By David Harbilas

I know I’m not the first person to think of this, but using the same ingredients in a bloody mary for a vinaigrette dressing is an exciting way to “create” something.

While one could easily use the exact ingredients, right down to the tomato juice, the best results come from using ripe, juicy tomatoes, as they have a complexity that bottled juice lacks.

This is essentially a spicy tomato vinaigrette, and it can be used with fish, beef, chicken, or pork.

Serves 2

• 1 flank steak, about 8 ounces
• 1 head of bibb lettuce, or some other tender-leafed green lettuce
• 2 juicy red tomatoes Read the rest of this entry »

By David Harbilas

Spicy tomato sauces and fish have a long history in many cultures, but often the heat comes from some form of chile pepper, be it a pepper flake, powder or prepared sauce.

Horseradish offers a slightly cleaner, less lingering sort of heat that pairs naturally with tomatoes.

The end result can be a little jarring, so a small amount of lemon zest ties the sweetness into the heat.

This sauce is also easy to make, and it goes well with other light entrees like chicken and pork.

Serves 2

• 4 Ripe red tomatoes
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 4 tablespoons grated fresh horseradish Read the rest of this entry »

By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

The other day I was doing some research on greenhouse tomatoes and found a technique I found interesting and sad.

Greenhouse tomatoes are fertilized in several different ways.

One way is the way I used to use when I was an Agriculture Education instructor and that was just letting nature into my greenhouses.

In the commercial setting, this consists of releasing bumblebees into the greenhouse environment. These insects are short-lived but can be expensive when a new hive has to be purchased every time the greenhouse is cleaned out and new plants brought in.

Another approach Read the rest of this entry »

By David Harbilas

This is a fairly easy sauce that is short on prep time, long on cooking time and long on flavor.

If you want to impress someone, this is a good sauce to make with a rich flavored entrée of beef, poultry, or pork.

Like many of my recipes, it makes use of a basic roasted tomato puree but takes an addition of a red wine reduction and heavy cream.

Makes about 3 cups of sauce

One bottle of red wine
1 carrot, rough chopped
1 onion, rough chopped Read the rest of this entry »

By David Harbilas

At Aka Bistro I served an egg dish for brunch on Saturdays and Sundays that features a bacon emulsion.

It’s a poached egg served in a hollowed-out brioche roll with lardons of crispy bacon and a sauce that is little more than a strained puree of bacon.

To me, bacon and tomatoes are natural partners, and what better way to enrich the basic bacon emulsion than with roasted tomato?

While this may seem like a difficult sauce to make it is, in fact, incredibly simple and only requires a fine mesh sieve to achieve the silky texture of the final sauce. It goes well with chicken, beef, pork, and, of course, eggs, though I imagine it would be deadly on a traditional croque monsieur sandwich as well.

Makes 1 scant cup of sauce

12 strips of bacon
2 tomatoes
olive oil Read the rest of this entry »

By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

Tomatoes love heat and the hotter the better to a point.

Many gardeners this year have been faced with a situation that is usual.

This situation is not cold, predators or disease but instead heat.

Across the United States, heat has been a major problem.

Many states have not only been faced with more than a month of temperatures above 90 degrees F but also no rain. States out west, which are used to the heat, are facing environmental conditions worse than Read the rest of this entry »