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Smoked Tomato Martini Recipe – rimmed with sun-dried tomato salt

Bartending in Portland Oregon got me through graduate school and I do believe I’ve used those bartending skills more in post-college life than the skill set of  my urban planning degree (especially if you include the people skills you pick up while bartending).

fruit beverage syrups

 

Now would be an exciting time to work behind the bar, as bartening has evolved  into mixology, and mixing a good cocktail now is far more creative.  I used to pride myself on speed and memory, but those traits are now shadowed by what you can do with flavor and fresh ingredients.  Fortunately, I did retain a flavor memory of the various liqueurs, and now use that memory of flavors to enhance the different fruits in the jams I make.

Some of the beverage syrups in this picture use liqueurs also, but most of them are non-alcoholic so you can mix them with carbonated water.  Ever since I got the SodaStream, which makes carbonated water out of tap water in an instant, I’ve been experimenting with these syrups.

This winter I have been working with sun-dried and smoked tomatoes however, testing all the ways you can use them in food, and a serendipitous product resulted….tomato water.  The smoked tomatoes usually require a 20-minute soak in warm water and are then drained.  The flavor of these smoked and dried tomatoes is so intense that I thought the soaking water must retain a fairly high flavor.  It did.

sun-dried tomato salt

 

 

Now, what to do with tomato water?  I’m sure there are many uses, but of course the first that came to my mind is a martini.Especially because I had all of this tomato salt I had made, and thought that would be perfect around the rim.  The tomato salt is 50/50 sun-dried tomatoes and Maldon sea salt.  Lately I’ve been using it on everything, from eggs to chicken to cocktails!

 

 

 

Add a little lime juice and a dash of smoked paprika, garnish with smoked mozzarella and cherry tomatoes, and…

 

Voila!  

smoked tomato martini

I don’t really drink very many cocktails, especially at home, but I have to say it was a lot of fun greeting my husband as he came in from work with a rimmed martini in hand.  There’s a reason the show Mad Men is so popular.  It felt very chic…not like the baseball cap and dirty hands I usually have from working on the farm.  Here’s the recipe if you want to give it a try:

Smoky Tomato Martini

2 oz. Absolut Peppar Vodka

2 oz. tomato water (water left over from drained sun-dried or smoked tomatoes)

fresh squeezed lime juice (I used a couple of tsp., but flavor to taste)

pinch of smoked paprika

tomato salt for rim

Directions:

1) Combine vodka, tomato water, lime juice and paprika in tumbler with ice

2) Stirred, not shaken (see this post from Jerry James Stone for an interesting article on the difference between shaken and stirred martinis)

3) garnish with cherry tomato, fresh mozzarella balls, and fresh basil

4) Sip and enjoy!

Cheers,

Dorothy

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Concentrated Summer: Dry your own heirloom tomatoes for rich winter tomato sauces …it’s easy!

Oven-Dried vs. Dehydrator?  Heirloom tomatoes vs. Roma tomatoes vs. whatever-you-have-available tomatoes?

With another frost coming and the day length getting shorter, I decided to go out last night and harvest everything in the tomato tunnel that had any color whatsoever.   Although they won’t develop their sugars any further now (since they’ve been harvested), they will color up over the next week.  The visual of a bright red dried tomato is so much more appealing than pale pink or slightly green tomatoes…and I definitely think the taste of food is enhanced by its visuals, don’t you?

So, on to process.  I have done oven-drying, sun-drying and drying with the food dehydrator and for me, the food dehydrator wins hands down.  Oven drying works, but the tomatoes come out quite dark in color and the texture is more difficult to manage.  They will often become way too brittle.  Here is a quick rundown on process tips for both oven-drying and using the dehydrator:

  1. Choose the meatiest tomatoes you can find or you will get a lot of dried tomato skin and they will be much more brittle.  The very best tomato for drying is the Principe Borghese heirloom.  It is a plum-size tomato with a lot of meaty flesh, a lot of bold taste, and just the right size for drying.  Romas and some globe tomatoes are quite meaty and will dry well, but they just don’t have as much taste as the Principe.  Beefsteak tomatoes are usually pretty juicy and are difficult (not impossible) to dry.  Choose those with a high-acid, bold taste.  Now is not the time for the sweet, mild flavor of some tomato varieties.
  2. Adapt your slice and dice to the type of tomato you have.  If it is a plum tomato or a cherry, just cut in half and place them sliced side down on your dehydrator tray or your cookie sheet if oven drying.  If it is a globe tomato, slice the tomato thickly and then cut slices in half (these will shrivel to bite-size. 
  3. Drizzle with oil and salt…or not.  Many people will oil and salt their tomatoes before drying.  I don’t do either because I sell them at market and people have different tastes and needs when it comes to oil and salt.  For home use, I will add the salt to the dish rather than the tomatoes.
  4. Turn on the heat and air.  Dried tomatoes need not only the heat, but also good air circulation.  If drying in an oven, turn the heat on to about 200 degrees and crack open the oven door.  A convection oven works best due to the circulation.  If drying in a food dehydrator, I turn the heat on to 135 degrees for the first 5-10 hours and then decrease it when they have dried to a point where they are almost ready but still a little soft to the touch. 
  5. Timing.  This is hugely variable.  It is going to depend on the type of tomatoes you use and the type of heat/air source you are using.  The only thing for sure is that it takes quite a long time.  I frequently leave my dehydrator on overnight and then finish them off at a lower heat for a few hours in the morning.  You just have to keep checking them the first time you do it to see how your heat source works.  Check every hour or two by feeling them.  Two key factors:  they should end up pliable-not brittle, and they should not have any moistness to the flesh (or they will mold later).
  6. Remove them in stages from the tray/pan.  The tomatoes are all different (just like us) in terms of ripeness, how you cut them, where they lay on the cookie sheet, etc.  You need to remove the ones that are done (to a countertop to cool) and leave the others to finish.
  7. Store.  I store mine in breathable plastic bags.  I know some people will store them in oil in the refrigerator, but my refrigerator is much too full of leftovers, etc. for that and the oil will go rancid if you leave it out.  If you store them in oil, be aware that the oil will get murky in the fridge and them clear up when you get it back to room temp.
  8. Use all winter.  Dried tomatoes can be used in so many delicious ways (I’m sure there are many blogs about this!).  Rehydrate them in warm water, toss them in a tomato sauce to slowly rehydrate, cut them up dried and toss in a salad, or munch on them as-is for a great snack. 

Sally Swift, from the Splendid Table’s How to Eat Weekends blog, had a really interesting way of using dried tomatoes.  I haven’t tried it yet, but I plan to very soon.  She said: “If you need great tomato taste ASAP, chop them into pieces and doctor them with a dash of fish sauce. Taste and add sugar, and maybe even a little vinegar to get the high notes. The fish sauce brings a meaty umph and the sugar and vinegar bring out the highs and lows. ”  Yum, sounds good to me.

Cheers ……….Dorothy

 

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