs into dinner? Add this salsa de chorizo, a traditional recipe from the northern Mexican state of Coahuila. “Once salsa de chorizo enters a kitchen, it tends to stay,” Pati Jinich writes for The Times. “Pair it with sunny-side-up eggs, or scramble the eggs directly into the salsa. Poach it like a smokier and meatier shakshuka. Use it to sauce crispy tacos and tacos sudados, filled with mashed potato or shredded beef. Pair it with quesadillas, rice and beans. With potatoes, it becomes an even more filling guisado. Or, pair two of the region’s classic dishes and use it to top nachos.” See you tomorrow.
Melissa Clark has been writing about food for The New York Times since 1997 and is the author of 46 cookbooks. Her latest is “The Big Book of Dinner,” coming in November. You can reach her at hellomelissa@nytimes.com. Editors: Mia Leimkuhler and Li Goldstein. Host photo by Melanie Dunea. For help with your New York Times Cooking subscription, please email cookingcare@nytimes.com. Was this email forwarded to you? You can sign up for our New York Times Cooking newsletter here.
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