August Tomatoes

Since late June we've been eying a bounty of green tomatoes that continue to grow, but refuse to ripen. That appears to be changing now, as each day a few more tomatoes are engulfed by a flame-like yellow that spreads from the bottoms up to the stems and, after a few more days, erupt into deep red, juicy globes and loosen from their vines.

But what's one to do with perfect August tomatoes? Blend a gazpacho? It's difficult to plan a meal around that, though. Drown a plate of pasta in tomato gravy that's simmered all day? That's another post. All of these require work, though. Alternatively, oven-roasted tomatoes are the sort of thing that would make aging TV pitchman Ron Popeil proud: set it and forget it.

Oven-Roasted Tomatoes

4-6 ripe tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Slice large tomatoes into fourths, or slice smaller tomatoes in half and place on baking sheet, skin side down.


Sprinkle very lightly with coriander and salt. Bake at 200 degrees for 6 hours.


Remove from oven when tomatoes have reduced to about 2/3 original size and the edges have curled. Serve alongside oiled pasta or grilled fish.


Prepare these a few times -- and practice using a shallow focus field, too -- and alternate the temperature and baking time to your liking. Tomatoheads will argue that 6 hours is far too short of a time -- preferring instead to make a weekend out of the ordeal by roasting them for 10-12 hours -- but, for me, 6 hours at 200 degrees (or even 2-3 hours at 300 degrees) yields a perfectly appetizing result.

Tuna on the Grill

The summertime aroma of a distant charcoal grill is enough to reinvigorate the most stubborn of appetites. The scent of barbecued meat wafting through a warm backyard smells inviting, the thought of ingesting several ounces of red meat may not be. For those of us desiring something a bit lighter from our grill, we turn to tuna.

Though there are a few species of the deep-swimming tuna fish, two of the most common terms you'll encounter are ahi and yellowfin. Ahi is the Hawaiian table name for two species of tuna, yellowfin and bigeye, two of the most common tunas for steaking. Both species have a firm meat and relatively mild flavor, which makes them too delicate for thorough cooking. Because bigeye tuna swim deeper than yellowfin tuna, they produce more insulative fat and develop a slightly different meat texture. If you're buying from a reputable fishmonger, they'll distinguish between these two; furthermore, if you're buying reputably, both options produce a very nice steak. When purchasing the steaks, you'll be looking for something like this:


Notice the uniformly deep, red color and slightly reflective texture. Some of the steaks you see may contain what appear to be darker portions, which is okay. Darker portions are simply larger fatty deposits in the meat, and you can easily cut them out if you prefer.

My favorite way to prepare such steaks is to crust them with spices, then sear them over a grill or beneath a broiler and serve with a garlic aioli.


Seared Moroccan Spice-Crusted Tuna with Aioli

Two 4-6oz. tuna steaks
4 tablespoons coriander
2 tablespoons fennel
2 tablespoons cumin
1 tablespoon peppercorns
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon chives, finely minced
1/2 teaspoon garlic, finely minced
1 teaspoon lemon juice, freshly squeezed
1/2 cup mayonnaise
Extra virgin olive oil

First, prepare a hot grill or broiler, arranging the rack of the grill or oven no more than three inches from the heat source.

Next, combine coriander, fennel, cumin and peppercorns. Grind in a coffee grinder or mortar until fine. Add salt to spices, reserving one heavy pinch for aioli. Set aside. To make aioli, combine the chives, lemon juice, garlic, and mayonnaise and mix well. Mix the reserved pinch of salt into this mixture. Set aside. Prepare the tuna steaks by patting dry with paper towels. When dry, coat both sides of each steak with the spice rub, then drizzle ~1/4 teaspoon of oil on both sides of each steak.

Place tuna on hot grill or broiler. Cook for two minutes over high heat, then flip and cook an additional two minutes. Remove from heat, set on plate and cover with foil. Allow tuna to rest for one minute, then serve next to a bed of greens with aioli on the side.

Eggs 101-1: The Scramble

Yet another food blog, you think to yourself, lamenting over what could have been a better-directed mouse click.

Welcome to The Gastrosexual, a small blog dedicated to the pleasant stimulation of the senses through food and drink. If you've accidentally stumbled into this distant corner of the web, I hope you won't leave too quickly, and if directed yourself here hoping to find epicurean satisfaction, I hope you won't leave disappointed.

Why food, you ask?

Because I'm addicted to food. You are, too. Don't believe me? Try not eating for the next few days. At breakfast time, avoid any creamy scrambled eggs with buttered toast, and forgo your favorite fruit-sprinkled, fortified cereal. For lunch, stay in. Avoid the cafe down the street offering Insalata Caprese with tender, milky chunks of mozzarella between slices of August-ripened tomatoes. And at dinner, don't even think of broiling a side of juicy salmon and watching the brown-sugar glaze atop it bubble beneath the heat. And don't drizzle over it any creamy lemon & garlic aioli sauce. Skip the dessert of iced chocolate cake, too. Replace all of these meals with copious amounts of water and I'm sure you'll quickly be able to overcome your addiction to food.

Those of us who don't wish to suffer withdrawal beginning at tomorrow's breakfast should probably prepare scrambled eggs:

Scrambled Eggs

12 eggs
1 tablespoon fresh herbs
1 tablespoon Dijon
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
Pinch of salt
Pepper to taste

Whisk together 11 eggs and the herbs. In a separate bowl, mix together Dijon, cream and yolk of one egg.

Heat pan over medium-high heat. When hot, add butter and coat surface of pan. Add egg and herb mixture, stirring vigorously for two minutes or until almost cooked. Add mustard mixture, mix. While mixture is still creamy, remove from heat and continue stirring for 30 seconds. Serve alongside or atop buttered toast, add pepper to taste.

...

Scrambled eggs usually emerge from the pan either dry, tasteless fluffs impregnated with too much air, or as soggy chunks that seem watery. These are glaring symptoms of Incorrectly Scrambled Eggs, a kitchen malfunction that can be easily remedied with the addition of cream, heat and movement. A perfect scramble consists of many soft, small curds of egg glistening with creaminess, something like these, served beneath a sprinkle of rosemary:



Many articles on the web project their version of perfection regarding scrambled eggs, and I find Mr. Breakfast's piece on the matter very accurate. While I disagree with the notion that the point of scrambling is to introduce air (the point is to break-up into curds the quickly setting egg mixture) and the nonchalance with which the author approaches removing eggs from the heat just before they're finished, it's an otherwise informative piece.

I'll tell you what I do.

Scrambling eggs is simple if one prepares everything before the first eggs hit the pan. For a pan, choose something nonstick that isn't too big. The shallow bowl form of a nonstick stir-fry pan works perfectly by providing a sufficient amount of depth, thus preventing all of the egg mixture from contacting the surface of the pan at once. In this sort of pan, you'll have sufficient depth to stir and whip -- to scramble! -- the egg mixture. If using a nonstick pan, also use a wooden or plastic utensil for working with the eggs since you'll want to scrape the bottom of the pan.

Once you've chosen your primary pan and utensil, prepare the ingredients you'll be dumping into them. First, prepare the egg mixture. Since you should be sharing your delicious breakfast, grab one dozen eggs and crack eleven of them into a large bowl, reserving one. For more flavor, you can also add to the eggs a small amount of whatever herbs you'd. No more than a tablespoon of chervil, tarragon, chives, and parsley makes a tasty addition. Also add a few pinches of salt to intensify these herbs. Set this aside.

Next, add the yolk of the reserved egg, two tablespoons of heavy whipping cream and one tablespoon of smooth, creamy Dijon mustard to a small bowl and mix together. And heavy whipping cream means heavy whipping cream. Do not substitute any sort of milk; your eggs will be runny and watery. The cream, Dijon and yolk will be added toward the end of cooking as a binder for the egg mixture. By adding this second round of ingredients, your eggs will be uniformly creamy. Everyone at breakfast will want to know your secret.

Once you have the large bowl containing the herbed mixture of eleven eggs and the small bowl of mustard cream, begin heating your pan over medium-high heat. When it's hot, toss in one tablespoon of butter and coat the surface of the pan with it. Then grab your wooden or plastic utensil and throw in the egg mixture.

Once the eggs are in, keep stirring at all costs. As the pan heats up, egg will stick to bottom of the pan. Move the pan rapidly back and forth across the burner, using your utensil to scrape away sticking egg and mixing it in with the rest of the mixture. When you do this, more egg will stick. Scrape that away and mix it in, too. Continue this rapid process of scraping and mixing until the mixture appears to be thickening and forming curds, at which point you'll mix in the mustard cream and continue scraping, stirring and mixing.

When the eggs appear to be nearly done but are still glistening and creamy, remove them from the heat and continue stirring. After thirty seconds, slide them onto a plate alongside buttered toast, sprinkle on a tiny pinch of freshly cracked peppercorns, and enjoy.



I find them served atop a warm slice of ham on toast with a basil chiffonade very tasty.