I’m trying to focus on the positive so I will talk about tomatoes. Namely, homegrown tomatoes and perhaps most importantly, tomatoes from the Munson-Campbell garden. It has been a hell of a season. They have been exceptional this year. My favorites are the big yellow ones (they are Pineapple Tomatoes—I just checked with Heather). I wonder how I’m going to pay them back for their generosity? I wonder that about a lot of people.
We had a counterful of tomatoes that needed to be used. I decided to try a recipe I’d seen on a FB friend’s post: tomato bacon confit. I’m a tad peasantish so I didn’t peel the tomatoes as I was supposed to. We just halved and cored them and piled them in a roasting pan. Then we covered it with strips of bacon and roasted it in a 450 degree oven for mmmm an hour and fifteen minutes or so.. The bacon got a little too dark but oh my….the SMELL of it all was intoxicating.
Forgive the bad photo from the blue light of the tv below. It may not look beautiful but it was an amazing dinner. We just took the confit tomatoes and heated them up, mashed them a bit with a potato masher and added a bit of salt and pepper, tossed it with some gluten free penne and a bit of pecorino romano. Man. I woke up thinking about the flavor of this sauce. It tasted light which is crazy given it had bacon fat in it but it was just so simple. It reminded me of the Marcella Hazan onion/butter/tomato sauce. Not that it tastes like that but it has that same clear simplicity. It was simple and subtle but positively haunting.
Potato salad for Ernie on Labor Day along with smoked pork chops from Triple S Farms and some luscious yellow tomatoes. Pretty heavenly. And we played the Anvil Chorus from Il Trovatore in honor of Labor Day. I could listen to this all day. Truly.
And then…it was time. We picked the Prince.
We wanted to cook him simply so we could really appreciate him. We sautéed him just a bit and added him to some Old Bay corn. He was heavenly. As was the corn and the chicken thigh roasted with Ancho chili powder.
Dinner tonight? Hmmm. I think we need something without meat. Tomato sandwich? Arugula pasta? I kinda wanna just eat a whole bowl of our tomato confit sauce. Then again I think we have some frozen shrimp and the fennel and beets that are in the photo up top. Shrimp and fennel and corn sound good together. Hmmmm. I love beets but not sure what to do with them. I’ll think about it.
Onward.
Yay!!!!!!! Classical music on Labor Day!!!!!!!!! I’m so proud of you I could just burst!!!!! Excellent choice, I must say.