The Red and Black

Issue date: 8/16/07 Section: Out & About

Media Credit: JOSH D. WEISS [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: JOSH D. WEISS [Click to enlarge]

[Click to enlarge]

They have cheerfully filled the front bins of grocery stores all summer, rotund and shiny under the fluorescent lights. They have accented our summery salads with their bright red color, distinctive and inviting against the uniform greens. Their beloved flavor creates and invades memories of summer. Fresh tomatoes, after another summer of abundance, have nearly reached the heartbreaking finale of their yearly season.

"I will miss all of the fresh produce, but especially the heirloom tomatoes," said graduate student Brooke Heller wistfully. "Those usually go first." She, for one, does not look forward to fall's "waxy, mealy, imported tomatoes."

To celebrate this tomato season's peak, the garden favorites take the spotlight this evening in "Cooking in the Garden: It's Tomato Time!," this month's installment of culinary education at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia on South Milledge Avenue in Athens.

Led by tomato fanatic Courtney Alford-Pomeroy, features editor and food columnist for The Athens Banner-Herald, the participants will create tomato dishes, sample tomato palate-pleasers and walk away with a handful of new recipes to add to their home repertoire.

"It's very hands-on and very interactive," said class participant Connie Cottingham, special events coordinator for the State Botanical Garden.

"In the class I went to on herbs, we went down to the herb garden and picked herbs to cook with. We get to actually do some of the cooking, too."

Now is definitely tomato time. Tomato quality peaks this time of year, said Alford-Pomeroy, and tomatoes deserve more than relegation to a side salad.

Heller, appreciative of tomatoes since childhood, used them as a main dish at a recent dinner party - "big, fat Brand-ywine heirloom tomatoes that were stuffed with all manner of goodness," she said with nostalgia and longing.

The featured recipes for all of the "Cooking in the Garden" classes, inspired by Alford-Pomeroy's substantial cookbook collection, range from basic to creative. In July's ice cream concoctions class, an unusual rosemary ice cream was a refreshing hit, said Cottingham.

Tonight's menu includes fresh salsa with roasted tomatoes and peppers, marinara sauce, tomato cream sauce and tomato sorbet and wine and cheese provided by the Friends of the Garden.

"I'm careful to pick recipes anyone can learn, which I think is a huge bonus," said Alford-Pomeroy. "It's a big disappointment when you go to a class and then can't replicate the recipe at home."

Besides the food, Alford-Pomeroy's favorite part of each class is the weather-dependent stroll through the garden, which often serves as her best muse.

"As a cook, I find walking in the garden to be incredibly inspiring, and I think other adventuresome sorts feel the same," she said. "I think it's pretty exciting to sniff something and go, 'Oh! ... I gotta get some of that!'"

The "Cooking in the Garden" classes are a new addition to the State Botanical Garden's "After Hours at the Garden" events, which combine social and educational activities in a natural setting.

"It's a great chance to spend time with friends and explore the botanical garden, too," said Alford-Pomeroy.

Alford-Pomeroy said she welcomes even the most novice and tomato-ignorant chefs to experience the magic of her favorite produce season while it lasts.

"And, seriously, cooking should never be a competition," she said. "It should be an experiment, an adventure. We all have to eat, right? Why not make it fun?"

TOMATO SAUCE WITH ONION AND BUTTER

Ingredients
Two pounds fresh, ripe tomatoes, blanched or food milled OR two cups canned, imported Italian plum tomatoes cut up, with their juice
Five tablespoons butter
One medium onion, peeled and halved
Salt

Preparation
To blanch tomatoes, score each with an "X" on the bottom cut just into the skin. Drop them into boiling water and cook for 10-20 seconds to soften skins. Remove and place in a bowl of ice to cool. When cooled, remove skins.

Once skinned, dice the tomatoes and put in a saucepan. Add the butter, onion and salt. Cook uncovered at a very slow but steady simmer for 45 minutes, or until the fat floats free from the tomato. Stir from time to time, mashing any large piece of tomato in the pan with the back of a wooden spoon.

Taste and correct for salt. Discard the onion before tossing the sauce with pasta.

Note: Depending on your affinity for onion, you also can chop the onion and toss it in. Also, it helps to have tomato paste on hand. If your sauce is too bitter (or simply too lightly colored for your liking), drop in a tablespoon or two of tomato paste near the end of cooking time. It will add flavor and depth.

- Source: "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking" by Marcella Hazan (Alfred A. Knopf, 688 pp., $30)

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