Don't Let the Freeze Get Them: Treva's End of Season Tomato Pomodoro
By Treva Gambs
In this post: The Green Tomato Rescue · Ingredients · Cooking Steps · Treva's Tips · Substitutions · The Wine
Introduction
Welcome back to Casa Gambs. It has been a while, and I am glad to be back in my own kitchen with you.
Most of you know me, but if you are new here, I'm Treva Gambs. I own Gamberetti's Italian Restaurant in downtown Salem, The Markum Inn out in Mt. Angel, and G3 Pizzas & Burgers in Aumsville.
Today we are doing something with tomatoes, and I picked that on purpose. It is September. We have a great abundance right now, and it is also about to come to an end. My husband planted tomatoes this year, and they are not big and it is not a huge harvest, but looking at them reminded me of something I learned growing a garden that I want to pass along before the weather turns on you.
Then we are going to cook. A take on a pomodoro, with chorizo and pine nuts.
Watch the full cook along on Facebook (18 minutes, start to finish)
The green tomato method is up front, then the pomodoro start to finish.
The Green Tomato Rescue
When your tomatoes are still green like this, start watching the weather report. You want to pick all of them before the first freeze.
Here is what to do with them:
Put them in a brown paper bag, or in the cardboard tomato boxes you can get from the produce section at the grocery store.
Separate them so they are not touching. This is the part people skip. It works like any other fruit. If one on top molds, it starts the process down through the rest.
Put the box out in the garage, in the dark.
They will keep turning, and they will be great tomatoes. Go check on them about every three days to see where they are at.
I usually get tomatoes this way through October, and sometimes into November. I have had harvests of three full boxes go out to the garage and give me fresh heirloom tomatoes long after the garden quit.
And here is the part that surprises people. They ripen out there without any sunshine, but because they took in all that nourishment through the summer, they still taste sweet.
If you have heirlooms, same thing. They will ripen at different times depending on size, which is another reason to keep checking.
My husband calls these grumpy tomatoes. I love them.
The Recipe: Treva's Pomodoro with Chorizo and Pine Nuts
Serves 4
This is a take on a pomodoro rather than a strict one. Adding chorizo makes it less spicy than some Italian versions but not sweet like others, so it lands somewhere of its own.
Ingredients
Fresh tomatoes, 2 to 3 cups, diced bite size. I used four or five different varieties, which is where all that color comes from. Go by the look of it more than the scale.
Chorizo, about 1/2 pound, cooked and sautéed ahead of time
Gemelli pasta, enough for four. I used fresh from Gamberetti's. We call gemelli the twins, for the twist.
Olive oil, enough to coat the pan. Regular extra virgin here, not the good bottle.
2 cloves garlic, sliced
Onion, sliced, as much or as little as you like
Pine nuts, about three handfuls
Salt, a lot for the pasta water, plus 2 big pinches for the sauce and more to taste
Black pepper
Balsamic fig vinegar
Fresh basil
Fresh chives
Fresh Parmesan, for grating
A baguette, olive oil and balsamic, to serve
Cooking Steps
Cook the chorizo first. I sautéed mine ahead so we would not all be standing here waiting. Set it aside.
Get the water boiling, and salt it properly. If you have watched my videos you know what comes next. Lots of salt. It should taste like the sea.
Coat the pan in olive oil and get it going.
Onions first. Cook them until they are translucent, which means the white has gone a little clear, like you could almost see through them but not quite.
Add the garlic.
Add the pine nuts slowly and watch them until they turn a nice brown. Do not walk away here. Pine nuts and garlic both burn fast, and a burnt pine nut tastes like exactly that.
Add your protein.
Add the tomatoes and let it simmer about 10 minutes. The tomatoes break down, the sugars come out, and that becomes your sauce. It is olive oil, garlic and tomato juices, not a tomato sauce out of a jar.
Season and taste. Two big pinches of salt and a little pepper to start. Then taste it. Mine needed one more pinch.
Float the balsamic fig vinegar around the pan about three times. With tomatoes this brings out the acidity and adds complexity. It is what makes the dish.
Cook and drain the pasta. Fresh pasta tells you when it is ready because it starts to float. Dried you have to check.
Plate it. Pasta down, sauce over the top.
Garnish. Grated fresh Parmesan, fresh chives all the way around, and basil on top.
Treva's Tips
Salt your pasta water like the sea. It is the only chance you get to season the pasta itself.
Watch the pine nuts. Once the tomatoes go in there is enough moisture that they stop browning, but before that they will burn on you. I have done it many times.
Not an onion person? Use a shallot. Softer and a little sweeter.
Do not cook with your expensive olive oil. I am using garlic, tomatoes and spicy meat here, and all of that masks it. Save the good bottle for the bread. I keep Durant on hand for that, where you can actually taste the grassiness.
Read your olive oil labels. There are a lot of knockoffs charging the high price. If you taste it and there is no flavor at all, it is not a very good olive oil.
Cut basil properly. Stack the leaves, roll them up, then slice. You get a beautiful julienne to garnish with instead of bruised leaves.
Grate the Parmesan fresh. You can buy it in the little containers, and it is fine. But when I am cooking for company, fresh grated on top makes the whole dish feel more special.
Taste your food. You hear it on every cooking show for a reason.
Substitutions
The protein is wide open. Chicken, ground beef, Italian sausage hot or mild, even corned beef. Use what you have.
Vegetarian? Leave the protein out entirely. Everything else stands on its own.
No fresh pasta? Dried works great. You can find fresh pasta at Safeway and Albertsons too, or pick up ours at Gamberetti's Italian Restaurant.
The Wine
I always like a little of my wine while I cook.
Tonight it is a Zinfandel. It is a really drinking wine, but it goes with big flavors, and we have bold flavors here, so it pairs really well.
We carry it at The Markum Inn and at Gamberetti's in Salem, and the Markum has glassware for sale as well.
I did not get to researching non-alcoholic pairings this time, but I will for the next video.
Serve It Like We Do
Cut up a baguette and put out olive oil and balsamic alongside, the same way we do at the restaurant. You could add a salad, though I skipped it tonight. I had been at a conference all week and had eaten plenty.
What a great meal. It is going to make you happy.
If you want more pasta from my kitchen, I have two others up here already: my Valentine's Day Puttanesca and our signature Carbonara. Both are simple, both are the kind of thing you can pull off on a weeknight.
Next month I want to play with mushrooms and marsala, so watch for that one.
Until then, bon appetit. I will see you soon. Ciao.
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