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People always assume that because I am Italian, I automatically like tomatoes. I do, but I am a difficult customer of that wonderful fruit. Tomatoes are one of those things I don't touch unless I know they're going to taste the way they're supposed to.
Sitting in my kitchen as I write this, I can see my three tomato plants in the garden. I'm definitely not a great farmer, but the sight of the plants transports me back in time.
I was raised eating, for the most part, heirloom vegetables in Italy. My father had a great passion for his garden and every year he would save some of the best specimens for seeding and propagation. From early spring to late fall, we ate only our own produce.
Our tomato plants were six feet tall, and we used them to make preserved plum tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, sauces and tomato paste to carry us through the winter. I now understand how lucky I was.
Chef Massimo Capra prepares his favourite spaghetti recipe. July to September is the only time he will eat fresh tomatoes. (Kevin Van Paassen/The Globe and Mail)
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Here in Canada, I complain most of the year about the tomatoes, and for good reason - they're often hard-skinned, flavourless and odourless, with a texture akin to plastic.
Fortunately, farmers' markets right now are full of locally grown tomatoes, either regular or heirloom, in all colours, juicy and flavourful. July to September is the only time of the year I eat fresh tomatoes.
Every day in my restaurant, people tell me about their great feats cultivating tomatoes at home and the quality difference they taste over store-bought ones. They are like fishing stories - everyone has a tale to tell of the best-tasting tomatoes they've ever grown.
As a chef, I am often asked what kind of tomato I like to use and how I treat them. My answers are always the same:
Tomatoes lose their full flavour if kept in the refrigerator.
Red tomatoes come in many shades; don't get hung up on the redness.
Buy firm fruit if you are not eating them immediately and, just like bananas, eat them as they ripen.
For a tomato salad, I prefer beefsteak tomatoes in any colour, with very few seeds and dry flesh. Try adding a slightly under-ripe tomato to the salad and do not use too much vinegar.
If I am adding tomatoes to a green salad, I like to use cherry tomatoes.
For sauces, plum tomatoes are my favourite.
The rest of the year, when fresh local tomatoes are not available, I don't eat them at all in salads, but use canned tomatoes for sauces.
Presenting a single recipe is a difficult choice, but I will tell you my favourite way to eat spaghetti.
This dish brings back fond memories not just for me, but for most of my childhood friends, who spent many summer nights at my house eating this with us.
SPAGHETTI WITH SUMMER TOMATOES, BASIL AND BULB ONIONS
What you need
10 ripe plum tomatoes (from a local market)
2 bulb onions, peeled and sliced (medium size, not bigger than a tennis ball)
4 fresh garlic cloves, peeled
5 tablespoons olive oil (extra virgin, obviously)
1 bunch of basil leaves, picked
1 red chili pepper, finely chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1 pound chitarra-style
spaghetti*
1 tablespoon butter
Parmigiano-reggiano cheese for grating on top
*Chitarra-style spaghetti is made with a tool of the same name: a frame strung with wires that resemble guitar strings and cut the pasta sheets into spaghetti.
What you do
Remove the stem parts, and plunge the tomatoes in salted boiling water for half a minute, then immediately plunge in cold water.
Peel each tomato and cut in four lengthwise. Remove the seeds and cut each piece in half. Set aside until needed.
Preheat a frying pan, pour in the olive oil, garlic and chili pepper and sauté for half a minute. As the garlic starts to change colour, add the onions and sauté for three more minutes. At this point, introduce the tomatoes, sauté for another three minutes and set aside.
Cook the spaghetti in plenty of salted boiling water until done to your liking. Strain and add the spaghetti to the sauce. Add the basil, quickly toss and serve with a good grating of parmigiano-reggiano.
I hope you will be as pleased as I always am when I eat this pasta. Buon appetito!
Massimo Capra is chef and co-owner of Mistura Restaurant and Sopra Upper Lounge in Toronto, and guest chef on the show Restaurant Makeover.
Serves 4.
*****
Beppi's wine matches
The general tomato rule: white with raw, red with cooked.
For this cooked sauce, look for robust reds with plenty of acidity, especially from Europe, such as wines based on the negroamaro, tempranillo or sangiovese grapes. (Tomato sauces tend to clash with soft, mellow reds such as a California merlot or an Australian shiraz.)
Good values from southern Italy include the negroamaro-based Trentacinquesimo Parallelo Solestium Salice Salentino Riserva (about $10 in Ontario) and Cosimo Taurino Salice Salentino Riserva (about $18 in British Columbia).
One fine Chianti widely available across Canada is Frescobaldi Nipozzano ($22.99 in Nova Scotia; $19.95 in Manitoba; $23.99 in British Columbia; $21.95 in Ontario). For a smart, affordable choice from Spain, try Penascal Tempranillo (about $9 in Ontario).
Beppi Crosariol
