Cooking with Kelly: 1-pound tomato three ways

First of all, I got a new fridge today! There’s also new lighting fixtures in the apartment that make it feel a little more homey. Tim adopted a cat as well, which we think we'll name Norris. It’s been an exciting day.

Secondly, after much consideration, consulting and pondering, I decided what to do with the 1-pound tomato from Eastern Market. I made a three-course tomato-centric dinner and every bite was delicious.

For a little tasting, I made a simple avocado and tomato salad dressing with lime juice, salt and pepper. When you’re working with quality ingredients, sometimes the simplest preparation is best.

Next, I made bruschetta. I toasted angle-cut pieces of the sourdough baguette I bought using my electric skillet. Then, I rubber a clove of garlic over the toasted surface to get some garlic flavor in there. I topped it with fresh basil leaves cut into little ribbons and more of the tomato, this time chopped.

For the main course, I made my most complicated kitchen-less dish so far. I cooked some whole-wheat spaghetti in the microwave. This required boiling the water in the microwave, then adding the pasta and salt and boiling for about eight minutes longer in the microwave.

The sauce was a simple concoction to let my fresh ingredients shine. I let two cloves of finely diced garlic cook in a tablespoon of olive oil with about a ¼ cup of chopped red onions until the onions were translucent, about three minutes. Then I added the rest of the chopped tomato, probably about ¾ of a pound. I let that bubble away and reduce for about 20 minutes before turning off the heat on the electric skillet and topping the pasta with it, then adding a bit of shredded Parmesan on top, for good measure.

This whole meal could have easily been vegan friendly with the subtraction of the Parmesan. I may have eaten a pound of tomato in this, but it was the best tomato I’ve had in a long time.