“When your first tomato is ripe, take salt and pepper to the garden. Pluck the fruit from the vine. Cut into quarters, sprinkle it with salt and pepper, and pop it, a quarter at a time into your mouth. I shall be listening to your sigh of contentment.” Angelo M. Pellegrini
During a casual walk by the potting shed, I lean over and gather a cluster of Sweet 100’s and pop them, as instructed by Mr. Pellegrini, into my mouth. Later, that evening, Cindy makes a B.E.L.T. for dinner. That necessitates a quick trot out to the garden for a Cherokee Purple or perhaps a Sudduth Brandywine: constructed with two slices of thick homemade bread, Bacon, fried Egg, Lettuce and Tomato (B.E.L.T.). On another night it is a few Mr. Stripey’s, some wine, green pepper, onion, a handful of oregano and garlic, all in a slow simmer for a couple of hours, resulting in a terrific silky sauce for meatballs and pasta.
Yesterday, five gallons of Rutger’s thickly sliced, placed in the dehydrator yielded ten baggies of sun-dried tomatoes for the coming winter (with temps consistently over 90, I did so want to remember Mr. Winter). Over the past two weekends we have put up 20 pints of tomatoes, the aforementioned Rutger working best, with just the right ratio of pulp to juice. We have learned over the years that two people need about 40 pints to get from December to May, so we are half-way there!
Tonight, should it be cold tomatoes, basil, and garlic, tossed with olive oil and hot pasta… or, should we consider thinly sliced Early Girl with chunks of mozzarella, basil, and lots of crushed garlic on our pizza? Maybe, just a simple salad of thick slices dressed with salt and cracked pepper, with bread to sop up the juice? Then again, perhaps Cindy will make her gazpacho soup, served cold, composed of tomato, cucumber, green pepper, garlic and onions?
God, we do love the tomato and the season that brings them fresh to the plate.
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Reading this weekend: Another work by A. Pellegrini, Wine and the Good Life.
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(The above is a reworked version of an older post)
