I Say Tomato

My good friend and fellow foodie Ireen picked up some heirloom tomatoes for me from a farmer's market she discovered near work. The range of colors, shapes, sizes and the shiny flesh makes me think of gumballs.

Lately, I've been developing a passion for the smaller varieties of tomato, like grape, cherry and plum. Not only do they physically explode on contact, they hold a concentrated flavor that explodes on the tongue. My favorite thing to do with them is to halve them, spread them out on a baking sheet, sprinkle tiny pinches of salt and sugar, drizzle olive oil, then slowly roast them until they dry out. They are phenomenal on their own, but also in sandwiches, with pasta, on rice, or whatever else you can think to do with them.

My imaginary boyfriend, Heston Blumenthal, believes that the ultimate tomato flavor can be achieved by extracting the gelatinous bits and seeds from the hollow locular cavities within the tomato, passing the gooey mess through a sieve, then slowly reducing the liquid over low heat until it has a ketchup-like texture. I've yet to try this but you can bet I'm itching to. I've made my own home-made ketchup in the past and I wonder how it would compare.

Granola people and purists believe that heirloom tomatoes are the best. Almost all the tomato varieties we see in supermarkets are actually genetically engineered hybrids. Tomatoes cultivated from the original, untampered seeds are called heirlooms. To be honest, I haven't been able to taste a difference between heirloom and hybrid tomatoes of the same size. Like I said, my choice of tomato is more dictated by size (and water content) than genetic strain. While I love the candy-sized varieties, I also like a good beefsteak tomato on a hamburger. And what better to use in a pasta sauce than Roma tomatoes?

The emerald green tomatillo is something I have yet to cook with. It comes from the same family of plants as the tomato but belongs in a different genus (thanks Wiki!). I'm not sure if the tomatillo is the fruit used in "fried green tomatoes" (or is it simply an unripe tomato?) but ever since I saw the movie of the same name, I've been salivating over the idea of frying some up.