[Sca-cooks] Officially NOT Period...the tomato

[Donna Green]

Adelisa, you are not completely out of luck. I live in foggy San Francisco and I make something similar to what you've described. At the height of tomato season I often get a flat of tomatos and make tomato confit. By this method I can get a flat of tomatos in a smallish container. It is marvelously concentrated and yummy.

Peel, quarter and seed tomatos. This gives you chunks of tomato flesh. Put in a large baking dish in one layer. Drizzle a small amount of olive oil on top. Lightly salt with sea salt. Add herbs if you wish. Cook at 200 degrees for an hour or two or three until all the tomatos are cooked down. This is from an article in Fine Cooking several years ago.

Juana Isabella
West

> There is one way today that tomatoes are conserved in
> Sicily: the famous super-concentrated paste called
> "strattu."
> 
> http://www.zingermans.com/Product.aspx?ProductID=P-EST
> 
> I've gotten a few jars of this from All Things
> Sicilian.com, and I have to say, the flavor of it is
> AMAZING. But Alfred hasn't gotten any of this in for quite
> awhile, and it makes me sad.
> 
> http://sicilyscene.blogspot.com/2007/02/strattu.html
> 
> I'd love to make it, but unfortunately, the climate where I
> am (Pennsylvania) isn't right for making it; but I bet it
> would work in Arizona or other desert places with lots of
> sun, lots of heat, and no humidity (which is Sicilian summer
> when the sirocco isn't blowing).
> 
> And I don't think that strattu is period, either. Otherwise
> you'd be finding it in recipes. It takes a helluva lot of
> tomatoes and time to make strattu. I've read that in the
> past, shopkeepers would sell it by the tablespoon full.
> 
> Adelisa