Monday, August 11, 2008

Tomato Tree - Day 72

Harvest!!

Over the last two weeks I've actually harvested tomatoes. One of the greatest meals and certainly the greatest meal involving toasted white bread, is a bacon, lettuce & tomato sandwich using garden fresh tomato. The cold lettuce, the creamy mayonnaise and the explosive taste of real tomatoes proves beyond any doubt that great cooking is often the simplest cooking.

Now I admit I was very nervous picking the tomato stand fruit. I had horrific images of the stand spontaneously combusting, engulfing everything within 10 feet. There I was, 6' 3" tall CrabbyCook,
flailing about the deck, tomatoes flying off is all directions, doing my best Human Olympic Torch impression. The horror.








But I survived. It should also be noted that my low-tech-tomatoes-in-a-planter also yielded fruit, without any of the resident fears of self-immolation.

But who cares, tomatoes are here! Time to sit back and enjoy! The sunflower photo is just a throw in.



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The classic BLT is the perfect sandwich to use as a learning tool in matching wine with food. The high acid tomato is balanced by the high fat content in mayonaise and bacon. Add in the smokey flavor from the bacon to contrast the fresh flavor of the tomato and lettuce for texture and voila. A perfect match.

The acid-fat contrast is what we strive to acheive with matching wine and food. The more fat in the food, cheese, butter cream, the more acid you want in the wine. Higher acid wines usually come from cooler grape growing climates like France, Germany, Washington and Oregon.

Low fat food, ugh, goes better with low acid wine. California, Australia and southern Italy are good examples. Southern Italy, is where the tomato is king and you get the best red sauces, so a food with high acid that goes best with those low acid wines. Hate to burst your bubble, but Chianti is a high acid wine and is not a good match with pasta nor pizza.

Since a BLT is perfectly balanced, any wine will work with it. But I just love a beer.

WWBob

Jeannebean said...

I'll trade you good corn for a tomato! We haven't seen any local tomatoes yet in this great Northern Mi.