Sunday, January 28, 2007

Weekend Herb Blogging #67

Weekend Herb Blogging returns home to Melbourne where Ed from Tomato is our host. What better time to feature tomatoes!

tomatoes

These wonderfully ripe examples are Roma Tomatoes. It's amazing to think that it wasn't until the 18th century that tomatoes had gained acceptance in Italy - nowadays they are so ingrained in the culture. The reason for the slow uptake is that the plant is a member of the deadly nightshade and so it was thought to be poisonous.

Tomatoes these days are being heralded as a potential disease buster due to the presence of Lycopene. It's actually one of the few plants where cooking actually increases the Lycopene content. Lycopene is an anti-oxidant and is thought to help lower the risk of cancer and heart disease.

Tomatoes are also high in Vitamins C and A and contain good levels of dietary fibre along with iron, magnesium, niacin, potassium, phosphorous, riboflavin and thiamine.

For this week's recipe I'll be bringing together two of my favoured creations from local chefs - from Raymond Capaldi the Basil Ice Cream I posted about earlier this week and from Shannon Bennett, a cold pressed tomato soup.

The pressed tomato soup is almost a standard at Vue de Monde though of late it's been usurped by a bubbling dry ice infused lemon verbena lemonade. Still, I look fondly on this palette cleanser. It's quite an unusual experience the first time you have it as it's presented to you as a clear liquid in a white cup. With the first sip you are overwhelmed by the essence of tomato. It's an experience for the mind as well.

The version I've made isn't as clear as you'll get in the restaurant, mainly due to laziness on my part but I feel it works well in the structure and appearance of this dish. I've also slightly modified the ingredients to produce something less savoury - the original recipe contains garlic, Worcestershire and Tabasco.

As flavours go, pairing tomato and basil is a winner however it's done - in this cleanser a small ball of basil ice cream is floated amongst the chilled tomato broth in something that should appeal to all your senses.

cleanser

Tomato and Basil Cleanser

Cold-pressed Tomato Soup
1 kg ripe Roma tomatoes
25 grams caster sugar
25 ml Champagne vinegar
1 cup cold water
salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Basil ice cream balls, to serve

Place the sugar and vinegar into a small saucepan and bring to the boil - then reduce by two-thirds to form a thick syrup. Set to one side.

Cut the tomatoes in half and remove the seeds and excess liquid from them by just squeezing them in your hand. Chop roughly before placing into a blender with the water and a little salt and pepper. Blend until smooth.

Line a fine mesh strainer with muslin place over a bowl - pour in the blended tomato and allow to slowly filter through. Place it in the fridge and let it go for about 12 hours.

To get a clearer result, just re-filter the strained liquid.

Store in the fridge until ready to use.

Assemble dish:
Make sure the basil ice-cream balls are as cold as possible. Pre-forming them helps retard the melting.

Place a ball into your serving dish and gently pour in a little of the cold tomato broth, try not to pour it over the ice-cream.

Serve at once.

cleanser


Tagged with :

11 comments

  1. Oh, wow! Beautiful looking tomatoes, beautiful paring of tomatoes and basil, beautiful photos. Thanks for another wonderful recipe!

    Paz

    ReplyDelete
  2. Haalo it's just fantastic. What a great combination and such an inventive use of those two ingredients. I predict you'll be getting a cookbook offer someday!

    BTW, I switched! Everything seems fine. My hands were sweating and I was terrified, but no problems at all. Thanks for your words of encouragement on FBS, that really helped me.

    ReplyDelete
  3. At first I thought why would anyone make an amouse bouche at home, and then I thought well why not? You pay a small fortune to eat like this in restaurants. It's a classical combination that I could easily see in any Michelin 3* restaurant.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Forgot to add... yet another photo to make me feel like throwing my camera away.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Tomatos are my favorite food in the world. Your dish looks wonderful!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks Paz - I do hope you give it a go!

    Thanks Kalyn - new blogger isn't the ogre it's painted as - surprisingly if you have good backups and follow the instructions (big problem for lots of people) it's usually not a problem. Glad it all worked out for you!

    Thanks Trig - don't throw out the camera unless it's a canon ;)

    Thanks Sara - it's lovely and refreshing.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Haalo,

    Beautiful combination. I love tomatoes. And we are having great tomatonow, aren't we? I can't get enough of the truss tomatoes personally. Just eat them raw or in salad. They are soooo good!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Haha...you and I are obviously on the same wavelength. I blogged a description of the Vue de Monde essence of tomato soup/broth experience on the same day you blogged this recipe. Too funny.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks Anh - there are some lovely tomatoes out there, just like cherries it's a good season. I love the cherry tomatoes from Jindivick and these roma tomatoes from the yarra valley - both farmers' market specials.

    Mellie - I've drooled over those lunch-box photos on flickr and was dying to read your verdict. I wonder if the red box will knock that krappy kreme box off it's perch?

    ReplyDelete
  10. Excellent after to working in a fruit shop for 13 years there is still lots I have to learn. Well done. Love your blog. Very educational.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thanks Squishy - that's very lovely of you.

    ReplyDelete

© Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once | All rights reserved.
BLOG TEMPLATE HANDCRAFTED BY pipdig