I am a raw tomato addict. It runs in the family.

The story goes that all my mother ate when she was pregnant with me was raw tomatoes so the lust for them must have been transferred to me while still in the womb. And for as long as I can remember the ushering in of summer in my childhood home involved finding massive amounts of tomatoes, taking them home, slicing them, and standing around in the kitchen eating them. All of us looming around a puddled cutting board of juicy red tomatoes, the liquid running down our arms while we devour these succulent bits of red tomato flesh.

There were also a lot of tomato, Miracle Whip and white bread toast sandwiches involved. Which has consistently been one of my favorite things to eat. I could have one everyday for weeks and never get sick of them. When I read Tom Robbins essay about tomato, mayonnaise and white bread sandwiches being the best food on earth I fell a little in love with him. Its called Til Lunch Do Us Part and you can read part of it in the book preview on Amazon if you want to thoroughly understand the term “food porn.” Then you should read Skinny Legs and All or one his other novels because hes a genius.

Tom Robbins was the first person outside of my family Id ever heard talk about the joy of raw tomatoes, almost everyone else Ive encountered finds eating them as if they were candy an unusual thing. Its something the fella and I tease one another about on a regular basis. He hates them, I love them, how can we possibly stay together with such opposed views on such an important issue. Somehow we soldier on, obviously we just stay together for the dog.

Sadly bread, white or otherwise is not part of this French diet so Ive been feeling the lack of my favorite sandwich for some time now. I do still have tomatoes however which our CSA share has been providing us in great abundance. There are pounds of them in the kitchen at the moment and more keep coming every week. I finally hit the too many tomatoes point this week, when I started dreading just eating them raw and had to start finding things to put them in.

Luckily Mark Bittman has a very handy recipe for easily taking care of large amounts cherry tomatoes in a yummy way. It seems too easy to be that good but it really is. And yes I will eventually start posting something other than salads soon. Ive just been short on free time and not feeling up to turning on the stove now that summer here in Wisconsin has finally decided to start. So for now here is another salad sans lettuce.

Cherry Tomato Salad

2 handfuls cherry tomatoes
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 large dash dark sesame oil
1 sprig cilantro

Cut tomatoes in half. Place in bowl.

Whisk together soy sauce and sesame oil. Pour over tomatoes and toss thoroughly.

Garnish with coarsely chopped cilantro.

This is even better the second day after it has sat chilling out in the fridge over night marinating until the tomatoes are little salty tart bombs that explode on your tongue.

Recipe from Mark Bittman in The New York Times.

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This is a great meal to use should you need to impress someone without having the time to put tons of effort in to it.  Because nothing says "fancy" like serving someone a whole fish.  It seems complicated and complex but in actuality couldnt be easier.  Of course if youre squeamish about whole fish or know someone who is this probably isnt for you.

The fella surprised me by making this for dinner one night when we were having a friend over.  We were both quiet impressed and blown away by the presentation.  And this is a great way to prepare fish, it comes out at a perfect level of doneness so that is is flaky but very moist and flavorful.  The next time we made this dish I helped prepare it and realized just how easy it is to make and became an even bigger fan of this meal.

You can use any whole white fish, herbs and veggies you like.  This is just what weve come up with.  If you have any other combinations you find that you like let me know.

Whole Baked Trout with Fennel

3 tablespoons oil

2 whole trout, gutted

1 bulb fennel

4 sprigs fresh thyme

1 lemon, sliced

salt and pepper, to taste

Grease the bottom of a baking dish large enough to fit the fish using the oil.  Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the fish and place into dish.

Cut the fronds off of the fennel bulb and put half of the fronds into the cavity of each fish.  Cut the fennel bulb into 1/2 inch thick chunks and scatter around the bottom of the dish around the trout.  Salt and pepper the fennel.  Place 2 sprigs of thyme inside each fish.  Divide the slices of lemon between the fish and place in the cavities.

Place in over for 15 minutes.  Check for doneness by poking thickest part of fish with a knife, if the knife goes easily through the flesh the fish is done and ready to eat.  If the fish isnt cooked through put in for another 5 to 10 minutes at a time until it is cooked to your preferred level of doneness.

Remove fennel fronds, thyme, and lemon from inside fish and serve with roasted fennel bulb.

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Personally, I loved this meal. Mainly because the week that I made it I was craving pineapple! YUM! Dan on the other hand probably could have taken it or left it.

Chicken & Pineapple Quesadillas (www.budgetbytes.com) $7.28

Ingredients

• 1 lg. chicken breast (3/4 lb.)
• 1 (15 oz.) can pineapple chunks in juice
• 1 (15 oz.) can black beans
• 3 whole green onions
• ¼ bunch fresh cilantro
• ½ tsp cumin
• ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
• ¼ tsp salt
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella or monterrey jack
• 8 (8-inch, soft taco size) flour tortillas 

Cook the chicken in a countertop grill until golden brown on the outside and completely cooked through. If you dont have a grill, cut the chicken into 1-2 inch chunks and sauté in a skillet until golden brown on the outside and cooked through. Allow the chicken to cool slightly as you prepare the rest of the filling.

Drain the pineapple chunks well, then roughly chop the chunks into smaller pieces. Rinse and drain the black beans. Roughly chop the cilantro and slice the green onions. Combine the pineapple, black beans, cilantro, green onions, cumin, red pepper flakes, salt, and shredded cheese in a bowl. Stir to combine.

Once the chicken has cooled some, chop it into small chunks (no need to make neat or tidy shapes, just chop roughly). Add the chicken to the rest of the filling in the bowl and then stir to combine.

Place ½ cup of the quesadilla filling onto a tortilla and spread it out over half of the surface. Fold the tortilla in half and then cook it in a skillet over medium heat until golden brown and crispy on the bottom. Flip and cook on the second side in the same manner. Use oil or non-stick spray in the skillet as needed to keep the tortilla from sticking (I find that I dont need either when using a non-stick skillet).

 

Use a pizza slicer to cut the quesadilla into three wedges and serve hot.

Dan gave this a 4 out of 5 stars. I rated it delicious!

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Is it dessert or is it a condiment?  After thoroughly enjoying it a little at a time over the last couple of days Im still not sure.  What I am positive about however is that it was easy to throw together, its tasty and very very interesting.

 Though Im not sure what the original recipe has in mind Im going to go along with the idea that this is mostly likely a dessert because Ive liked it a lot after dinner with a scoop of whiskey flavored ice cream on top.  The ice cream was an experiment that went wrong in the texture department as it froze but is still tasty enough on top of other things.  The sweetness of the ice cream gives the cherry and vinegar combination enough kick in the dessert direction.  Originally this recipe calls for some tangy cheese as a topping which sounds intriguing and would probably bring this back over into the condiment/side dish category.

Which ever way you do it this is a very unique treat.  I was lazy and used frozen cherries rather than pitting endless cherries for this recipe and I cant taste any downside to the laziness.  Im also cheap so rather than using a fresh vanilla bean I fished one out of my homemade vanilla and used part of that boozy goodness to make the chutney which I recommend.  But then I condone adding alcohol to most things. 

Cherry Chutney

3 cups (or 400 grams) red cherries, pits removed
3 cloves
1 tablespoon agave nectar
1 dried Szechuan pepper, crushed up a bit
3 tablespoons fruit vinegar (I used raspberry and fig vinegars from Vom Fass)
1 vanilla bean, scraped

In a medium size pot over medium heat mix cherries, cloves, agave nectar, Szechuan pepper.  Cover and let cook for 5-10 minutes or  until the cherries start to soften and turn into a jam like consistency. Add vinegar and reduce liquid for an additional 5-7 minutes. When the cherries are soft and look like a jam remove mixture from the heat, let it cool and serve in small bowls.  Serve topped with ice cream, whipped cream or some tart crumbly cheese.

Recipe adapted from one at the Citron and Vanille Blog.

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