Gourmet, farm-fresh tomatoes galore: The Chef’s Garden

My birthday was a few weeks ago. This summer was literally a wash, with the perpetual rain and mostly extremely late nights at work. I realized the season was rapidly wrapping up and I hadn’t taken full advantage of its seasonal fruit, the tomato. So, I decided to treat myself to a whole Tomato Box from The Chef’s Garden! It was freshly picked for me and sent to my doorstep. You’ll see throughout this site other articles on their produce, including when I stayed there! Think of every celebrity chef you can name. They all have specially ordered from this Ohio farm and they have since Alice Waters first commissioned squash blossoms.

If you don’t have a large family or party to cook for, you have to strategize using a big box of the juicy fruits. I did learn from the site that you can stash them in the fridge after they are fully ripened. That’s very helpful.

The varieties of tomatoes are staggering. There was a big, red beefsteak-like type that’s meaty with a fruity flavor, like watermelon.

A yellow and green stripe was sweeter than you’d think: not sour, a little like sweet lettuce with meaty texture and thicker skin.

Yellow cherry tomatoes were very juicy and citrus-like, like yuzu.

First, I made a Salad Caprese with burrata, lemon basil and chives from my garden, Maldon sea salt, fancy black pepper from The Spice House, olive oil and a splash of balsamic vinegar.

Next, I had also ordered a few squash blossoms, filled them with a combination of fillings from recipes, then battered them with a light flour/club soda mix. The filling I made had whole milk ricotta, Parmesan, salt, fresh garden herbs, lemon zest, black pepper. Please learn from me — with the Parmesan, though you won’t won’t won’t believe it when tasting it pre-cooking, skip the salt. They are fun, crispy and creamy snacks. I garnished them with little “toy box” tomatoes.

I love the option of a simple, not long simmering and heating/splattering up the kitchen pasta. I really love Bucatini, with its perfect roundness and hole through the center. It has all the best qualities of a macaroni tube and an angel hair in one! I sauteed a bunch of different toy box tomatoes in butter, because that’s more comfort food than olive oil, added some garlic chive buds from my garden, freshly ground black pepper and shredded Parmesan.

Nothing says summer in the south like a tomato sandwich. Sadly, bread has become an every once in a while thing for me, or else I’d eat 4 a day and nothing else. I use Louisiana’s Blue Plate mayo! Yeah, I hate Duke’s and I can tell you why: it uses cider vinegar instead of white vinegar like God intended. Blue Plate uses only egg yolks, so it doesn’t have that merengue quality.

In Alexandria, Virginia, where I’d live if I could own a grand home on Captain’s Row, there was a fine dining restaurant called Restaurant Eve. It was so lovely, making their own charcuterie upstairs and just a complete delight. In the category of Why We Can’t Have Nice Things, it has closed. But they served a Tomato Water martini. I could never figure out how it was made to look so clear, but the recipe is on the Chef’s Garden site. Spoiler alert: it involves pureeing the tomatoes, freezing it, then letting it drain over a big bowl with a cheesecloth lined colander. I used a bunch of the big tomatoes that very ripe. This is a delightfully light drink, but with all of the flavor of sweet tomatoes.

I blistered some tomatoes to accompany some cheesy eggy fritters that I created.