We've been eating tomatoes from our garden, tomatoes from the farmers coop we belong to and tomatoes from other friends and family. I had no idea there were so many varieties of tomatoes.
I eat at least two or three every day. I eat them with salt or basil or cracked pepper or mozzarella cheese or olive oil. Sometimes I eat them with all of that together. I eat them standing over the sink; I eat them off a plate. I'll even eat them standing in the garden. I've been known to sop up the tomato juices and olive oil with fresh - and occasionally stale - French bread - or wonder bread or wheat bread. Once I sopped it up with a lonely hot-dog bun rediscovered in the back of the bread drawer.
A wasted tomato is a reason for deep, heartfelt tears.
However, I won't eat the plum tomato. I'm saving those for a purpose. I'm saving them for the same reasons some people press flowers or collect guns or take snapshots. I'm saving them for something special...something magical. I'm saving them for my wife's t Pomodori al Forno (okay it's not really her Pomodori al Forno but I'm not stupid).
Don't let the fancy words fool you - I have no idea what it means either. Although, I'm fairly certain "Pomodori al Forno" must mean "what is this I'm eating because I've died and gone to tomato food heaven" or something roughly like that.
I've been asking since we plucked the first plum tomato off the vine when she was going to make it. Every day I count them waiting for the time when the number of available plum tomatoes will justify the energy required to make them.
The law of conservation of mass/matter basically states that matter can neither be destroyed or created - only "that the mass of a closed system will remain constant over time, regardless of the processes acting inside the system." In other words this theory states that no matter what is done to that tomato - when it is finished being processed you will still have the same amount of matter and energy.
What a stupid theory. Anyone who tries one of these small miracles of wholesomeness knows something greater was created.
Try the recipe from Molly Wizenberg at Bon Appétit Pomodori al Forno.
