Mr. Hawthorne went to his annual family reunion
this past weekend in Basset, Va.,
and, as always, came back raving about the food.
In particular,
he was enamoured with this tomato dish
which he recreated for dinner last night.
He got the recipe from one of his octogenarian cousins
and I'm very happy to share it with you
because it's so darn good.
I went out and picked a bunch of tomatoes
and some basil.
This small-leafed basil is lemon-flavored.
This is my regular basil.
Mr. Hawthorne peeled his tomatoes ...
... then he seeded and juiced them.
Maybe 6 tomatoes
for the two of us.
Mr. Hawthorne scissored the tomatoes
into smaller pieces.
Ready for the fixin's.
Mr. Hawthorne minced some basil ...
... and added 4 packets of Splenda to the tomatoes.
You could use sugar,
but the original dish was for a diabetic,
hence the Splenda.
About one half stick of butter, cut into pieces,
went in.
Next, the minced basil
and two slices of torn-up whole wheat bread
was added.
Mr. Hawthorne demonstrates:
Mr. Hawthorne topped his dish with a few slices of mozzarella,
then placed it in the toaster oven at 250 degrees
for about 20-25 minutes.
This is the most excellentest tomato dish
I've ever had.
Ever.
The bread is still kind of toasty,
but has soaked up the tomatoey and basily flavors.
The sweet added a whole new dimension.
And oh ... the butter and cheese.
I swear, if I had some vanilla ice cream,
this would be on it.
It's that good.
It's ice-cream-worthy.
Try it yourself and see if you don't agree.
If you have a spate of tomatoes
in your garden,
you owe it to yourself to try this.
Mr. Hawthorne went to his annual family reunion
this past weekend in Basset, Va.,
and, as always, came back raving about the food.
In particular,
he was enamoured with this tomato dish
which he recreated for dinner last night.
He got the recipe from one of his octogenarian cousins
and I'm very happy to share it with you
because it's so darn good.
I went out and picked a bunch of tomatoes
and some basil.
This small-leafed basil is lemon-flavored.
This is my regular basil.
Mr. Hawthorne peeled his tomatoes ...
... then he seeded and juiced them.
Maybe 6 tomatoes
for the two of us.
Mr. Hawthorne scissored the tomatoes
into smaller pieces.
Ready for the fixin's.
Mr. Hawthorne minced some basil ...
... and added 4 packets of Splenda to the tomatoes.
You could use sugar,
but the original dish was for a diabetic,
hence the Splenda.
About one half stick of butter, cut into pieces,
went in.
Next, the minced basil
and two slices of torn-up whole wheat bread
was added.
Mr. Hawthorne demonstrates:
Mr. Hawthorne topped his dish with a few slices of mozzarella,
then placed it in the toaster oven at 250 degrees
for about 20-25 minutes.
This is the most excellentest tomato dish
I've ever had.
Ever.
The bread is still kind of toasty,
but has soaked up the tomatoey and basily flavors.
The sweet added a whole new dimension.
And oh ... the butter and cheese.
I swear, if I had some vanilla ice cream,
this would be on it.
It's that good.
It's ice-cream-worthy.
Try it yourself and see if you don't agree.
If you have a spate of tomatoes
in your garden,
you owe it to yourself to try this.
No! Remember that story I told you about summer camp? I think I just shuddered a bit.
ReplyDeleteZzzadig, trust me, these ain't your camp tomatoes.
ReplyDeleteY'all are having too much fun! Was that a snort I heard? Will be trying this one too, thanks Rosie!
ReplyDeleteYes, Anony. I snorted. Thanks for pointing it out.
ReplyDeleteRosie , Thats sorta like Tomato pudding. My mom used to make this and said it was popular when she was growing up in the thirties . I have a book that has another version of this I will send you
ReplyDeleteRosie, you have to work on that cackle. In any case this looks wonderful - I love any kind of tomato pie but most have cottage cheese/ricotta or lots of mayo and Mr Marion won't touch it.
ReplyDeleteMarion, I've got "the cackle" down pat. (And I always lay an egg immediately after.) That was Mr. Hawthorne's cackling.
ReplyDelete"She said to use day old bread. This is four-day old bread, so it must be better." Best line ever!
ReplyDeleteWhy doesn't Mr. H have his own cooking show?
By the way, I love your laugh. You two just have so much fun in the kitchen.
I'd love to hear Mr. H put Bob and Susie in their place on TNFS (not that Mr. H would ever put up with that crap!
Oh my word, I don't have a plethora of tomatoes AT ALL but my big ol' butt is heading to the farm market and buy me some. I can't wait to try this one, Rosie! Hope I can master Mr. H's 4 day old bread tearing technique. Do ya ever loan him out?
ReplyDeleteMs. Phyllis, I'd be more than happy to loan Mr. Hawthorne out. I'll go pack his bags.
ReplyDelete