By David Harbilas

My parents, like many, grew up poor, my mother in Wales, my father in New York City.

Both swore to give their children more than they had, and my brother and I grew up privileged and sheltered.

It was unheard of to us to not have a dinner prepared every night, with placemats, silverware, and glasses laid out, as in a restaurant.

We grew up lucky in having such a ritual, as it taught us not only the beauties of food and dining but of being part of a loving family.

One of my parents’ dreams was to own a vacation home, and in the early 1980’s they bought a condominium in Florida. They made friends with many of the transplanted residents in the area, two of which would become long-term friends.

Pat and Gerry, two retired ladies from, if I remember correctly, the tri-state area, lived next door and yelled at my brother and I whenever we used our skateboards on their front parking curb.

We always Read the rest of this entry »

By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

The other day I was watching a cooking show on cable and thought how serendipity plays a role in life.

While this show was really about weird foods, the area where this episode was filmed tied in perfectly with a reader’s question.

One may ask where the connection is between weird food and a reader’s question and the simple answer is the sea.

This food show’s location was in Venice and showcased beautiful vegetables, herbs and fruits. These included but not limited to grapes, greens, herbs, and our favorite tomatoes.

The tomatoes were all Read the rest of this entry »

By David Harbilas

Emulsified sauces are a lot of fun, because they sound very impressive but are very easy to make.

They also have a very rich flavor and a silky texture, due to the use of butter.

If you’re health conscious they can be made with olive oil, though the flavor is much different and more akin to a vinaigrette, which is itself an emulsified sauce when made like this.

This recipe, like the corn and tomato gazpacho, makes use of a corn stock, which is easy to make. T

he sauce goes well with nearly anything but works best with milder proteins like fish, chicken, or pork.

Makes about 1 cup of sauce

• 2 tomatoes, diced
• 3 ears of corn
• 1 shallot, chopped Read the rest of this entry »

By David Harbilas

As with some recipes that are incredibly simple this one requires some time to get the full effect.

It can easily be made at home; all one needs for any sort of special equipment is a food processor and some coffee filters, in addition to a fine mesh strainer.

The end result, then, is a combination of very clean tomato and corn flavors married together.

This makes for an elegant introduction to any meal, or a nice accompaniment to a tomato salad.

Makes about 4-6 cups of soup

• 5 ripe tomatoes
• 6 ears of corn
• 1 carrot, roughly chopped Read the rest of this entry »

By David Harbilas

Vinegars infused with herbs and fruits seemed to be a trend that came and quickly went in the early ‘80’s, a seemingly bland, health-conscious choice over creamy dressings.

Yet we never really seemed to learn the lessons of these early innovations, which is a shame since improving on those early methods is a relatively simple matter.

Rather than simply placing an assortment of tomatoes in a jar with some vinegar, here a jam-like sauce is made and allowed to cook with a mixture of both red wine and red wine vinegar.

The tomato is actually not the star ingredient and acts more like a seasoning. This sauce goes well with beef, chicken, and pork, as well as salads.

Makes about 2 cups

• 1 large tomato, peeled, seeded, and chopped
• 1 cup of red wine
• ¼ cup red wine vinegar Read the rest of this entry »

By David Harbilas

This is a variation on a traditional Greek appetizer, tiropita, which is essentially spanikopita without spinach.

Spanikopita has become such a traditional and oft-times boring dish that it sometimes surprises people to see something other than spinach wrapped in filo.

Being that tomatoes are hardly an easy medium for such a fragile pastry, they need to be stewed down to a nearly dry consistency–which is good, since their flavor will also concentrate as they cook.

Makes 20 pita

• 1 bulb of fennel, diced
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and diced Read the rest of this entry »