Saturday, August 28, 2010

Tomatoes

Heirloom Tomatoes & Burrata


Blood Mary with Dungeness Crab & Pickled Romano Beans


First post...where to start?  Lets start with tomatoes.   


The Tomato Supper at Lucca this past Thursday.

270 pounds of freshly picked tomatoes.
80 people.
14 dishes featuring tomatoes.
5 Italian wines.



Crostini


Lucca joined up with Small Vineyards and Garden Fever  to host the Second Annual Tomato Supper to benefit the non-profit Growing Gardens. After a cool summer, Mother Nature finally warmed up some so I could get 270 pounds of tomatoes from 5 local farms.  I managed to throw in a few cherry tomatoes and basil from my back yard as well.


Sun Gold Cherry Tomatoes. Eggplant, Zucchini & Pine Nuts


A sample of the things we made -

 - Bloody Marys from Beefsteaks, served with a Spicy Salted Rim, Pickled Romano Beans & Dungeness Crab

 - BLT Crostini with our House-Made Pancetta & Fontina

 - Eggplant & Sun Sugar Tomatoes with Bella di Cerignola Olives & Pine Nuts

 - Heirloom Tomatoes & Burrata - the tastiest mozzarella you can imagine.

 - Wood-Fired Brandywine Tomato Pizza with Walla Walla Onions & Oil-Cured Olives

 - Roasted Painted Hills Sirloin, Scallions & Sun Gold Tomatoes

 - Basil Panna Cotta with Tomato Syrup & Tomato Jam Shortbread



Brandywine Tomato & Oil Cured Olive Pizza



Everyone enjoyed themselves and left with full bellies. The food was fantastic and epitomized summer.  The wine poured was from the some of the wineries I will be visiting in Italy in the next few weeks:  Perazetta,  Podere Ciona and Antonio Sanguineti.

Expect to hear more about my upcoming travels as I eat and drink my way around Tuscany. Meanwhile, I'm off to figure out what to do with 120 pounds of leftover tomatoes.

Buon appetito!


Tomato Jam Thumbprint Cookies












7 comments:

Dragon said...

The pictures came out well.

Gwen said...

Mmmmm... I want the BLT crostini!! Looks delicious! I'm looking forward to keeping up with your Italy trip.

Janet said...

Looks great, where do I start? Are you bringing a cooler of those leftovers back East?

Anonymous said...

Looks great, Lissa! Will be passing you along To Sue and Karen. We'll be following you along to Italy! Sally Campbell

Anonymous said...

Lissa - I'm stopping over at Janet's for the leftovers!! Fabulous pictures! Would love to enjoy Italy through your blog.
Judie Taylor

Unknown said...

Looks and sounds scrumptious! See you soon...

Guy said...

Where is your East Coast section?
When do you get to Italy?