Make A Date With Great Ingredients
August 18, 2005

The matchmaker in me is always trying to pair foods for eternal bliss at the table. Now that local tomatoes have arrived, it’s raining men, and I’m in a frenzy to introduce them to my kitchen friends: olive oil, kosher salt, basil, garlic and vodka.  At no other time of the year will tomatoes be fresher or easier to prepare, so start off by making a date to visit a farmer’s market or farm stand in your area- the tomatoes should be firm, rosy, and not too handsome. Bring them home and employ the “less is more” technique: a little kosher salt, a dash of best quality olive oil, maybe some herbs, and viola- wedding bells will be ringing.

Last night I put a cast iron pan on a hot grill, added some olive oil, and seared fresh tuna; as it cooked, I cut up a few tomatoes and sprinkled them with kosher salt. While the tomatoes waited for the tuna, I gently hand mixed some baby greens with just a dash each of lemon juice and olive oil. The kosher salt mingled with the tomato juices to release the full power of their flavor; the combination of the fresh food and simple technique was simply a match made in heaven.

In the bounty of the next few weeks we’ll be speed-dating tomatoes, and that will include whipping up a tomato-based sauce. At this point in the relationship, we can introduce vodka to tomatoes. Sounds like a potential mismatch, but Woody Allen will argue there’s no such thing. When vodka is added to tomatoes it stimulates the release of flavors that water or fats cannot. In cooking, alcohol is kind of gender confused and acts a little like fat and a little like water. Also, vodka doesn’t have any flavor of its own to impart, so we get an intensely concentrated tomato flavor. (And you thought Bove’s Vodka Sauce was just sexy marketing!)

A Sauce To Remember
Roughly chop 6 tomatoes, seeds, skin and all. Place in a saucepan heated with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add 1 tablespoon of vodka, 1 tablespoon freshly minced garlic, and a dash of kosher salt. Simmer lightly for 5-10 minutes and serve over pasta, top with fresh basil leaves. (serves 2-4).

Kim Dannies is a graduate of La Varenne Cooking School in France. She lives in Williston, VT with her husband, Jeff, and three college–aged daughters who come and go. ©2008