FOOD : Too Many Tomatoes : An Excess of Tomatoes Means Opportunities for Creative Cooking

Tomatoes,

Stars of the earth,

Stars multiplied and fertile. . . .

The street drowns in tomatoes .

--Pablo Neruda, “Ode to the Tomato”

THERE’S BEEN a lot of confusion about tomatoes over the years. The Aztecs thought they were holy. The Italians thought they were aphrodisiacs. The English thought they were poisonous. Thomas Jefferson, who certainly ought to have known better, thought that they were “a type of Spanish cantaloupe.” Most of us think they’re a vegetable, and indeed the United States Supreme Court, in deciding whether or not tomatoes were subject to import duties, defined them as such in 1893--though in fact, botanically, they’re a fruit.

One thing is plain and indisputable about tomatoes, though: They are extraordinarily prolific. And at the height of tomato season--which is just about now in Southern California--anybody who raises them, in anything approximating fertile soil and a hospitable climate, ends up with far too many for at least a few weeks.

Tomatoes tend to sneak up on the home gardener. Baby tomato plants or seedlings--the form most people plant these days (though they can be grown well from seeds)--are just temperamental sprigs of faded green when you first stick them in the ground, quick to droop if you forget to water them, prepared to shrivel at the first sign of unseasonal coolness. Gradually, though, they start growing up, wrapping their delicate tendrils around the stakes or cages you’ve put up to support them. Next, having become cautiously bushier and more fragrant, they tentatively set forth their frilly yellow blossoms.

So far so good. Then one day you come home from a long day at the office and discover that they’ve taken over the whole back yard. Stakes and cages are obscured by verdant foliage. The unmistakable, pungent odor of tomato leaves thickens the air. Those yellow blossoms have suddenly extruded a legion of shiny, hard, green globes--tomatoes aborning. And if the hornworms don’t sap the vines of life, and the dog doesn’t discover a primal appetite for the developing fruit, the next thing you know, it’ll be Tomato City at your house.

At first, you’ll use this wealth of produce happily, tossing your tomatoes into everything, adding their acidic sweetness to every salad, every soup and stew and sauce. Later, you’ll start offering them to your neighbors or co-workers. Eventually, even they won’t be able to absorb the excess.

Fortunately, the tomato is a protean creature--a foodstuff with a thousand uses, give or take a few. And unlike many vegetables--but in common with many of its fellow fruits--it lends itself superbly to drying, cooking down, and other forms of concentration that can turn excess into manageable volume.

Here are four tomato-intensive recipes--some of which concentrate the fruit, others which simply use it in not-quite-conventional ways. They’re all from Los Angeles area restaurants, and all are Mediterranean in origin, or at least inspiration--for though the tomato is a native of the Americas, it has become practically the heraldic fruit of southern Europe--and is used more imaginatively in that area than anywhere else in the world.

Bruce Marder, proprietor of the West Beach Cafe and Rebecca’s in Venice and of DC3 in Santa Monica, makes up large batches of this very simple, very savory tomato sauce and then uses it in several different ways--on pasta (he recommends it with ricotta-filled ravioli), with vegetables, even--with a good chicken stock stirred in--as “instant” tomato soup.

ALL-PURPOSE TOMATO SAUCE

20 ripe medium-large tomatoes

8 bay leaves

2 heads garlic, separated into cloves and peeled

2 to 3 cups water

Salt and pepper

Quarter the tomatoes and remove the pith. Place tomatoes, bay leaves, garlic and water in a large stockpot or Dutch oven and cook uncovered on the lowest possible heat for 8 to 10 hours, stirring occasionally, until mixture is thick enough to coat a spoon, and begins to bubble.

Put mixture through a food mill, or press, a little at a time, through a sieve. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Although Hans Rockenwagner is a German-born chef, best-known for the contemporary California-French cuisine that he serves with his wife and co-chef, Mary, at their acclaimed Rockenwagner’s in Venice, he has recently strayed into Italian territory as well. With recipes from Mary’s American-Italian family as inspiration, he is now purveying uncommon pizza, pasta and related fare at his new Fama in Santa Monica. The only dish common to the menus at both restaurants is tomato sorbet. At Rockenwagner’s, it appears as an accent with a sweetbread salad; at Fama, though, it is served more simply, sprinkled with shreds of home-cured tomato, atop a salad of mache, arugula , Belgian endive, curly endive and basil leaves. Makes 8 servings.

TOMATO SORBET WITH HOME-CURED TOMATOES

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

6 medium-large ripe tomatoes, peeled and seeded

Juice of 1 lemon

1 tablespoon tomato paste

Salt and pepper

1 tablespoon finely chopped chives

1 cup sour cream

8 sprigs fresh basil

Home-Cured Tomatoes

Mix sugar and water together in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over a medium-high flame, stirring occasionally. When water boils, remove from heat immediately to prevent burning.

Blend sugar syrup, tomatoes, lemon juice and tomato paste together in a blender or food processor until smooth. Transfer mixture to stainless steel bowl, add chives, and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Place bowl in freezer for five minutes, then remove and stir briefly. Return bowl to freezer. Continue this process until mixture has thickened and frozen to the consistency of sorbet (about 40 minutes). If ice crystals form, blend the mixture a second time, then continue the freezing process. Sorbet may be stored in freezer in an airtight container until use.

Serve in scoops in individual sorbet dishes, with each scoop garnished with a dollop of sour cream, two or three Home-Cured Tomatoes cut into fine strips and a sprig of fresh basil.

Home-Cured Tomatoes

30 to 40 ripe Roma (pear-shaped) tomatoes

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

1 tablespoon minced fresh herbs (oregano, marjoram, and/or thyme), optional

Remove stems from tomatoes and cut tomatoes in half lengthwise. Coat a large, shallow baking pan or cookie sheet generously with olive oil, then sprinkle it with salt and pepper. Place tomatoes on pan, cut side up, and sprinkle with fresh herbs, if desired.

Place pan in oven at lowest possible setting (150 degrees Fahrenheit or less) for 6 to 8 hours, or until tomatoes are shrunken and wrinkled.

Allow to cool, then store in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to use. Tomatoes may be covered with olive oil in the container; this intensifies their flavor and makes them last longer, and the oil left over when they have been used up is good for cooking or salad dressing.

This is a variation on an old Neopolitan recipe, adapted by Gennaro Villella, the chef at Rex Il Ristorante in downtown Los Angeles. Villella flavors the spaghetti with bottarga , the pressed and dried roe of tuna or gray mullet. This great Italian delicacy, which has the consistency of firm, slightly sticky cheese, is shaved onto the spaghetti and stirred so that it melts into it. Unfortunately, bottarga is not available commercially in Southern California. As a workable substitute, Villella suggests anchovy paste, homemade in the manner described below.

TOMATOES STUFFED WITH SPAGHETTI IN ANCHOVY AND FRESH MINT SAUCE

4 large tomatoes, ripe but still firm

6 to 8 ounces dry spaghetti

5 to 6 anchovy fillets, separated

1 red or yellow bell pepper, ribbed, seeded and finely diced

1 to 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

4 large black olives, pitted and diced

4 tablespoons olive oil

3 to 4 sprigs fresh mint, pulled off stem and torn into pieces by hand

Place anchovy filets in a small bowl of room-temperature water and allow to soak for half an hour. Dry on paper towels and mash in a bowl with a fork, adding a few drops of olive oil, until a thick, coarse paste has formed. Set aside.

Cut the tops off tomatoes just below the shoulders, and carefully scoop out the pith, being careful not to puncture the walls of the tomatoes.

Saute diced pepper slowly in remaining oil until soft (about 10 minutes), then stir in garlic, anchovy paste and olives. Cook slowly for 5 to 10 more minutes.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil, add spaghetti and cook, about 7 to 8 minutes, until spaghetti is pliable but still firm.

Drain spaghetti well, then place in a large bowl and mix in the anchovy paste and mint thoroughly.

Allow spaghetti to cool enough to touch, then pack one quarter of it into each of the 4 tomatoes. Lightly oil a small square baking dish, just big enough to hold the 4 tomatoes, add the tomatoes (cut side up), and cover the dish lightly with aluminum foil. Bake for 20 minutes at 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Makes 4 appetizer or light main-course servings.

Styling by Nancy Truax / tableware from Bullock’s / candelabrum courtesy of Anne Spilsbury