By David Harbilas

It might seem a joke to title a recipe such as this, but according to a friend the Turks do in fact enjoy turkey on a regular basis.

More interesting, they make use of tomato paste in cooking turkey.

The actual method has not been explained to me in great detail, except to say that they brush the skin with tomato paste, giving it a dark golden-red color.

This is, of course, a very simple method, but I think it illustrates one of the great properties of tomatoes which will remain something of a mystery to us. It takes a certain type of plum tomato to make tomato paste, along with a certain method to render the pulp into a thick paste. At some point in that process the flavor goes from slightly acidic to sweet to savory and rich.

This savory quality is partly what helps round out many dark stocks and reduced sauces, and while we use tomato paste in many braises its character seems to be lost amid a combination of wine, stock and canned or pureed tomatoes. Maybe all that’s needed is to eliminate all those ingredients and steps. More a method than an actual recipe, this dish is an expression of basic technique and a limit of ingredients.

Serves 4-8, depending on the size of the turkey

• 1 turkey
• 1-2 small cans tomato paste
• olive oil Read the rest of this entry »

By David Harbilas

Aioli is one of the most versatile sauces, but it seems like its applications are limited because it’s a cold sauce.

Essentially a mayonnaise, aioli can be enriched with any number of things–herbs, roasted garlic, pureed roasted peppers, and, of course, tomatoes.

As with most aiolis this one is used in a sandwich, though it can easily be used as a condiment for raw or roasted vegetables, cold poached fish or roast beef, chicken, pork, or lamb.

The rosemary can also be substituted for any of a number of herbs, but I like the way it pairs with lemon.

Serves 2

• 1 large chicken breast, cut in two thin filets
• 1 cup aioli, or 1 cup prepared mayonnaise
• 1 large tomato Read the rest of this entry »

By David Harbilas

I recently had dinner with a friend at Radici Restaurant in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

The chef is a friend of mine, and he was kind enough to send us a simple tomato salad, but the server also mentioned a dish made with a tomato-caper-lemon salad, and though I didn’t try that dish I thought I would try it at home.

Here is what I imagine the dish to be like.

Rather than use actual lemon slices or segments, which some Italian recipes do make use of (and which I find to be just too tart), I decided to use both the zest and juice of the lemons. The basic idea is for the saltiness of the capers to off-set the sweetness of the tomatoes and for that, in turn, to be off-set by the acid of the lemon. This can easily be called a salsa, and if allowed to sit and macerate for a long enough time will resemble an uncooked sauce.

Serves 2

• 2 large chicken breasts
• 1 pint of cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 tablespoon capers Read the rest of this entry »

By David Harbilas

Bruschetta has to be one of the great culinary inventions of all time.

Not quite a sandwich, yet far more inviting than the dainty canapé, they seem to be at home with seemingly any variety of toppings, making great use of leftovers and day-old bread.

Truly, the genius seems to lie in the grilling or toasting of the bread, as it elevates the stale into the sublime.

It also doesn’t take a long time to make.

Makes 10 bruschetta

• 10 round slices of day old ciabatta or baguette, about ½ inch thick
• 3 plum tomatoes
• 1 cup diced, cooked pumpkin
• 1 small yellow onion, diced Read the rest of this entry »

By David Harbilas

Pumpkin seems a woefully un-versatile vegetable, seemingly paired only with cinnamon, brown sugar and the like.

Yet considering its ubiquity, sweetness and meaty quality it’s a wonder that it doesn’t get more notice or use with other vegetables.

The key, it seems, is to add to its characteristic sweetness without overpowering that odd, caramel-like flavor that only it can provide to a dish.

Using a sparing amount of a concentrated roasted tomato puree as you would tomato paste would help lend a simple pumpkin soup an added dimension that might entice beyond the usual version we’ve become used to at this time of the year. As with most soups, long simmering helps develop flavors, so if possible take your time with this recipe.

Makes about 1 gallon

• 1 medium sized pumpkin, about 5 pounds
• 2 onions, roughly chopped
• 1 head of garlic Read the rest of this entry »

By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

I love tomatoes but I hate that hard, fake looking greenhouse tomatoes that seem to show up every holiday.

As a matter of fact, if I do not have any homegrown canned tomatoes left I do not have them on the holiday table.

This year is different and as a matter of fact is very different.

This year’s weather, at least in Southern Indiana has been unusual and in doing so I still have tomatoes in the garden. These silly plants do not realize that the growing season is over and they should stop blooming. As I have said many times, Mother Nature knows best.

So this year, my family’s holiday table will have all the trimming plus truly fresh tomatoes right out of the garden. As I have stated before, this season’s weather has been unusually warm and we have yet to have a killing frost so tomatoes are not the only things still growing in the garden.

One of the plants that are known to be a famous Read the rest of this entry »