Seed Starting: Tomatoes and Basil

My post today isn’t about a recipe per se, but what we make them from instead. For the past few weeks I’ve been in preliminary gardening mode. It’s that time of year where I feel eternally optimistic about the possibilities for the summer and I decided this year to go ahead and try growing a few vegetables by seed. This actually is not something I feel eternally optimistic about having read horror stories online of buried moldy seeds and spindly sprouts with little foliage that eventually die.  However, through various Google searches I’ve found such neat varieties that I just felt compelled to try it since these are the kinds of veggies you can’t really find in most nurseries. I decided to focus on basil, tomatoes and squash/pumpkins.

My first order of business was to plant the basil. It’s my favorite herb (besides cilantro and rosemary probably) and my mom found some really beautiful, not to mention delicious, varieties last year that I saved some seeds from. Cinnamon basil and Purple Basil will now always be grown alongside the normal sweet varieties. Their flowers are pretty enough to be used in a bouquet and the purple kind looks gorgeous overtop bruschetta. I would advise against lemon basil however. It smells nearly identical to Pine-Sol―it’s actually incredible how pungent it is―and I wouldn’t personally use it in my food. So anyways, I planted an egg carton full of purple, cinnamon and sweet basil and set it outside for some sunlight only to find, in my horror, that it had been knocked over a few hours later―dirt scattered all over the grass. I suspect my cat. I had let him out for a bit of sun and he has an obsession with casually knocking breakable items off of high places and looking very pleased with himself afterward. This was especially tragic because I used all of my purple basil seeds in that batch and was therefore only able to replant the other two kinds.

Then it was the tomato seeds. I’ve turned my small college house into a make-do greenhouse and I’m not sure how my five roommates feel about it. Since we are in college and we’re trying to save money, the temperature in our house stays at about a steady 62 degrees―hardly conducive to heat loving tomato seeds. I put my heated blanket underneath the seed tray to compensate and covered the top of the tray with it as well. In effect, it’s a small hot house and I made sure there’s air circulation by putting books and paint cans and anything I could get to hold the black plastic bag open so mold can’t grow. I’m particularly excited about the “Isis Candy” (purely for the literary allusion) and “Cuore de Toro” varieties.

The squash and pumpkin seeds should arrive shortly but those I’ll actually end up sowing right into the ground. They don’t do as well with container transplants, (tomatoes actually benefit from them), and I want to have the best chances possible, especially with the Musquee de Provence pumpkins which I hear make great soups. The French are pros at pumpkin growing. So here’s to a prosperous growing season! Hopefully these seeds will produce some delicious and unique culinary inspirations!

 

Tomatoes

Recently, a friend of mine looked on, amused, as I sliced open a Cherokee purple tomato, salted it, and ate it. “I didn’t know you could eat tomatoes raw,” she said.

I’m not sure what we’ve come to when a person, who lives in a country so conducive to growing delicious and plump tomatoes, has not luxuriated in the taste of one plain. It’s true that until the fairly recent trendiness of farmer’s markets, all that was available were the rubbery outside, foam-like inside versions of the fruit….or vegetable, and I certainly wouldn’t want to digest one of those either. Now however, even at most grocery store chains, there are sections of locally grown produce.

What I really love most about heirloom tomatoes is their beaten up appearance. They’re old varieties and world travelers and I think their gnarled, bumpy appearance shows it off. In combination with the distinct flavor, there’s no replacing them with the store kind. I’m not normally one to be pretentious about the whole buying organic thing. I understand it’s incredibly expensive and not everyone has the time to shop on a separate day for their produce, but I do have to say, it’s worth it in August.

August is THE month for perfect tomatoes. Some varieties like Early Girl become available as soon as late spring, and most vines start producing in July, but in my opinion, the most lucrative month is August. Although it’s the last day of the month, I couldn’t let the opportunity pass to cast a stage light on one of my favorite summer foods.

Easy Summer Tomato Salad

• 2 cups halved cherry/grape tomatoes
• Half cup chopped basil
• ¼ to ½ cup fresh grated parmesan cheese (do NOT use the stuff in the green container. I tried it once as a substitute and it was horrible.)
• 2 tbsp kosher salt
• 2tbsp fresh pepper

For Easy Bruscheta:

Slice pieces of a dense bread like fococcia or ciabatta, drizzle olive oil over top of them, put the tomato salad on top and bake in the oven for 10 minutes or so at 415 degrees. If you have access to it, putting chopped purple basil on top afterwards is a really beautiful and tasty garnish. So is reduced balsamic vinegar.

Homemade Salsa/Pico de Gallo

Margarita night at Burrito Loco is always a good time [not because of the excess of virgin (june birthday) raspberry margaritas I consume] but for the restaurant’s complimentary rolls-equivalent of the Mexican dining experience: salsa and chips! I’m pretty sure that if I went by myself I’d easily eat them alone and ask for seconds. So…since I can’t waltz in to the crazy burrito and sit down for free salsa and chips whenever I want, I learned how to make them myself, minus the chips. Tostitos scoops should work just fine. Now, the problem with writing down a recipe is that I never actually go by one, so all of these measurements are guesstimates but that just works in your favor. That way you can figure out what you like best anyways.

Salsa/Pico de Gallo Combination (?)

1. 2 cups seeded chopped tomatoes
2. 1 Habanero pepper finely chopped
3. Half a yellow onion chopped
4. 3 cloves of garlic minced
5. Kosher salt and pepper
6. A few good drizzles, probably three or four tablespoons, of extra virgin olive oil
7. Half cup of fresh Cilantro

If you have a food processor, this whole recipe will be much easier. But if you don’t, that’s fine.  Just make sure you have a decent knife with a blade that can cut. To chop tomatoes, I always cut it like an apple, leaving the center core for the garbage. Then you just scoop out the seeds and roughly chop them or pulse them a few times in your processor.

Do the same for the onion, roughly chopping or throwing that into the processor as well.  Adding the habanero chopped with the seeds and everything will make your salsa the equivalent to a hot salsa you’d buy in the store. Since I sweat if I put too much black pepper on my food, I take out the seeds and fleshy part and then chop it up, it’ll be about a mild to medium salsa. Add the garlic and other ingredients and process that (or mix it by hand).

As for the salt, I’m not Jewish. My choice of buying kosher salt is simply due to its superiority in every realm of cooking. It’s cheaper and is often used in “gourmet” cooking because presenting a dish with kosher salt sprinkled on top adds another dimension to a plate of food.

Cilantro is an herb that people love or hate. But if you like the salsa that you get at any Mexican restaurant that means you like it. I’m convinced they use cilantro as a base, not tomatoes. Enjoy!

P.S. It’s important to let the salsa sit in the fridge for a few hours before you eat it so that the flavors can “marry”. Otherwise the chip will taste more flavorful than the salsa.