The long awaited day has at last arrived. The tomatoes that I purchased this morning taste of tomato rather than water. It is a moment that I relish each summer and my celebration today will be for the coeur de boeuf rather than the tearing down of Marianne’s blouse as the mob tore down the walls of the Bastille, which, if it achieved nothing else, predated the first topless beach in St Tropez by 150 years, give or take a decade, and may well have inspired Rudi
Geinrich. I have also noticed that in some imagery Marianne appears to be wearing a ripe, red tomato on her head which shows the French compulsion to eat well, even when they are revolting, whilst confirming that Marianne had wisely gone shopping for the first good tomatoes of the season even though she had a pressing engagement involving the freeing of the downtrodden later in the day. History has shown that revolution must be the least successful of all political shifts. France remains a country run by the rich and privileged few and although America claims to be the land of the Free it lives by the maxim of everybody having a price which precludes the thought of anyone, let alone lunch, being free. Leaving revolution to the revolting it should be noted that we have not yet arrived at the tomato season in its full pomp but, to paraphrase Winston Churchill, this is not the beginning of the end but it is certainly the end of the beginning .
Big, fresh, sexy tomatoes are unquestionably summer food. Being so full of their own flavour they need very little addition, if any, but conversely relish so many: well considered combination of ingredients such as anchovies, olives, breadcrumbs,parsley, Parmesan, goat cheese, olive oil and garlic raise the already delectable to the sublime. For some reason I can’t attribute the following recipe to any single person and, on reflection, it’s not so much a recipe as an instinctive treatment of this seductive fruit.The nomenclature “beef heart” becomes evident on cutting one them in half: the open face of the tomato bears little resemblance to a fruit or vegetable, rather a chunk of blood red meat. Once cut in half, dig out a chunk of the soft flesh so that a hollow is left in each half of the tomato. Prepare a stuffing of fresh breadcrumbs and herbs: I strip the crust from yesterday’s baguette and crumble the bread into the Magimix with the addition of chopped flat parsley, grated parmesan, the chopped tomato that I previously removed, seasoning and some olive oil to lubricate the mixture. Process to oily breadcrumbs, stuff the tomatoes to overflowing and put them in an iron pan which, at a later point, will be going into the oven. I start the softening of the tomatoes on the hob and, when the good smells start emanating from the pan, I put the pan in a hot oven for about 45 minutes or until everything feels right. If the breadcrumbs start to burn, put some silver foil over them and carry on cooking. This simple dish is a revelation only needing good bread and a well dressed salad to make a perfect supper….several glasses of wine are optional to some but essential to me.
Oh, I do envy you your deep red, luscious sexy tomatoes….nothing like a revolting good feed….
it’s so good to see them on the stalls again:)
How I wish I hadn’t decided to go on a diet!
…you’ll have to have a short sabbatical:)
Wonderful simple recipe. We also got our first beefhearts and they are so juicy and delicious, I could just eat only tomatoes while summer lasts.
Too right….I hate seeing the end of them as summer wanes:)
Looking forward to trying this recipe out when tomatoes are back in season here in Australia. I can imagine the herby, breadcrumb filling complements the sweet tomato beautifully!
I can never come to terms with the fact that Australia is in winter now…I just think of Australia as hot all the time! The recipe does work wonderfully…something to anticipate:)
“One large tomato was immediately peeled skin red . . . it bled into a red “O” and smacked behind accepted fangs ” – from Hey Garland, I Dig Your Tweed Coat by Captain Beefheart 😉
I was madly looking for a Beefheart lyric to go with this….top research or memory..:)
I’ve got that one, it’s on Ice Cream for Crow, his last album before retiring from music 🙂
so good…
Oh how I miss tomatoes tha taste of tomato 😦 We have one teeny tiny very green one on our tomato plants in England but I’m not holding my breath. Perhaps I should start wearing one on my head as a lucky charm. Happy Bastille Day. (Sir…the peasants are revolting….)
I think the tomato should be headgear of all those looking for change..:)
I like the recipe. At first I thought Jennie was away and you were cooking beef heart. My mistake 😀
No chance….I used to enjoy that dish back in the day:)
I am waiting for my homegrown to ripen. It’s a long and tedious wait but I’d rather do that than eat tasteless, watery tomatoes. I suspect 2 more weeks should do the trick. 🙂
I think you’re about right on your timing…hope they’re delicious:)
Women do need to multitask. Put food on the table, free a country, clean up after…. It never ends!
…all whilst balancing a tomato on your head:)
Well it makes people think her list is difficult…
…I thought as much…just an excuse:)
Happy Bastille Day! Gorgeous tomatoes there. Wish I’d had some like that for yesterday’s ratatouille.
Haven’t made ratatouille this year…must do that soon..such a good thing:)
Tomato season is a beautiful thing! I picked some in the garden in Les Baux last week and they finally tasted *and* smelled like they are supposed to taste and smell.
That further bit South…they must be wonderful…as are lots of other delicious things around Les Baux:)
Hope you are ‘sleeping off’ a good bottle of red opened for Bastille Day ! Am keeping this until our next tomato season and it will be made with home-grown beef tomatoes [simple folk that we are the ‘heart’ usually getting lost in translation!]. Not much of this calibre reaches us via the supermarket shelves . . .
I buy mine from road side stalls, farms that sell direct or from my neighbours who grow wonderful things all year round:)
To me there are 3 highlights in the summer as far a fruits and vegetables ….. strawberry season….. apricots…. and tomatoes, when the knife glides through them like in butter, I am in awe….having them as long as they last….. from my own plants. All three are kind of very sensual…
Those three seasons are indeed a holy trinity:)
Wonderful!…We have a framed print of the said painting of Marianne(by Eugène Delacroix I believe) in the living room. Jean-Pierre was most shocked to see that it had fallen off the shelf on Bastille Day. He was worried it was a sign that the republic may be in danger…bless him! Vive la France!
The Republic has been in danger for quite a while and will be until we get some sort of leader….on les aura:)
I hope you enjoyed Bastille Day, Roger. I am still recovering.
Me too..:)
Mmmmm. It would be a perfect supper for me as well. It takes me back to picking fresh tomatoes from my Italian grandfather’s garden and standing there with a salt shaker and eating them like apples, sun-warmed and with juice running down my arm. Such a memory to have.
That’s such a good way to eat them…have to grow them for that:)