The Very Versatile Roasted Tomato

Always on the hunt for an easy to make ingredient, I discovered roasted tomatoes a few years ago. With several left over after a dinner party, I decided a little experimentation was in order. I discovered that roasted tomatoes served up countless uses and, because they freeze well, they can be pulled out at the last minute and added to soups, stews, and sauces.

Incredibly versatile, roasted tomatoes work as a side dish as well as the basis for sauces. Cold, they can be tossed with cucumbers and onions for a salad. Peeled and chopped, they add body and flavor to stews, soups, and pastas.

Ripe and over ripe tomatoes work best. If you shop at farmers' markets, keep an eye out for discounted tomatoes. This week at the Santa Monica Farmers' Market, tomatoes were selling for $2.50 - $3.50/pound, but the over ripe ones were priced at 60 cents/pound.

When they're roasting, tomatoes give off a clear liquid. The flavor is pure essence of tomato. The liquid can be used separately to flavor a simple pasta or as a final basting on a grilled meat. The wonderful chef, cookbook writer, and founder of Fra'Mani, Paul Bertolli was famous for hanging tomatoes in cheese cloth and capturing the clear tomato water that he called "the blood of the fruit."

Roasted Tomatoes

Yield: 4 servings
Time: 90 minutes

Ingredients

3 pounds ripe tomatoes (washed, stems removed)
Olive oil
Sea salt and pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the whole tomatoes on a Silpat sheet or a piece of aluminum foil on a baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil and season with sea salt and pepper. Roast for 90 minutes. When the tomatoes are removed from the pan, be certain to spatula off all the seasoned olive oil and tomato water. That liquid is full of flavor. Spoon it over the tomatoes.

The tomatoes can be served as a side dish with other vegetables, pasta, and grilled meats.

Roasted Tomato Sauce

Yield: 1 quart
Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

3 pounds roasted tomatoes

Method

Put the roasted tomatoes through a food mill. Discard the skins and seeds.

Roasted Tomato Pasta Sauce

Yield: 2 cups sauce
Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

1 quart roasted tomato sauce
1/4 pound brown mushrooms (washed, dried, sliced thin)
1 medium yellow onion (washed, peeled, finely chopped)
5 cloves garlic (peeled, finely chopped)
1 cup Italian parsley leaves (washed, finely chopped)
1 tablespoon oregano (optional)
1 tablespoon tamari (optional)
Sea salt and pepper

Method

Sauté the onions and garlic until lightly browned, add the parsley and mushrooms and continuing cooking until lightly browned. Add the tomato sauce. Reduce the heat and simmer until the volume is reduced by half. Taste and adjust seasoning with sea salt, pepper, oregano, or tamari.

The sauce can be kept in the refrigerator up to a week or frozen for a month or more.

A Surprise at the Farmers' Market: Six Oysters, Two Appetizers, One Stew

Michelle checked the refrigerator and all we needed from the Wednesday Santa Monica farmers' market was a romaine lettuce. She handed me the list before I left. Usually when I go to the Wednesday market, I only have a few minutes, but the day wasn't that busy, so I didn't have to rush. I checked with the farmers I usually go to for lettuce, but there must have been heavy rains when the romaine was picked, because the ones I saw were pretty ragged and muddy.

I have to confess, whenever I go to a farmers' market, I buy more than I intended. The flowers are always amazing, even in the winter and the vegetables are so inviting. By the time I'd walked around the market, I'd filled my bag with anemones, Italian parsley, a bunch of carrots, a bag of Haas avocados, and Yukon potatoes. I even bought baby onions and fresh mustard greens because they were too cool to pass up, even though I didn't have a clue what I'd do with them.

Leaving the market I saw that a new vendor, Carlsbad Aquafarm, was selling baskets of fresh mussels, oysters, clams, and red seaweed. Fresh oysters at a reasonable price are always hard for me to resist. The Catalina Oysters looked like the Gulf oysters I had years ago when I worked on an oyster boat near Galveston. I bought a dozen.

When I got home, excited about having oysters for lunch, I unpacked what I'd gotten from the market and realized an awful truth. I'd forgotten to buy the romaine. 'Guess I got distracted.

I've described how to shuck oysters in an earlier posting. It's not difficult, but it does take some practice. Prying open the first plump, beautiful oyster, I discovered a benefit of buying them fresh-from-the-ocean. As I cut the oyster loose, nectar filled the shell. Six oysters opened over a bowl and I had a cup of nectar. Today had turned into a day of improvising. My lunch now had an added course: oyster stew.

Eating good food makes me happy. I must have learned that from my dad. When I was a kid, I remember watching him come home from work and sink down into his leather chair. My mom had the routine down cold. Within a few minutes she'd bring him a plate of appetizers. Happiness for him was a pre-dinner feast of pickled herring with sour cream and onions on pumpernickel bread, a plate of thinly sliced radishes with salt, a jar of baby shrimp in cocktail sauce, and a Seven & Seven on the rocks. The only part of his menu held onto was a love of cocktail sauce.

I tried the raw oysters a variety of ways: with a squeeze of lemon juice, a little taste of caviar left over from my Home Alone dinner, with finely chopped baby onions, with chopped avocado, and with cocktail sauce. I ate the oysters with slices of French bread and a couple of Nabisco saltine crackers.

6 Oysters Serves 1. Preparation Time: 10 minutes.

Traditional Cocktail Sauce

1 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon capers
1 teaspoon soy sauce
½ teaspoon grated horse radish
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
Pinch of cayenne

Mix all the ingredients together. Put a small amount on top of each oyster. The recipe makes enough for several servings. Keep the sauce in the refrigerator in a sealed jar.

Salami With Avocado

When I had finished prepping the oysters, I realized I hadn't used half of the avocado. I could have easily made an arugula and avocado salad, but an appetizer seemed more satisfying. There was some felino salami from Bay Cities in the refrigerator. A piece of avocado, dredged in olive oil with sea salt and black pepper, placed on a slice of the salami, topped with finely chopped scallions and reduced balsamic vinegar and I had a delicious compliment to the oysters.

Oyster Stew

This dish is a freebie. The nectar gives the stew its flavor. Since I was eating raw oysters, I didn't need any in the stew, but you can certainly add them if you want.

1 cup oyster nectar
½ cup homemade chicken stock
½ carrot, washed, peeled, finely chopped
½ Yukon potato, washed, peeled, finely chopped
1 large shallot, peeled, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, peeled, finely chopped
½ cup Italian parsley, finely chopped
1 piece of bacon or 1"piece of sausage (Italian or Cajun), finely chopped
1 tablespoon sweet butter
1 tablespoon cream
Freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil
2 tablespoons homemade croutons

Two quick notes. The stew doesn't need any added salt. The oyster nectar has all the saltiness you'll need. The vegetables should be finely chopped as you would with a mirepoix.

Sauté the vegetables and bacon/sausage in the olive oil, seasoned with black pepper. After they're lightly browned, add the pat of butter, the oyster nectar, and the chicken stock. Simmer for 15 minutes to combine the flavors. Taste the potato for doneness. If you've decided that you'd like to have some oysters in the stew, add them at this point and simmer for 2 minutes. The oysters can be cooked whole or cut up if they are larger than the size of the soup spoon. Add the cream and simmer 2 minutes. Top with a tablespoon of croutons just before serving.

Serves 2. Preparation Time: 15 minutes. Cooking Time: 20 minutes.

Duck Legs & Thighs with Winter Vegetables

The first time I cooked duck, I was completely freaked out. "Duck!" seemed way too exotic, too odd, too French for me to deal with. Duck had too much tradition behind it. Chicken was my safe-zone fowl.

Anyway, I took the plunge and cooked a whole duck. It turned out...ok. There's all that fat to deal with and the fact that the whole bird is dark meat. After dozens of outings, I figured out how to cook duck, and, I have to say, duck is great. Taste-wise it's midway between chicken and beef, but better than either.

To the point: cooking a whole duck is an obligation. Cooking duck legs and thighs is a lot more normal. Think "chicken" and it won't seem so special, but the end result will be.

The duck we get comes from Vietnamese markets where the cost per pound averages $2.25. It's easy enough to buy a half dozen legs and thighs (they come together) and freeze them. The easy way to do that is to wash and pat dry each leg/thigh, lay it on a piece of plastic wrap, drizzle with olive oil on both sides and season with sea salt and black pepper. Place the individually wrapped duck leg/thighs into a ziploc bag, squeeze the air out, seal the bag, and the duck will stay fresh-tasting for months.

Duck Legs & Thighs with Winter Vegetables

One of those great comfort food recipes that works in cold or hot weather. The duck makes a "soup," so you can fill out the serving with a nice pasta like Zitti or Penne.

Yield: 4

Time: 90 minutes

Ingredients

4 duck leg/thighs
2 carrots, peeled, cut into thick rounds, then quartered
2 yams or sweet potatoes, peeled, cut into thick rounds, then quartered
10 Brussels sprouts, trim the bottoms, quarter
10 shitaki mushrooms, washed, cleaned, sliced
1/2 cup finely chopped Italian parsley
4 cloves garlic, peeled, finely chopped
10 shallots, peeled, halved
Olive oil
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Method

When you're ready to cook the duck, separate the thighs from the legs at the joint.

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large Dutch oven or fry pan. Season the duck pieces with sea salt and black pepper, then sauté the duck until browned on all sides. Remove from the pan and drain on a plate with paper towels.

Pour off the duck fat into a container and save (freeze it if you aren't going to use it right away). Duck fat sells for $20/pint; don't waste it. Duck fat is magic.

Sauté the shitaki mushrooms until lightly browned on each side. Remove to a plate. Now saute the garlic, carrots, sweet potatoes, shallots, garlic, and parsley until lightly browned. Remove to a plate.

Put the duck back into the pan and cover with water. Put a lid on the pan and braise over a medium flame for 45 to 60 minutes, until the meat is tender and separates from the bone with a little pressure. Add back the mushrooms and vegetables and cook another 15 minutes, uncovered.

Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper.

Serve as is or add a cup of cooked pasta for each plate.

Oyster Stew

Good oysters are a rare treat.

Eaten raw with a classic tomato-based cocktail sauce they're delicious. Especially with an ice-cold shot of tequila.

On a cold day, though, oyster stew is the way to go. Satisfying and comforting, the best stews, like the ones served at the Grand Central Station Oyster Bar, are prepared as simply as possible.

My recipe is a variation on that theme.

Oyster Stew

Yield: Serves 4

Time: 60 minutes

Ingredients

6 oysters, raw, shucked, the nectar strained and reserved
1 medium sized, Yukon potato, peeled, finely diced (1/2 cup)
1 small yellow onion, peeled, finely chopped (1 tablespoon)
1 garlic clove, peeled, finely chopped
2 sprigs, parsley, finely chopped, stems and leaves (1 tablespoon)
1 small carrot, finely chopped (1 teaspoon)
2 fresh shiitaki mushrooms, washed, julienned
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
Olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Hot sauce
1 cup homemade chicken stock
1 cup water
1/2 cup cream or half and half

Method

In a medium sized saucepan, sauté the potatoes, garlic, and onions with a tablespoon of olive oil for 10 minutes, stirring frequently so they don't brown. Season with a pinch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, then add the butter and continue sautéing for another 5 minutes. Season to taste with a dash of hot sauce.

Add the chicken stock and water. Simmer, covered, on a low flame for 15 minutes. Remove the lid, stir, and taste, adjust the flavors.

Shuck the oysters. Reserve and strain the nectar, getting rid of any sand and shell pieces. If the oysters are very large, use kitchen shears or scissors and cut them into bite-sized pieces.

Keeping the stew on a low flame, add the oysters and nectar. Cook gently for 5 minutes. Stir in the cream and continue cooking on a low flame for another 5 minutes.

Serve with fresh crusty French bread or topped with homemade croutons.