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Basil, tomato & garlic: Farmers Market basics
Redding’s Certified Farmers Market has a fun new feature, Chef at the Market, where local cooks demonstrate how to prepare great dishes from the market’s ingredients. Of course, the audience receives samples.
I was the featured chef a few Saturdays ago when when I prepared a Tomato, Brie and Basil Salad.
I’d also planned to make fruit crepes on my portable gas burner, but there were too many health-department hurdles to jump. Raw eggs were the trouble-makers, and the only way I could make the batter without raising health-department eyebrows was to do it in a restaurant and bring it in an ice chest, then have a hot-water hand-washing station, but not with Igo well water.
So I abandoned the crepes idea and made a version of what I’d actually planned to show on July 26. Now I’ll need to come up with something else. That doesn’t require raw eggs or food prepared at home.
No matter. My July 5 cooking demo went fine. Albert and Diana, market staff, made everything pretty with flowers and green tablecloths and chairs for the audience and tables for me spread everything out and cook.
The crowd was lively and fun. My sister and husband helped pass out food to the spectators.
We gave away every last scrap of food, right down to the last crumb of spectacular bread from Tin Roof Bakery in Chico.
I love this recipe. I love the way it uses available summer produce. I love the way it doesn’t require refrigeration at first, and, in fact, it needs room temp time to soften the cheese.
(It does have a limit to how long it can remain unrefrigerated, since it has cheese in it. If you refrigerate it, just let it sit at room temp long enough for the olive oil to relax again.)
This recipe is a dip, it’s a bread topping, it’s a pasta topping, heck, I’ll bet it would taste great on a hot baked potato.
Take your pick.
The beauty of it is that, brie aside, everything in it is found at the Redding Certified Farmers Market. (And now that I think about it, one of the vendor’s goat cheese might have made an acceptable substitution.)
As an aside, the tomatoes tend to sell out quickly at the market.
So if you plan to make this recipe, but you also want to watch me cook at the July 26 Farmers Market, get there early and buy your tomatoes first.
Then grab a chair in the shade and get some samples. Of what, I’m not sure. But it will be good.
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Tomato Brie Basil Salad
4 large tomatoes 1 pound brie cheese 1 cup fresh basil, cut in thin strips. 3 cloves garlic, finely minced 2/3 cup best olive oil 1 teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon pepperSeed and juice tomato by cutting a thin slice off the bottom, enough to expose its insides. Hold the tomato over the sink, cut side down, and squeeze to release juice and seeds. (Of course, if you want to save the juice for something else, go for it.) slice tomato, then cut into small cubes.
Place in large bowl.
Take chilled brie and remove the rind (a potato peeler works great). With fingers, tear off small pieces of the brie and toss into the bowl on top of the tomatoes.
To slice the basil, stack a bunch of leaves together and roll into a tight little cigar shape. Hold the bundle on the cutting board and slice like you’re cutting salami rounds. (Does that make sense, I hope?)
Dump the basil in the big bowl. Now add everything else.
Leave the bowl out at room temperature, covered, so the flavors meld. The brie will soften and ooze.
Place in a bowl and surround with slices of rustic bread.
Or, serve atop a bed arugula, or in a little endive scoop, or as a bruschetta (little toasted bread slices) topper, or even over hot, fresh pasta.
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Doni,
We enjoyed your food demo at the Farmers Market and the delicious Tomato Brie Basil topping was wonderful on the bread from Chico’s Tin Roof Bakery. The recipe is quick and very easy to prepare. It is always fun to watch your food demos.
Tammy
Doni, This is one of our summer favorites…just dump hot linguini into it, combine and serve. Yum!
Sounds super fresh and good!
The good news is that tomatoes are now widely available at the various Redding farmers’ markets–you don’t have to get there in the first 15 minutes! These are mostly your classic big red hybrids–the heirlooms tend to come in a little more slowly, and so look for them over the next few weeks. Melons are beginning to show up as well, with lots more of those to come. I got to sample this recipe and it was wonderful.
yum - me too - I was there - I love it with Angel Hair or Linguini the best - but then I can never get enough pasta! Thanks Doni
So sorry we missed your demo; this sounds great. And easy. I like that. Hope we catch you at your next Chef at the Market. I’m ready for your cooking classes to start up again!
Looks like I’m going to have to dump the kids and come to the Market on Saturday!
Just found your website. Great! I was always a reader of your columns since I’ve lived in the North State. I enjoy cooking, also. I look forward to attending your cooking demonstration this Saturday the 26th. I have used for many years a similar recipe for this tomato, basil dish as a salad layered in a dish but with mozzarella cheese. I’ll have to try it with the Bree.
I hope you have weathered the fires in Igo as well as my daughter who was evacuated at one point from her home in Igo. Thank God that threat is over. She is also a writer.
Best wishes in all your endeavors.
What is the reason to seed the tomatoes? I have seen this in lots of recipes and neverer really understood why. I love this combination.
Why seed tomatoes? Well, glad you asked. It’s about the juice, not really the seeds. This is usually called for in recipes where you don’t want a lot of juice (like a quiche, or a bruschetta, or this salad). It leaves the meaty tomato behind. (Oh, and Judy, thanks for that great tip about the mini savory Dutch Babies. I’ll try that.)
Doni,
I don’t know if you’re still checking this posting, but I just wanted to let you know that I made this as my appetizer for the Gandy crew at Jackson Lake last weekend and it was a bit hit! Thanks!
Stacy Gandy (Todd’s wife