Sweetness and Blight: Honey Roasted Tomatoes

Slightly ripe plum tomatoes, ready for roasting

We were dismayed to head to the garden last week to find that our tomatoes were hit with the dreaded (and highly contagious) late blight, which destroyed the plants in a day. This is the pathogen that was responsible for the Irish potato famine--it affects both tomatoes and potatoes.  The spores of the pathogen, Phytopthora infestans, readily spread by wind and rain, so the plants must be destroyed immediately to be sure they don't spread the infection to a neighbor's crop. There is nothing to do but pull up the plants, burn them and cry.  Well, actually, there is one more thing to do:  roast the tomatoes that you can save.

We harvested the (mostly green) tomatoes that weren't yet infected and carted them inside to ripen as best they could.  These would not be the season's most delectable tomatoes, that's for sure.  After a week in a basket under some newspapers, the tomatoes turned rosy. To pump up their sweetness and flavor, I roasted them with honey, garlic and thyme--a simple but delicious way to deal with less-than-perfectly ripened tomatoes, and a nice alternative for processing tomatoes if you have a bumper crop.  You can honey roast any kind of tomato--plum, globe, cherry--and they make a great lunch meal with some crusty bread, a unique side dish, or can be pureed into a nice tomato sauce for pasta. The process is simple, and the results are good enough that these tasty tomatoes can even provide some solace for the heart break of late blight.

HONEY-ROASTED TOMATOES

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Plum tomatoes after the roast

Slice tomatoes in half (larger tomatoes can be quartered if you like) and remove the seeds. Line a cookie sheet with a lip or a roasting pan with aluminum foil and lightly grease with olive oil.   Place tomatoes in the pan, skin-side down.  It's fine to crowd the pan, but there should be only one layer of tomatoes.  Tuck unpeeled cloves of garlic in and among the tomatoes (optional but very nice, especially if you plan to make pasta sauce with this)--we like garlic, so I usually use a whole head.  Tuck sprigs of fresh thyme in and among the tomatoes and garlic. Sprinkle the tomatoes generously with olive oil and then slightly less generously with honey.  Make sure every tomato has splashes of oil and drizzles of honey.  Sprinkle about 1 or 1 1/2 teaspoons of kosher salt all over.  Roast for anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes depending on what kind of tomatoes you're roasting (cherry tomatoes will take much less time) and how caramelized you'd like them to be.  I roasted a bunch of plum tomatoes and Paul Robeson heirlooms (see photos below) for 60 minutes.  You can serve the tomatoes as is, taking care to peel the roasted garlic first, and offering lots of crusty bread on the side to sop up the juices.  Or, you can let them cool, remove the skins and whirl them and the (peeled) garlic in a blender or food processor for roasted pasta sauce.  You can also freeze the tomatoes once they cool or freeze the tomato sauce.

A NOTE ABOUT AMOUNTS:  You can roast as many or as few tomatoes as you have.  If you're roasting globe tomatoes, figure on about 1/2 per person if you're serving them as a side dish.  You might need 2 or 3 paste tomatoes (which make the best roasted tomato sauce, too) per person.  Cherry tomatoes--well, maybe 10 per person?  How hungry are you and your peeps? :)

Paul Robeson heirloom tomatoes ready for roasting

Paul Robeson heirlooms after the roast-a bit juicier than the plums!

Polenta Stuffed Chard with Quick Honey Tomato Sauce

The inspirations for this bubbly dish of goodness came from a few sources.  The first is a recipe for polenta stuffed chard by Gretchen McKay published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.  The second is a quick pasta sauce recipe in the Best Recipes Cookbook by America's Test Kitchens.  And finally, our recent honey extraction, the big leaves of Swiss chard growing in the garden, and the bumper crop of garlic scapes inspired me to fiddle with both of these recipes.  Though the dish requires a few steps and a little advanced planning (the polenta needs some time to set up), it's not that complicated--and it's delicious!

Truth be told:  you could make this dish with any nice tomato sauce recipe you have--you don't need to have a drop of honey in the house (or garlic scapes for that matter; just substitute some minced garlic cloves).  But this is a blog about cooking with honey, so there's honey in this dish!

For the polenta:
3 cups chicken broth (or vegetable broth, or even water if you'd prefer--though you may need a bit more salt)
1 cup of polenta (or coarsely ground corn meal)
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
pinch of salt

Lightly oil a 4x10 glass dish (or 8x8).  Bring the broth (or water) to a rolling boil in a sauce pan.  Slowly whisk in the polenta, stirring constantly. Lower the heat so that the polenta barely plops an occasional bubble. Cook for about 20 minutes, stirring frequently to be sure the polenta does not stick to the bottom of the pan.  When the polenta is very thick, remove from the heat, stir in the butter and the Parmesan, blending well.  Pour the polenta into the prepared glass dish and cool for at least 15 minutes.  Place in the refrigerator to set up for about 30 minutes.  If you're making the polenta well in advance, cover it. It can sit overnight.  When ready to make the rolls, cut the polenta into 12 pieces, about 2x3 inches.

While the polenta is setting up, make the tomato sauce:

For the honey tomato sauce:
3 tablespoons olive oil
4-6 garlic scapes (about 4 inches long), chopped
1 28-ounce can of whole tomatoes, chopped
1/8 cup honey
1 tablespoon vodka
4-6 good sized basil leaves, minced
pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)
salt to taste.

Heat a frying pan over medium high heat and add the olive oil, letting it heat for about 30 seconds or so.  Add the minced garlic scapes with a pinch of salt and saute for about 1-2 minutes, being careful not to let the scapes brown.

Add the tomatoes, stirring to distribute and bring them to a gentle simmer.  Cook for about 10 minutes so that they become thick and reduce a bit.

Stir in the honey, vodka and basil and cook for a few minutes more then remove from heat.  Taste and check seasoning, adding some salt and pepper (and if you'd like, red pepper flakes).

Prepare the Swiss Chard: 

You'll need 12 large Swiss chard leaves. Wash the leaves and cut the thickest part of the stem out, trying to keep them intact if you can. Put the leaves in a bowl and pour boiling water over to wilt them.  Let them sit in the water for about 6 minutes and then drain in a colander.

For the rolls:

12 wilted Swiss chard leaves (see above)

12 pieces of polenta, about 2x3 inches long

6 1/2 inch slices of mozzarella cheese, cut in half

1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese

Quick Honey Tomato Sauce

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and cover the bottom of an 9x13 glass baking dish with some of the Quick Honey Tomato Sauce. (I used two 8x8 glass dishes.)

Place a kitchen towel (not terry cloth) on the counter and put one wilted Swiss chard leaf on the towel, blotting it a bit to sop up any water that's clinging.  Place one piece of polenta on the edge of the leaves and top with one piece of mozzarella.  Top with about a tablespoon or so of sauce.  

Fold the leaf over the polenta and cheese like you're making a burrito: fold the side closest to you up first then fold over the two edges.  Roll until the leaf fully covers the polenta, cheese and sauce.

Place the roll in the prepared pan and continue making the rest of the rolls until you fill the pan.  Top the rolls with the remaining tomato sauce then top it all with Parmesan cheese.

Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes until the dish is hot and bubbly. Let sit for about 10 minutes to cool then serve.  This recipe makes 12 rolls, or enough for 6 people (without seconds!).