TOMATO A Fresh From The Vine Cookbook

TO ALL MY TOMATO LOVING FRIENDS !!!

I am spazzin'out over the newest cookbook that has fallen into my hands,
Tomato: A Fresh-from-the-Vine Cookbook
by Lawrence Davis-Hollander.

Each time I crack this beautiful book open, intending to drool over some 150-recipes involving tomatoes, I am enlightened by Mr. Davis-Hollander's wisdom on heirloom tomatoes.  I start daydreaming of growing a multitude of heirlooms... red, pink, purple, yellow, orange, black, green and white slicers to go on fresh grilled burgers, grilled pizzas, tossed into hearty Summer salads, and swimming in soups.  I envision growing cherry tomatoes simply for the joy of eating them warm off the vine.  And THEN, there's all the plum, pear-shaped and paste tomatoes!  Oh the paste tomatoes, my absolute favorite.  I dream of making thick sauces, homemade ketchup, canning whole fruits, and making jams and salsas.  *sigh*

Where was I? See!  I started to tell you about this fabulous cookbook and I end up daydreaming.  Let me try this, again.

No matter if you actually grow your own heirloom tomatoes or you buy them from a local grower or at the farmers' market, you need TOMATO for this Summer's harvest.  TOMATO is as meaty as an Amish Paste when it comes to incredible and uniquely fresh recipes.

• Sauces & Salsas
• Starters
• Soups
• Salads
• Pizza & Sandwiches
• Mostly Vegetable Main Dishes
• Main Dishes with Seafood, Chicken, and Meat
• Side Dishes
• Desserts
• Preserving the Harvest

TOMATO offers fresh twists on familiar recipes, along with completely new dishes to explore.  They come from around the globe, though most reflect European and Mexican influences.  The recipes are simple to follow and I haven't come across one that called for hard to find ingredients.  OH and talk about healthy recipes!  All we have to do is eat and enjoy the flavors.  That's my kind of cookbook!  Check out some of these recipe titles:

• Tomato-Porcini Sauce (a meatless sauce made with fresh mushrooms)
• Pipirrana (a fresh tomato salsa from Spain)
• Seafood Cocktail Sauce
• Spiced Tomato and Chickpea Dip
• Bloody Bull (it's a drink)
• Tomato, Watermelon, and Ricotta Salata Salad
• Tomato Tarts
• Tomato Basil Quiche
• Gazpacho (it wouldn't be a proper tomato cookbook without this recipe)
• Tomato Dumplings
• Summer Minestrone
• Tomato and Buffalo Mozzarella Salad
• Red and Yellow Tomato Salad with Lentils, Basil, and Goat Cheese
• Tomato Couscous Salad
• Heirloom Tomatoes with New Potatoes, Herbs, and Melted Taleggio Cheese
• Pizza Margherita
• Bruschetta with Tomatoes and Smoked Trout
• Panini or Heirloom Tomatoes, Pancetta, and Basil Mascarpone
• Pasta with Tomatoes, Garden Vegetables and Crumbled Blue Cheese
• Green Tomatoes on Toast
• Spaghetti with Slow-Roasted Tomatoes, Basil and Parmesan Cheese
• Risotto of Heirloom Confit Tomatoes and Roasted Mushrooms
• Tomato Pancakes
• Angel-Hair Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Lemon and Shrimp
• Stuffed Tomatoes
• Tomato-Rice Casserole with Poblanos, Beef and Melted Cheese
• Ratatouille
• Shrimp Creole
• Sautéed Chicken Breasts with Tomatoes and Summer Vegetables
• Deconstructed Cabbage Rolls with Tomato Sauce
• Lamb-Stuffed Green Chiles with Fresh Tomato Sauce
• Broiled Tomatoes
• Fried Tomatoes (of course!)
• Zucchini and Tomates with Cream
• Corn Maque Chou
• Beefsteak Tomato Gratin
• Ketchup
• Green Tomato Chutney
• Tomato Juice
• Tomato and Lemon Jam
• Yellow Tomato and Pineapple Jam
• Tomato and Citrus Marmalade
• Higdom (a relish made of end-of-season crops)
• Green Tomato Mincemeat
• Dilled Green Cherries
• Oven-Dried Tomatoes in Herbed Olive Oil
• Confit Tomatoes
• Cooked Tomato Salsa

For Dessert

• Candied-Tomato Tart with Five-Spiced Hazelnut Crust
• Tomato Custard Pie
• Green Tomato Chocolate Cake (You can be sure to see this on Simple Daily Recipes this Summer)

I know that was a long list, but isn't that the second action to judging our cookbooks, reading the recipe titles? We're either going to stop and read through the ingredients or keep flippin'.  The first action is to judge the book by its cover, we all do it to some degree even though it doesn't always equate to the quality of the book.  Anyhoo.

Speaking of reading, the format and layout of the recipes is well done, too.  The font size is a medium size and clear to read.  Maybe it's just the age of my eyes, but I need a cookbook to be formatted in a such a way that I can find that next step in the instructions or the next ingredient, quickly and easily, especially while I'm cooking.  There are photos of the recipes, but not for every recipe.  The photography is so pleasing to the eye, it could make a full stomach growl for more.

About the Author
Lawrence Davis-Hollander was founder and former director of the Eastern Native Seed Conservancy, an organization dedicated to preserving and eating heirloom varieties. He consulted with regional farmers and chefs, and spent lots of time  working with and promoting Native American agriculture.

He trained as a botanist and ecologist at Connecticut College and conducted vegetation inventories for the Nature Conservancy.  He got his Master's degree at Harvard University, where he studied ethnobotany with Richard Evans Schultes, one of the world's foremost ethnobotanists, and ultimately focused on medicinal plants of the Northeastern United States. He was  Director of Horticulture at the Berkshire Botanic Garden  and a landscape designer. His background includes extensive experience in organic farming,  vegetable and ornamental gardening, herbs, and cooking.

The wealth of information he stuffs between all the mouth-watering recipes and photographs makes TOMATO a true resource we can turn to time and time again.  Mr. Davis-Hollander personally shared his fond cooking memories with me in an email and wrote:

I got my Betty Crocker bake set when I was 8 and began cooking out of the Art of French Cooking when I was fourteen. After a while, I decided the recipes were too complicated and figured out how to make things taste good without that much fuss.

He worked as a chef for 16 months in a run of the mill restaurant in Harvard Square until he got fired for calling the health inspector about mice eating the quiches. Over the years he sampled hundreds of heirloom varieties from tomatoes to garlic to beans and incorporated them in his cooking.

He is a principal of Dynamic Change, a life coaching company working with businesses and individuals for personal and professional mastery,  and co-director of Wellness Integral, a wellness consortium offering integrative wellness solutions for individuals and organizations, including effective dietary approaches for good health.

Back to the Book

Many of the mouth-watering TOMATO recipes are served up from a buffet of talented chefs from across the United States. So you know you're in for an cooking adventure of one successful recipe after another.

Contributing Chefs

• Jody Adams
• Rick Bayless (I've heard of him!)
• Daniel Boulud
• Massimo Capra
• Floyd Cardoz
• Gary Danko
• Greg Higgins
• Peter Hoffman
• Melissa Kelly
• Robert Kinkead
• Josie LeBalch
• Kitty Morse
• Nell Newman (The daughter of Paul Newman)
• Nora Pouillon
• Dan Smith
• Saran Stegner
• Alice Waters

Yeah, TOMATO is a keeper!  I can already tell that this book will live on the counters around my kitchen and won't rest on the bookshelf until the last Fall garden tomato is cooked.  You can expect to see my photographs and experiences with this book all season long.  As my own garden grows, and I find myself turning my T-shirt into a pouch to hold all those fresh, hot tomatoes, I will grab this book and go exploring.  Until then, I will take it outside with me, and pull up a lawn chair up next to the tomato plants and read the recipes aloud to them.  Watching the plants grow, witnessing the flowers produce the fruits and patiently waiting and judging for the best time to pick Summer off the vine.

Small Print:
This book review would not have been possible without the generosity of Storey Publishing.  I received a free copy of Tomato: A Fresh-from-the-Vine Cookbook by Lawrence Davis-Hollander from Storey, but was NOT paid to review the book.  My opinions are my own.