WHEN TOMATOES SING

Here is a chorus singing their best peak season recipes for tomatoes~Sassy's sublime tomato sauce~Marcella Hazan's famous tomato sauce~Mark Bittman on everything tomatoes~and my lowly voice

Tomato sauce, your fave pasta, shaved parmesan, and basil leaf for accent

Sassy’s Sublime Tomato Sauce

Since there's no national tomato season, I declare August-September is! In celebration, Sara, my wife—nickname “Sassy”—has begun her annual campaign to fill our freezer with Sassy Sauce. It’s a perfect expression of her love for cooking. And it's fabulous! Following is the story of how her tomato sauce goes from someone’s garden somewhere—sometimes our own—to our dinner table, fresh now for us and family and friends, then frozen the rest of the year. The story begins with mostly Romas—but a batch can include others. This summer she found San Marzano tomatoes in the local farmer’s market.

Most often, she shops farmer’s markets. The fast-growing farm-to-table movement has led to a surge of such markets popping up all over the country, with some 8,500 markets registered in the U.S. Many have become a weekly highlight for regulars, with food stalls and produce quality that can't be found anywhere else. That’s where many of us find our tomatoes. The lucky among us may also find them at tomato-conscious markets and grocers if we’re lucky.

INGREDIENTS

Yield: 4 servings

• 2 lb. fresh ripe tomatoes, Roma preferred but any tomatoes will do

• 2/3 cup finely chopped carrot

• 2/3 cup finely chopped celery

• 2/3 cup finely chopped onion

• salt to taste

• 1/4 tsp granulated sugar

• 1/2 cup olive oil

• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese to serve as garnish

• 1/2 cup fresh cut basil to serve as garnish

STEPS

1. Wash tomatoes in cold water,

2. Cut in half, lengthwise, cooking until tender. Before cooking, add 1/2” water to the pan so tomatoes don’t stick to bottom.

3. Puree tomatoes through a food mill to remove seeds and skins.

4. Add 1/2 c olive oil to diced carrot, celery, and onion mixture. Cook until translucent.

5. Add pureed tomato to the pan with vegetables. Add salt and sugar. Cook at a steady simmer, uncovered.

6. May take several hours to reduce sauce by at least 1/2 inch.

7. Divide among containers that can be gifted or frozen.

8. Make a pot of pasta, top with sauce, sprinkle with Parmesan and garnish with fresh basil.

Marcella Hazan’s Famous Tomato Sauce

Photo: Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Simon Andrews.

This is perhaps the most famous recipe created by Marcella Hazan, the cookbook author who changed how Americans cook Italian food. It also may be her easiest. Use your favorite canned tomatoes for this and don’t be scared off by the butter. It gives the sauce an unparalleled velvety richness, so says The New York Times.

INGREDIENTS

Yield: 4 servings

• 2 cups tomatoes, in addition to their juices (for example, a 28-ounce can of San Marzano whole peeled tomatoes)

• 5 tbsp butter

• 1 onion, peeled and cut in half

• Salt to taste

  PREPARATION

  1. Combine the tomatoes, their juices, the butter and the onion halves in a saucepan. Add a pinch or two of salt.

  2. Place over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Cook, uncovered, for about 45 minutes. Stir occasionally, mashing any large pieces of tomato with a spoon. Add salt as needed.

  3. Discard the onion before tossing the sauce with pasta. This recipe makes enough sauce for a pound of pasta.

Everything Tomatoes: The Mark Bittman Project

Cherokee Purple: The World’s Best Tomato

Nothing says summer in the South like a great tomato. The Cherokee Purple is Dixie’s finest, says me. Legend has it that Cherokee Indians gave the seeds of this distinctive deep purple-red variety to a few Sevierville, Tenn., residents more than a century ago. The neighbors said that the varietal had been in their family for 100 years. The seeds, it’s said, were originally received from Cherokee Indians. It remained mostly a secret until 1990, when a small envelope of seeds found its way to tomato guru and grower Craig LeHoullier. He in turn began spreading the word, much to the delight of tomato buffs like chef Walter Bundy, of Lemaire restaurant in Richmond, Va.

“‘When you know the history of what you’re growing and eating, where these seeds have come from, putting them on the plate for guests is really exciting,’ Bundy tells Garden & Gun magazine. With a sweet yet complex flavor that he describes as slightly smoky or wine-like, the tomatoes usually start showing up at farmer’s markets in July. Bundy uses them in a gazpacho or a colorful tomato salad with pink Brandywine tomatoes and green and yellow striped Green Zebras. But it’s hard to go wrong any way you cut it. ‘Just slice them up and enjoy them with a bit of sea salt and a drizzle of olive oil,’ he says. ‘Heirlooms are the essence of summer.’”

My take on these jewels: I’m a shameless evangelist for Cherokee Purples thanks to a lady at a farmer’s market in Knoxville, Tenn. In the 1980s, she introduced me to them and more than a dozen other heirlooms. The Cherokees were the pick of the litter after I tried every one of those heirlooms. All these years later, I still eat them nonstop during the “Season.” I put off eating BLT’s and cheeseburgers all year until I can eat them with a healthy slice sprinkled with salt this hallowed time of year.

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