What you should be doing with your Sungolds

If you've been reading Em-i-lis for at least a year, you might know that I adore tomatoes. Raw, in sandwiches and tarts, with peaches, in savory jams, cooked into beautiful sauces for pasta, canned for later use. 

Basically, I'm Forrest Gump's shrimpin' friend, Bubba, or Christopher Guest's nut-aficionado character in Best In Show, with tomatoes.

As an aside, y'all have to watch this clip. Sends me to the floor in peals of laughter every.damn.time. Harlan Pepper, god bless you. HAH!

But back to Sungolds. Possibly, they are my favorite tomato. At the least, they are my favorite small type. I love their golden orange hue, their perfect sweet tang and the way you can eat them hand over fist and never tire.

all delicious, but the bright orange Sungolds are my favorite.

Several summers back, I was heavily into anchovy-garlic anything and one evening cooked some Sungolds over low heat with anchovies, garlic, capers, parsley and olive oil. The sauce ingredients melted together in the most divine, sticky, unctuous way, and the tomatoes broke down just enough to add pleasurably to the mix but also maintain a distinct texture and standing. 

lusty sungold love

Lusty Sungold Love was born, and I have found that the very best way to enjoy this dish is spooned atop toasted baguette slathered with fresh ricotta. Each bite makes you pause. Maybe you'll close your eyes or sigh a small, contented "aah." And then you'll reach for another slice of bread, the bowl of ricotta and the spoon dunked in the lusty tomatoes. And you'll start again and enjoy it just the same.

Sungolds and their kin: summer stars

I wait all year for these!

Farmers market, flowers and windstorm damage

On our way to the farmers market this morning, the boys and I were really struck by the amount of damage Friday's windstorm wreaked. Huge trees seemed to have been snapped as if they were mere twigs. A number of blocks are cordoned off with police tape, cars crushed, covered and otherwise damaged, wires flapping around like rogue spaghetti. But it's totally random as some houses and blocks are totally unscathed. As I'm always impressed by the beauty in nature that is nearly impossible for us to replicate, I'm equally respectful of the strength of the natural world, its powers of destruction and rebirth.

"Community Services Van Covered by Felled Tree"

"For Sale" We did bring home some gorgeous stuff from the market: two types of plums (Methleys are the purple ones, can't remember the little yellow ones' name), Sungold tomatoes, fresh corn, some incredibly fresh shallots, white and yellow peaches. I'm going to make my Lusty Sungold Love with the tomatoes -bliss!- which also means I'll need to cook up some fresh ricotta. No problem there!