Tomato JOY

Recipes to savor from a tomato lover’s cookbook.

BY AMY TRAVERSO

RECIPES BY JOY HOWARD | PHOTOS BY JOE ST. PIERRE

Oven-Baked Cod with Dill and Sungold Cherry Tomatoes, recipe p. 105 quick story: My grandparents lived in a neighborhood of mostly Italian immigrants, on a block whose rear gardens backed up against each other. Seen from overhead, the center of the block looked like one continuous garden, a crazy quilt of grapevines, raspberry patches, sweet peas, and tomato vines.

One year, the men decided they’d have a competition to see whose tomatoes would ripen first. My grandfather took matters into his own hands, tying several ripe store-bought tomatoes onto his vines in the middle of the night. It was a practical joke, but I always think of that story when I’m longing for my own tomatoes to ripen.

Joy Howard knows that longing well. As a cookbook author and food stylist, she has a more finely tuned eye for ingredients than most of us. And when it comes to tomatoes, her appreciation runs deep. “I love their versatility,” she says. “They’re filled with this rich umami flavor, but they also work in recipes with a sweeter profile, like a jam or dressing. And they’re central to everyday cooking for so many people.”

In her latest book, Tomato Love , Howard serves up dozens of tomato recipes, from a veggie-packed tomato strata perfect for brunch to a simple creamy pasta with sun-dried tomatoes, ricotta, and spinach. “I like to use tomatoes as a way to add depth of flavor in a dish like the strata or a stew, or as the main focus of a pasta or tart,” she says.

The book’s recipes make use of fresh, canned, and sun-dried tomatoes for year-round use. “With the exception of a few hydroponic varieties, only buy fresh tomatoes in season, always!” she says. And now that it’s peak tomato season, it’s time to get cooking.

MUSHROOM, KALE, AND TOMATO STRATA

Though it’s more eggy than a bread pudding, a strata starts with the same rich, carb-filled goodness. Far from a light dish, it’s not the kind of thing you’d want to eat every day, but it is the kind of thing that makes for a great brunch when you want to win over your friends with food. Bonus: You can assemble it a day ahead.

8 cups cubed whole-grain bread

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

8 ounces white mushrooms, sliced

1 small bunch green curly kale, ribs removed and leaves torn into bite-size pieces

1¼ teaspoons kosher salt, divided

¾ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided

1½ cups shredded Gruyère cheese

¾ cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, for greasing the pan

1 cup halved cherry or grape tomatoes

8 large eggs

2 cups whole milk

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Spread the bread onto a baking sheet and toast in the oven for about 8 minutes, or until dried out and lightly crisped. Reduce heat to 350°F.

Warm the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the mushrooms and cook until they begin to release their juices, about 3 minutes. Stir in the kale, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper, and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the kale is wilted, about 4 minutes. Remove from the heat. Toss together the Gruyère and cheddar in a small bowl.

Coat a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with the butter. Cover the bottom of the dish with ⅓ of the bread cubes. Sprinkle on ⅓ each of the mushroom mixture, tomatoes, and cheese. Repeat the layers twice more in this manner, starting with the bread cubes and ending with the cheese.

Whisk together the eggs, milk, and remaining ¾ teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper in a large bowl. Pour the mixture over the strata, making sure to moisten all the bread. Use a sheet of plastic wrap to gently press the bread into the egg mixture and cover the strata. Let sit for 30 minutes or up to overnight.

Bake the strata for about 40 minutes, or until it’s set in the center, rotating the pan halfway through. Serve right away. Yields 12 servings.

CREAMY GARLIC PASTA WITH RICOTTA AND SUN-DRIED TOMATOES

There’s a trick to making a good creamy sauce, and it’s not your choice of ingredients. Heat plays a big role in making or (literally) breaking a sauce’s silky texture. Enter ricotta! It holds up to heat, and its subtle flavor is a great vehicle for other ingredients (here, it’s lemon). Don’t forget to reserve some pasta water to add in the final step so the dish turns out creamy rather than clumpy.

(Continued on p. 104)

Garlicky Parmesan Corn, recipe p. 44

past decade? e old adage that “you shouldn’t pick corn until the water’s boiling” simply doesn’t hold true anymore. e reason: Today’s most popular corn varieties take much longer to convert their sugars into starches. Yes, Silver Queen and Butter and Sugar— rst introduced in the 1950s and ’60s— are still beloved, but newer supersweet varieties o er the convenience of cobs that taste like candy days after they’re picked. And the newest synergistic varieties, such as Cameo, Kristine, and, ahem, Pro t, promise all the sweetness with more nuanced corn avor.