Plum Tomato

Here is the recipe used at the Coyote Café. Along with chopped onions, fresh cilantro, salsa tomatillo, and red chile sauce, it’s always offered as a basic condiment with tacos, regardless of whatever special salsa is paired with a particular taco filling. Salsa fresca is used in Mexico like we use ketchup—to wake up plain foods. But salsa fresca is better than ketchup because it is made fresh—ripe tomatoes, a bit of onion for crunch, the heat of green chile, the tang of fresh lime juice, and the refreshing lift of aromatic cilantro.

This recipe is really all about the tomatoes. For the best results, make these tacos in summer when tomatoes are at their sweetest and seasonal best. Thicker-fleshed varieties, like Romas, work better for this filling as they give off less juice and cook down to a firmer consistency. After roasting, the tomato slices turn soft and crinkly. Thin shavings of buttery, piquant Spanish Manchego cheese makes a wonderful addition, as do leaves of peppery arugula or sprigs of cilantro. Pumpkin seeds are available toasted, which deepens their flavor, or you can easily toast them yourself in a hot, dry skillet. These tacos can easily be served in place of a salad course for a dinner party. The pesto will hold for one week in the refrigerator and shines with pastas, seafood, or meat dishes. For a quick version, substitute about four ounces purchased roasted tomatoes, stocked at specialty markets. Look for them in bulk where olives are sold, packed with herbs and a bit of oil.

A tian is a Provençal creation named for the traditional earthenware baking dish. Be sure to drizzle generously with oil to impart flavor and keep the vegetables from drying out (remember, there’s no other liquid in a tian); you can spoon off excess oil after cooking.

This is a good way to use tomatoes that are less than perfect, as the baking intensifies their flavor, and honey enhances their sweetness. They make lovely accompaniments to meat, chicken, or fish, or use them when steaming en papillote (see page 215). The tomatoes can be refrigerated in an airtight container up to three days.

One of the things I like about Italian food in general is that it is not a wimpy cuisine; the flavors are bold and decisive, as you will see in this preparation of bacalà, or salt cod. I first tried this classic preparation at Ristorante Da Delfina, at the same lunch where I also discovered Ribollita “Da Delfina” (page 115). I loved how hearty the dish was and how pronounced the flavors were. In keeping with the Florentine tradition of eating bacalà on Fridays, we serve this as the Friday piatto special in the Pizzeria, and in keeping with our tradition of cooking Pizzeria dishes in the pizza oven, this, too, is cooked in that oven. We start with fresh cod and salt-cure it in the style of old days, where the fish was cured as a way of preserving it. Ideally you will start with a center cut of cod, which will yield more even-size pieces, which will salinate evenly. The cod takes three days to cure, so plan accordingly.

These tomatoes are part of the arsenal of ingredients that we reach for to bring layers of flavor to other dishes. They add not just the flavor of tomatoes but also the slightly charred flavor that you get from cooking the tomatoes at very high heat. The tomatoes need to fit snugly on a baking sheet, which is why this recipe calls for you to roast four pounds of them. But you can always freeze them to use at a later date. I recommend you freeze them in batches of four halves, as we always call for them in multiples of four.

Serve with grilled shrimp, fish, or pork.

Be sure your kitchen is well ventilated when you soak the New Mexican and guajillo chiles; their vapors can be a mild irritant.

These tomatoes hold up well for up to 2 days when stored in the refrigerator; serve as a sandwich filling or pasta topping.

Look for precooked polenta logs in the refrigerated section of your grocery store. If using fresh plum tomatoes, peel them by scoring an X in the bottom with a paring knife and plunging them into boiling water for several seconds; transfer to an ice-water bath, and let cool. Slip off and discard the peels and seeds.

This dish was inspired by one of cookbook author Madhur Jaffrey’s lamb curries.

Serve with Polenta (page 377).

To reduce the fat, we eliminated the cheese and toasted the corn tortillas in the oven rather than frying them in oil.

Steps 1 and 2 can be done up to 1 day ahead; refrigerate until ready to serve.

Add a touch of Provence by applying a rub of thyme, marjoram, rosemary, and sage to sirloin steak.

Roasting veggies over high heat retains those delightful concentrated flavors.

Couscous, a quick-cooking Moroccan staple, gets a Mediterranean makeover with fresh lemon juice, oregano, mint, and feta.

Roasting time at 325°F: 2 hours for medium rare—internal temperature 125° to 130°F (about 15 minutes per pound).