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People are talking about fall. But it is not fall in Los Angeles. Not by a long shot. I know this because in gardens up and down my street, tomato plants continue to produce a riot of unmatched end-of-summer color.<\/p>\n
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With a glorious profusion of red, yellow, and white currant tomatoes, as tiny as your pinkie fingernail, to the slightly larger grape tomatoes, right up to two pound beauties like Gold Medal and Mortgage Lifters of all stripe, the plants continue to produce with remarkable abandon. But the question persists. What to do with all these tomatoes?<\/p>\n You can follow the lead of Italians everywhere, who at this time of year are “putting up” enough passata di pomodoro<\/em> (tomato puree), pomodori pelati<\/em> (peeled tomatoes), or ready to use tomato sauce (family recipe, of course) to last until summer comes again. Check out my Italian friends Frank Fariello of Memorie di Angelina<\/a> and Michelle Capobianco of Majella Home Cooking<\/a> for their lessons on putting up tomatoes. But the truth is you’re still going to have tomatoes left over. A few weeks ago I wrote an article for L’Italo-Americano<\/em><\/a> newspaper called “The Tomatoes of August – Put Them Up or Put Them in the Oven!” I thought I’d reprise the recipes here, for those last holdouts of the summer orto<\/em> (garden.)<\/p>\n Late summer is tomato time, and one of the best ways to enjoy the tomato garden’s bounty is to roast these beauties. Tossed with olive oil, dappled with salt, pepper and herbs or even sweetened with sugar, and roasted in a fast oven, the tomatoes are transformed. The oven’s dry heat brings out the best in tomatoes, drawing out the water, caramelizing them and bringing their sweetness into particularly tight focus, distilling more flavor than you ever thought possible into every single glorious orb of summer.<\/p>\n Serve roasted tomatoes any way you want. Click here<\/a> to see them paired with Abruzzo’s classic long pasta, maccheroni alla chitarra. Add a few to a salad, or atop ricotta crostini for an antipasto. Try Roasted Tomatoes with Burrata<\/em>. The freshly pulled, milky cheese, or pasta filata<\/em>, is formed into pouches and filled with voluptuous cream and soft pieces of cheese known as ritagli<\/em>, or rags. The soft cheese is the perfect match for the flavor of the tomatoes, soft and still warm from the oven. Served with garlic-rubbed crostini and basil leaves, this will have your guests asking how you worked the magic.<\/p>\n Perhaps the sweetest tomatoes of all, and surely one of the most prolific of plants, are Sun Golds<\/a>. The plants reach a height of over six feet, and give forth tiny, extremely sweet, golden cherry-type tomatoes. Food writer Julia della Croce of Forktales<\/a> roasts Sun Golds<\/a> with extra virgin olive oil and oregano and then tosses them with pasta, more extra virgin olive oil, and ricotta salata. The Sun Golds blister and soften during their roasting time, and their flavor deepens and intensifies. This preparation, so elegant in its simplicity, is Italian home cooking alla della Croce at its best, and a perfect way to use those garden holdouts.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
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