Organic Recipe Friday: The World of Tomatoes

You Say Tomato

When I was growing up, a “cherry tomato” was red, about an inch in diameter, and was OK. A mild-mannered little sibling of what I knew as a “tomato.” At some point, I learned about plum, beefsteak and grape tomatoes. But it wasn’t until recent years, as I made more and more trips to farmers’ markets, that I discovered the amazingly varied world of tomatoes—a world that includes thousands of tomato types, or cultivars—and discovered how much flavor I had been missing.

This tomato world is inhabited by such characters as Candy Stripe, Gary’s Golden Bear, Lemon Boy, Mortgage Lifter, Pink Brandywine and Tennessee Britches. And dozens of cherry tomatoes, including Sweet Olive, Snow White, Jelly Bean, Isis Candy and Hawaiian Currant. And this world boasts a truly impressive range of flavors, textures, shapes, colors and sizes.

To my great delight, I discovered the sungold cherry tomato last year and may have eaten hundreds of them in a few weeks. They’re so sweet and delicious, I was determined to eat as many as I could manage this year, while trying other varieties I encountered. This led to many afternoon tomato snacks and tomato-heavy salads and tomato omelets. But I was craving a new way to eat them. When a friend in my CSA told me about her simple but scrumptious sungold cherry tomato sauce during our last produce delivery, it was all I could do to not run straight home and start cooking.

Sungold Primavera

Serves 4

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 small onion (or large shallot), chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 3 pints sungold cherry tomatoes, or mixture of sungold and another variety, such as chocolate cherry tomatoes; slice larger tomatoes in half
• 1/4 cup sliced basil, sliced
• Black pepper
• 8-10 ounces small pasta

Heat oil in wok over medium heat. Cook onion until it starts to turn golden. Add garlic and cook for a minute or two. Add tomatoes and cook until tomatoes soften. The tomatoes will produce a lot of liquid. Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, letting some of it evaporate. I prefer a bit of liquid to better coat the pasta but you may prefer a thicker sauce. Remove from heat. Stir in basil and pepper. Serve over pasta. Top with grated Parmesan.

Photo Credit: Flickr CC User (and author) bornOKthefirsttime