Summer Cherry Tomato Sauce- A New Way

Long Island Cherry Tomatoes are incredible in August-- sweet like candy. I see 5 or 6 varieties at the markets, but everybody goes crazy for Sungold, a perfect orange sphere with a sweet and floral taste. The skin is great too. They’re perfect by themselves. An accent of salt maybe, but that’s it.

I wanted to use them for more, but every time I would cook them and remove their skins the resulting sauce was too sweet for any savory or pasta dish. And I hated removing the skins because the skin’s flavor is so concentrated and critical to their overall taste. I wanted the flavor of the skins without the skins themselves (leaving them in would make for a terrible texture). What follows is my solution.

  • Halve the tomatoes and place into a sided pan.

  • Olive oil, butter (optional), salt, pepper, and or red pepper.

  • 1 minute on stove at high heat

  • 3 minutes under broiler at highest setting and height

The skins should be black and blistered. The water inside will have protected them from burning too much. This 4 minutes is all of the cooking they needed. Any more and the fresh, green, floral notes will be gone leaving them too sweet.

  • Pour into a large-holed colander over a saucepan

  • Remove as much liquid as possible from the tomatoes by pressing them into the colander with a spatula. Set the skins aside.

  • Pour the liquid through a fine mesh strainer which should catch the seeds and any skins that made it through

  • Use the spatula to give the seeds the same treatment you gave the skins, push like crazy against strainer until the seeds are dry, their surrounding gel capsules passed through

  • Add olive oil, and maybe a little butter, salt to taste, and pepper if you like

The purpose of the 2 step straining process is to isolate the seeds from the skins so you can push the small gel capsules that surround them through to the final product. The thickening quality of that gel is what will give the resulting sauce a great texture and viscosity.

  • Undercook your pasta by one minute, and drop it into the sauce

  • Add olive oil and cook on low 1 minute

  • Serve with more oil, pepper, parmesan, and herbs if you like

The brightness of these amazing tomatoes will remain, and the texture of your sauce will be velvety and smooth.

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Simple pasta with little neck clams. Perfect briny balance

Simple pasta with little neck clams. Perfect briny balance