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 Heirloom tomatoes bring unique variety to the world of tomatoes. |
Tomatoes
This summer favorite offers more variety and flavor than ever
By Sam Gugino
From Wine Spectator magazine
Eberhard Müller is a tomato fanatic. The partner and executive chef of Bayard's in New York refuses to have tomatoes in the restaurant until he can harvest them from his own Satur Farms, the 190-acre spread on Long Island's North Fork that he and his wife, Paulette Satur, own. "We don't eat [tomatoes from] anywhere else except home," Müller says. "I pick them right before I eat [them]. It's fantastic."
How many kinds of tomatoes does Müller have to choose from?
"Way too many," Satur says. "In the past, we've tried 50 to 60 varieties, but in 2005 we whittled it down to 25." These heirloom varieties have endearing names such as Green Zebra, Costoluto Genovese, Aunt Ruby's German Green and Paul Robeson. More important, they have much more flavor than the tomatoes most supermarkets sell, which can taste more like tennis balls.
While few of us can avail ourselves of a cornucopia like Müller's, farmer's markets, specialty stores and even many supermarkets are flush with locally grown tomatoes from mid-July through September (and beyond, in many cases). And thanks to the profusion of heirloom varieties—grown from seeds that have produced the same variety of tomato since 1940 or before—tomatoes now come in more shapes, sizes and colors than ever.
They generally fall into three categories: cherry, plum and beefsteak. Those in the cherry family, which includes grape and pear tomatoes, are smallest. Cherry tomatoes can be as large as a golf ball or as small as a marble, though usually they are somewhere in between. Colors come in shades of red, green, orange and yellow, though red predominates. Sweet 100 and Sun Gold are two types of cherry tomatoes that are highly regarded for their exceptional flavor and sweetness.
Pear tomatoes are shaped like teardrops and come in yellow and red. Grape tomatoes look very much like grapes, especially the Green Grape variety, which remains green when ripe. Santa Sweets are a year-round grape tomato. Grape tomatoes have a much higher sugar content than most other tomatoes.
Roma tomatoes, also called plum or paste tomatoes, are medium in size and oblong, with thick skin, meaty pulp and a lack of juice, which makes them ideal for sauces, though they can also be eaten fresh or oven-dried. Romas come in yellow or the more common red variety. San Marzano is a legendary Italian plum tomato from the city of the same name, located near Naples.
The most common summer tomato is the beefsteak, a big, round tomato made to be sliced for sandwiches or cut into wedges for salads, though it can also be used for cooking. There are so many beefsteak varieties, it'd be impossible to mention them all. One of the most esteemed is the pinkish-red Brandywine. "It has a classic tomato flavor—rich and meaty," says Patricia Rossi, garden director at the Kendall-Jackson Wine Center in Fulton, Calif. Kendall-Jackson's annual K-J Heirloom Tomato Festival>, scheduled for Sept. 9, 2006, will feature more than 170 tomato varieties.
The purple-pink Purple Cherokee, a so-called "black tomato" said to have originated with the Cherokee Nation more than a century ago, "may be the sweetest tomato there is," according to Müller. "It's like an overripe plum, but it still has great acidity."
There are other black tomato varieties, such as the Paul Robeson, the Black From Tula and the Black Krim. All have a smoky flavor that makes them ideal for BLTs, says Rossi, who puts them on focaccia with apple wood-smoked bacon and arugula or basil leaves.
The Green Zebra is a tweener. Larger than a cherry but smaller than a beefsteak, this green-striped tomato is a favorite of aficionados like Rossi and Müller. "It's a good salad tomato because it has a sweet-tart zing," Rossi says. Müller likes its tomato-apricot flavor and the fact that it stays firm when ripe.
When choosing locally grown tomatoes, don't look for fashion-model beauty—some of the best-tasting tomatoes can be downright ugly. Tomatoes should be firm but have some give. Above all, they should smell like tomatoes. If you spot a tomato that piques your interest at a farmer's market, don't be afraid to ask for a taste.
I like to buy tomatoes at different stages of ripeness so that they will be available through the week. To ripen them, leave them on the kitchen counter in a well-ventilated area, but not on a windowsill. Don't refrigerate tomatoes unless they've been cut and won't be consumed within a few hours. Temperatures below 52° F rob tomatoes of their flavor.
As with so many other ingredients, the better the tomato, the less you should do to it. To slices of a perfect beefsteak, "just add a few slices of mozzarella, some fresh basil, olive oil and Sherry or balsamic vinegar, and call it a day," says Müller. (This classic dish, called insalata Caprese, also demands absolutely fresh mozzarella.)
Cyndicy Coudray, culinary director of De Loach vineyards in Santa Rosa, Calif., creates a somewhat more complex salad by alternately layering slices of different-colored tomatoes with tapenade spread and topping the stack with a basil vinaigrette. Coudray also likes to use red wine in vinaigrettes instead of vinegar. "Red wine is more friendly to tomatoes than vinegar is," she explains.
Speaking of things that are friendly to tomatoes, almost nothing beats good salt, ideally sea salt and perhaps even fleur de sel, the most delicate sea salt. Basil is the king of tomato herbs, but chives, chervil, dill, tarragon, mint and cilantro are also worth using. Müller likes flat, Italian parsley on tomato bread salad, a wonderful way to use up stale bread and ripe tomatoes.
Bruschetta, tomato-topped grilled bread, has become so popular that the K-J Heirloom Tomato Festival now has a "Bruschetta Boulevard," which features a variety of tomato toppings that include such unusual ingredients as coconut, cumin and watermelon. And don't forget tomato salsa for chips and Tex-Mex dishes. Freshly made salsa with cilantro and minced jalapeño beats anything from a jar.
Randy Ullom, winemaster at Kendall-Jackson, says that while matching wines with tomatoes at the festival, he noticed that the lighter the tomato, the lighter the wine that best complemented it—yellow, gold or light green tomatoes go well with Sauvignon Blanc, while darker tomatoes, such as the black varieties, can handle heavier wines like Merlot.
I've found that Italian whites such as Orvieto and Verdicchio match well with tomatoes. As for reds, I prefer lower-acid wines like those from southern Italy rather than, say, Chianti. Müller likes Riesling spätlese wines with his tomatoes.
Ripe or overripe tomatoes are perfect for cold tomato soups, the most famous of which is gazpacho. Gazpacho is a very friendly soup—almost anything can go into it. For example, I love to add fresh corn kernels to mine. Müller puts arugula in his.
GAZPACHO
Adapted from Eberhard Müller's recipe
• 2 1/2 to 3 pounds ripe tomatoes (preferably multicolored heirloom varieties), roughly chopped
• 1 red and 1 yellow bell pepper, stemmed, seeded and roughly chopped
• 1 cucumber, peeled but with some green skin remaining, roughly chopped
• 1 jalapeño pepper, stemmed, seeded and minced
• 2/3 cup Sherry vinegar
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 6 ounces arugula, cleaned, stemmed and roughly chopped
• 1 small bunch parsley (leaves only)
• 1 sprig mint (leaves only)
• 3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 cup club soda or seltzer
Combine the tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumber and jalapeño in a large bowl. Add the Sherry vinegar, and season to taste. Marinate 3 to 5 hours in the refrigerator.
Mix in the arugula, parsley, mint and olive oil. Coarsely puree the mixture in a food processor in batches, and return soup to the bowl. Adjust thickness as desired with club soda or seltzer. Adjust seasoning as needed. Serve chilled.
Serves 8.
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