i made this a few weeks ago and now the heirloom tomatoes in nashville are all but gone. perhaps some of you way up north are still harvesting the tail end of your crops, but it’s OVA here in the south. and it is indeed sad. but this is how the world works and i have been able to buck up and let it go because i am - mostly – a mature adult. and really, if ever a tomato was going to get a good send-off, this dish right here would be a preferred way to go.

on a brighter note, ‘the fresh market‘ a national chain of specialized grocery stores, catering to yuppies and the like who can now shop while being soothed to the tunes of bach, mozart and chopin and in flattering light, carries a surprisingly decent version of the heirloom all year round. so ok, get this – they’re grown in canada. and yes, they are pricier and not exactly replicas of what gets pulled from the ground on an dewy august morning – but they taste really good and if you’re willing to pay, it puts an end to all the whining about "winter tomatoes". (i’m quite sure i just heard the sound of all the die-hard locavores collectively groan.)

i saw this on chefectomy and knew i had to try it. the recipe is listed below, but it is all his. i take no credit whatsoever except to say that i did a damn fine rendition and when we sat down to dinner we were absolutely and collectively awed.

heirloom tomato risotto
adapted from chefectomy

5 – 7 heirloom tomatoes (depending on size)
fresh thyme sprigs (i used
2 T plus 1/4 C olive oil
salt and pepper
1/2 white onion, chopped
1/2 C dry white wine
1 C arborio rice
4 C vegetable stock or broth
1/4 C cream
6 T freshly grated parmegiano with more for serving
2 T fresh basil, julienned

place tomatoes on a baking sheet and toss with 2 T olive oil.  sprinkle with salt and pepper. cover with thyme sprigs. roast at 325 for 35 minutes or until the skins begin to wrinkle.

in a saucepan, warm the broth. heat another saucepan over medium heat and add the remaining 1/4 C of olive oil and then add the onions, cooking them until translucent 3-4 minutes.

add the arborio rice stirring to coat each grain with the oil – 2 minutes. add the wine and cook until evaporated – 1 minute.

add enough stock to rice until just covered. stir occasionally. rice should cook but not boil. continue to add stock every few minutes as it cooks off. maintain enough stock to cover rice until the liquid cooks down slightly – then add more. continue to stir occasionally. you do not want the rice to stick to the pan. the rice is ready in 16-18 minutes and should be a creamy consistency. if cooked properly the rice grains will have a very suitable hardness when you bite it.

turn off the heat and stir in the cream and parmesan cheese. add salt to taste. chop the roasted heirloom tomatoes and add to the rice. to serve ladle the rice into a warmed bowl and top with fresh basil and the parmegiano.

as a perfect accompaniment to the risotto, i made jim lahey’s (of the revolutionary no-knead bread) pizza bianca. it’s a perfect recipe except i felt it needed less water, as is reflected in the recipe below which was found on marthastewart.com. martha’s people called for 1 3/4 cups water, but this is most certainly not the case proving once again that martha is in fact quite fallible.

i think many people equate pizza bianca to a ricotta cheese based pizza, even adding mozzarella on top of that. but this is pizza bianca in its purest form and quite frankly it needs nothing else because despite its nakedness, this pizza was literally devoured before my eyes – like in a ravenous way that was almost a bit disconcerting.

jim lahey’s pizza bianca
adapted from martha stewart.com

makes 2 zen shaped pizzas – let the pizzas be what they were meant to be, not forcing them into any preconceived shapes…

3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt plus more for sprinkling
3/4 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon instant dry yeast
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 sprig fresh rosemary

combine flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, sugar, and yeast in the bowl of an electric mixer, and slowly add 1 1/4 cups cold water. mix on low speed until ingredients begin to combine, increase speed to medium-high, and continue to mix for about 10 minutes until the dough is smooth, elastic, and cleanly pulls away from the sides of the mixing bowl.

place dough in an oiled bowl, and allow to rest for 2 to 4 hours until it has doubled in size. split the dough into halves, and form each into a log. place each log on a generously floured surface, and allow it to rest until the formed dough doubles in size again, at least 1 hour.

put dough on a lightly floured baker’s peel. dimple dough by pressing it down with your fingertips. work the dough outward toward the edges of the peel until you reach your desired size and thickness, about 1/4 inch. drizzle with remaining olive oil, and sprinkle with extra salt (i suggest a good flaky salt here).

place a baking stone, sometimes known as a pizza stone, in the oven. set oven to broil, about 520 degrees. slide pizza onto baking stone with the baker’s peel. bake until the bubbles range from golden to deep brown in color, 10 to 12 minutes.

again, the perfect italian dinner, if not perhaps a bit on the carb heavy side. but that’s easily rectified - just have bacon and eggs the next morning – preferably on top of any leftover pizza bianca.

but this will be unlikely…

i just read that ‘nothing piques the passion of the seasonally obsessed chef like ramps‘.  they have a short season and a cult following, and rightly so.  these baby wild leeks boast a sweet but complex taste that falls somewhere between onions and garlic only much better.  much much better…

and hey, lest i digress…  could someone out there explain the whole fiddlehead fern phenomenon.  like what is the big deal?  i’ve had them prepared numerous ways by those in the know, and in a word?  meh.  with a capitol, meh.  so when ff’s show up, the only real good news is that then it must also be ramp season.  and that right there? that is something to get excited about.  so much so that i hereby declare ramps the new black.  that’s how much i love them.  which is a lot.

while some of you are out there foraging for your ramps, nettles, morels and ff’s, let it be known that i am sans poison ivy and tick free.  i’m home drinking a glass of wine and clicking the ’buy it now’ button on ebay where i am declared a winner of 50 freshly harvested ramps, and ebay sincerely congratulates me.  i toast my good fortune to the food gods and put up my feet, pleased that ebay recognizes my winning ways.  it may be true that i’ve just spent $11 and increased my carbon footprint, wheras the foragers got both their ramps and their lyme disease for free… but i’m ok with all of this.  because first and foremost i am a winner.

so thank you seller camper750.  they were just beautiful…

see?  ramp perfection… at my door in no time flat.  the bowl was ebayed too, but from last year.

the plan was to make a perfect risotto.  i came across a ny magazine recipe from 2005 of famed chef scott conant, from when he was at l’empero in nyc.  i immediately knew that this was what i was looking for.

ramp risotto
adapted from scott conant (soon to be at ‘scarpetta‘)

i doubled this recipe and it worked out beautifully.  i used carnaroli rice but i am sure any risotto rice would work fine.  i substituted my veal stock for the chicken and well, i highly recommend this if you can…

5 T extra-virgin olive oil
10 ramps
1 shallot, ?nely chopped
1 t of red-pepper ?akes
1 cup vialone nano rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
4 cups chicken broth, simmering in separate pot on stove
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/4 cup parmigiano reggiano cheese, grated
salt to taste

in a wide, heavy-bottom saucepan, heat 3 tablespoons olive oil over medium-high heat.  

finely chop ramp greens and stalks, reserving greens for later. add shallot, ramp stalks, and pepper ?akes, and stir until the shallot is translucent, about two minutes. add rice to pot and cook over medium heat for two minutes, stirring to coat rice with oil.  

pour in 1/4 cup of the wine and boil until almost absorbed; a little liquid should remain on top of the rice. add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of hot broth at a time, stirring the rice constantly until almost all of the liquid is absorbed. add another 1/4 cup of stock, the remaining wine, and a tablespoon of olive oil, continuing to stir.  

add the ramp greens and more stock as needed and continue cooking and stirring until the risotto looks creamy but is still al dente, about 20 minutes. remove from heat and let the risotto stand for about 30 seconds. add a drizzle of olive oil, butter, and cheese; stir until well combined. season with salt. makes 4 first-course portions.

to serve with the risotto, i roasted a chicken alla ‘zuni cafe’ style, except i stuffed the cavity with lemon and limes, something i’d never done before.  i think the citrus caused some steam in an otherwise very dry oven environment, making the chicken perhaps less crisp but amazingly flavorful.  i buy only small chickens – no more than 3.25 lbs - and roast at 475 f for 45 minutes.

the trussing technique was "unique" and could not be repeated for any price.  but you can rest assured that bird wasn’t going anywhere.

this risotto was a first class wow.  to be honest, we kind of couldn’t get over just how good it was.  throughout the day it was eaten by 5 people and it greatly influenced their opinion of me.  ramps are an impressive ingredient.  they’re so many things all at once.  if you missed them this year, try to make it a point for next.

although i do believe camper750 still has some available.  act fast and you too could be a winner…
 

dear mark, the tomato paella was friggin genius p.s. i love you

bittman is my kind of cook. he’s the minimalist. he’s the anti-keller… i saw this in the wednesday dining section of the ny times, 5 weeks ago. then it started making the blog rounds but luisa’s version looked so alluring that i knew it was just a matter of time. so with what was likely my last batch of tennessee tomatoes, i knew i had to make this. first of all, i used an italian risotto. i searched two stores for some kind of real live spanish rice, but to no avail. so i stuck with what i had and it worked great. i do believe i wound up buying the most expensive pinch of spanish saffron known to man (note to self – stock up on some good saffron) but i wasn’t going to make this and then leave out the coveted ingredient. and then there’s my new best friend – pimenton. what a fabulous ingredient you are pimenton, all smokey and deep like a nina simone song. where have you been all my life?

there was garlic, onion, tomato paste, some pinot grigio, fresh basil and parsley and a totally great spanish olive oil that i got from zingerman’s. usually i don’t heat good oils, but i made an exception here and it was well worth it. these days i’m a big spanish and french olive oil fan – ‘butterier’ than italian. less of that peppery bite. but i use all the countries for different purposes and moods. it is one of the many ways that i amuse myself. i operate as an equal opportunity olive oil consumer. yes i do. so a friend came by and we had this as our main course with a loaf of olive bread. i forgot to make a salad so instead we drank more wine.

is there a correlation? perhaps so…

the food photo’s are hurting.  i know i know.  bear with me here folks.  i’m in the midst of a major learning curve as you can surely tell.

but if you want to see what this risotto dish should have looked like just go to “last night’s dinner” and there you’ll find the lovliest pic of a wonderful rendition because quite frankly that woman knows what the hell she’s doing and can cook her ass off and someone needs to run and give her a book deal for god’s sake…

me, well – this was my first shot at risotto and you know what?  it was good.  it was refreshingly lemony and creamy from the goat cheese and i got to use up a big zucchini from my csa share which is always a big plus.  but it was just a tad gluggy.  so i need to leave it a little soupier (are you lovin my technical cooking terms?) and then it’ll set up some more when i take it off the heat.  so i have been told and so i believe. 

the tomatoes were csa heirlooms chopped up in a good balsamic with a chiffonade of lemon basil and smoked salt sprinkled on top.  yeah buddy…

and now for your viewing enjoyment:  come with me on a voyaristic journey to a saturday morning at the franklin farmers market just south of nashville, tn where somehow i have wound up living and liking it pretty well…

the esoteric herb people.  your one stop shopping for lemon balm, summer savory, borage and the like

i get a kick out of this kinda thing

my favorite csa in the world, delvin farms – the weekly share

my buying 2 chicken breasts for $12 as my grandmother is rolling over in her grave

a big shout out to the creator of all things… !!!

summer in a box

discussing the whole foods/wild oats debacle merger with a friend at the market – and hey, check out those zucchini’s in the forefront.

my share unloaded on my kitchen island with a dozen farm eggs, the $12 chicken breasts and a pint of blackberries

wish me luck