One Great . . . tomato sauce

The tomato season is winding down, but it's not over yet. Around here, we usually have tomatoes well into September.

My friends at the Washington Post held a contest recently for readers' best recipes using tomatoes. (Man, I hate those guys - such good stories.)

One of the finalist recipes was this handy little thing called Tomato Butter, sent in by Nan Fuhrman of Seneca, Md. She uses it as a cracker spread, but I bet you could a bunch of uses, including a sandwich spread.

Tomato Butter

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 large sweet onion, diced
2 pounds dark, pulpy tomatoes, stem ends sliced off and seeds squeezed out
1 teaspoon sweet Hungarian paprika
1 teaspoon light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon liquid smoke

Heat the oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low and cook until the onion is soft, stirring a few times, about 10 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, paprika, brown sugar and salt. Cook, uncovered, until mixture thickens to the consistency of jam, stirring often and using a wooden spoon to break up large pieces of tomato, about 30 minutes.

Transfer to a blender. Remove center from blender jar and cover with a towel to contain splashes. Puree until smooth. Strain if desired, then stir in liquid smoke and blend again on low speed. Cool to room temperature and refrigerate. Keeps about a week, covered.

Makes about 1 cup.

One Great . . . Late Summer Pasta Dish

With the good-tomato season running out faster than a kid who's missing the bus, I can't resist buying as many as I can at the farmers market. Which means that I look up late in the week and realize I have several fat tomatoes that are crossing the border from ripe to too-ripe.

Casting around for a way to turn a few juicy specimens into dinner, I spied the new book "Cook This Now," from New York Times food columnist Melissa Clark. Organized by seasons, it was easy to find the dish "Pasta With Bacon, Rosemary, and Very Ripe Tomatoes." It was fast and easy, and piled next to a piece of wild salmon, it made a tasty summer supper.

Pasta With Bacon, Rosemary, and Very Ripe Tomatoes

Serves 2 (4 at my house, thanks to the salmon)

8 ounces pasta shape of choice (she suggests farro spaghetti; I used farfelle)
3 ounces bacon, sliced into 1/2-inch pieces (I used a little home-cured slab bacon from the freezer)
1 large, bushy rosemary sprig (I pulled the leaves off the sprig and minced them)
2 cloves garlic, minced
Pinch crushed red pepper flakes
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
2 very large or 3 medium tomatoes, cored and chopped
Balsamic vinegar (optional)
Soft herbs, such as minced thyme, if you want (very optional)
Grated Pecorino Romano (optional)

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil and cook pasta according to package directions (11 minutes for farfelle).

Place a large skillet over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook until brown, about 5 minutes. Transfer bacon to a paper towel, leaving the fat in the pan; if it looks really greasy, spoon some out to just leave a thin layer. (Since I was using thicker slab bacon, I just left it in the pan and cooked it into the sauce.)

Add the rosemary, garlic, red pepper flakes and salt and pepper to taste to the skillet and cook until the garlic is lightly browned but not burned, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes and let the sauce simmer until the pasta is cooked. Season aggressively with more salt and pepper. If it tastes flat, add a few drops of vinegar.

Drain the pasta and add to the sauce, tossing to mix. Sprinkle with the bacon and herbs if you're using them. Grate some Pecorino Romano over the top if desired.

One Great Late-Summer Salad

What does a summer with lots of heat and plenty of rain bring us? From what I've seen at the farmers' markets lately, it's definitely tomatoes and watermelon. Meanwhile, in my herb bed, the basil is waist-high and the mint is out of control. In the spirit of the old culinary rule "what grows together, goes together," here's a way to put them all together.

This recipe was adapted from the new book "Sara Foster's Southern Kitchen," in the summer 2011 issue of Edible Piedmont, which just turned up in my mailbox.

Watermelon-Tomato Salad With Shaved Feta and Handfuls of Mint

Serves 6 to 8

3 large heirloom-type tomatoes (about 1 1/2 pounds), cored and cut into chunks
4 cups cubed, seeded watermelon
1/2 cup fresh mint, roughly chopped
1/2 cup fresh basil, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
Juice of 1 lime
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup (about 2 ounces) feta, shaved or thinly sliced
1 lime, cut in wedges

Combine the tomatoes, watermelon, mint, basil, olive oil, vinegar, lime juice, salt and pepper in a large bowl and toss to mix. Cover and refrigerate several hours.

Just before serving, sprinkle with the feta and serve with lime wedges and sea salt for squeezing and sprinkling on top.

Photo: examiner.com

Weekend cooking project: Get you some gazpacho

What happens when you chase a wet/cool spring with a wicked hot summer? Produce explosion. All of my farm and farmers market friends are remarking that we are in the middle of a bonafide tomato bonanza.

At Casa Purvis, I took evasive action several weeks ago: Among the many projects I tackled during a recent stay-home-and-cook vacation was bacon making. I ordered 3 pounds of pork belly from a local farm, but my order got misinterpreted as 5 pounds. Not a problem: This is one summer when 5 pounds of bacon, cured, smoked and tucked in the freezer, will get regular starring roles on BLTs, BTs and tomato-heavy salads sprinkled with crispy, brown lardons.

Of course, it doesn't take home-cured bacon to celebrate the Mighty Tomato in a summer like this. We've been mowing through platters of caprese salads and bowls of tomato wedges tossed with a little olive oil, salt and sherry vinegar.

This weekend, I'm hungering for a big batch of gazpacho, the perfect thing to pack for lunches at my desk next week with hunky chunks of crusty bread. Yes, Spainophiles, it is true that not all gazpacho is made from tomatoes. But my favorite definitely is. It's a recipe from old friend Fred Vultee. Haven't seen him in years, but he left me with a good recipe. That's what friends are for.

I've already got the recipe loaded on my Blackberry so I have the essential summer shopping list handy.

Fred's Really Tomatoey Gazpacho
4 to 5 large tomatoes, or about a dozen smaller Roma tomatoes, plus 1 more tomato for topping
1/2 of a large sweet onion
1 green pepper, seeded
1 cucumber, peeled and seeded
2 to 3 cloves garlic
1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 to 1 teaspoon ground coriander
A little vegetable or tomato juice if needed
Freshly ground black pepper and salt to taste
Chopped fresh basil to taste

Peel all but one large tomato. Cut out the stem end and cut in half. Squeeze out the seeds, then roughly chop the tomatoes. Place in a blender.

Chop half the onion, pepper and cucumber roughly and add to the blender. Dice the remaining onion, pepper and cucumber and set aside. Add the garlic, oil, vinegar, lemon juice and coriander to the blender. Puree until smooth. (Do this in batches if you need to, to keep the blender contents from splashing over.) Add a little vegetable or tomato juice if needed to thin it out a little.

Refrigerate until well chilled. Before serving, dice the remaining tomato and basil and mix with the diced onion, pepper and cucumber. Top soup with some of the chopped vegetables before serving.

Makes about 6 servings.

It's time to go tomato crazy

I couldn't stop myself Saturday morning. The tomatoes were in their full glory at the Charlotte Regional Farmers Market and before I knew it, I had a half-dozen kinds.

Light-bulb shaped tear-drop tomatoes. Yellow and red Sungolds, a little smaller than cherry tomatoes. A couple of Green Zebras. A few basic slicers. And a bagful of the small White Currant tomatoes grown by Kim at Small City Farms: They're too small to stab with a fork in a salad, so I just carry around a bag of them and pop 'em like M&Ms.

It was tough, but I resisted the paste tomatoes at Dean Mullis' stand, and at least a half-dozen more kinds of heirloom tomatoes from a half-dozen farms.

So what to do with all those tomatoes? Tomato sandwiches, for sure. Maybe a few grilled tomatoes. Bruschetta when I get a chance. But first, just because you should revel in tomatoes in July, I threw together an all-tomato salad Sunday, just a bowl of cut-up tomatoes of all shapes and colors, a little fresh mozzarella, and a simple tomato-flavored dressing.

How about you? What's your favorite way to make the absolute best use of tomatoes in July?

Tomato-to-the-Max Dressing

1 tablespoon sherry vinegar

1 tablespoon concentrated tomato paste from a tube

1/2 teaspoon minced garlic

3 tablespoons best-quality olive oil

Whisk together the sherry vinegar, tomato paste and garlic in a small bowl. Place the bowl on a folded dish towel and slowly whisk in the olive oil. Flavor to taste with coarse sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Pour over the bowl of cut-up tomatoes, toss and serve.

What's your question? Persimmons, churros and more

Questions from our farflung readers:

Q. What countries are able to grow persimmon trees? Brittney, Indiana.

A. Well, Indiana isn't a country, but I know it's one of the nation's leaders in growing persimmons. There is more than one kind of persimmon, though. The Oriental persimmon is native to China, although it's widely grown now in Japan and Korea, and it also is grown in California. They're grown in Israel and Italy, too. However, there also is a wild persimmon that's native to America, D. Virginiana. You can find it in many places where the weather is moderate. Unfortunately, a lot of those persimmons have been lost to development.

Q. Why would a canned tomato puree with a high specific gravity usually be more expensive then one with a lower specific gravity? Mike, Texas.

A. Mike, you had me on that one. I had never seen a canned tomato labeled with specific gravity. Gravity usually is something that's listed on the label for a craft beer. But after searching around, I gather the issue is salt. More salt meats higher specific gravity and less water, so there is more tomato and less water in the can.

Q. Can you recommend a place in Charlotte where we can get churros? My son, who will be 8 in November, would like them for his birthday. Natalie, Charlotte.

A. I don't know if this will help you, but there was a churros stand at the Sweet Union Flea Market on U.S. 74 the last time I was there. You might also be able to get them at a restaurant like TAqueria Unica on Central Avenue. You'd probably need to buy them the morning of the party and reheat them, though. Churros are like doughnuts -- best when they're straight out of the fryer.

Q. My mother is begining her ritual of buying incredients for her fruit cakes. We found the dates, red and green cherries and pineapple, but we are unable to find citron in the Rock Hill area. Do you know where we may find it in the Charlotte area? Lyl, Rock Hill.

A. I haven't seen the candied fruit coming out yet. How about it, readers? Anybody know a good source for candied citron?