Tomato season is on us again and I am loving it. This is not news… I’ve written about tomatoes many times. Just put tomato in the “search” deal and you’ll find stuff.
Today at lunch, I hit upon a new way (for me) of preparing and serving a tomato. Imagine that. I was about to heat up a piece of swordfish (white) and a potato cake (also white) from yesterday’s lunch at Sam’s Chowder House in Half Moon Bay and thought, “I need something colorful and bright-tasting to go with this.”
The big bowl of tomatoes from Saturday’s Farmer’s Market sat on the table and invited itself into my brain. By that time, the fish and potato were in the warming oven and I didn’t want to boil water and peel a tomato and I didn’t want to get juices on my potato and swordfish and I didn’t want a cold sliced tomato.
This morning, I peeled and sliced a tomato and cooked it in a skillet just long enough to warm it… that was good. I’ll bet if I slice a tomato and cook it in a skillet, the skin will slip right off. So that’s just what I did.
So, the idea for that tomato and today’s lunch, started with Sunday’s lunch. Sunday’s dinner contributed, as did this morning’s breakfast.
SUNDAY LUNCH
“Hey, Carol, let’s go for lunch tomorrow at Sam’s Chowder House in Half Moon Bay. That’d be a nice drive and I’ve heard a lot about it and been wanting to go there.” She allowed as how that would be nice. I pulled up their website and made a reservation for 12:15. (Do make a reservation. When we left after lunch, we overheard the Maitre d’ say the wait would be 45 minutes to a walk-up couple.)
our view from Sam's... too bad it's overcast
I had the Grilled Swordfish, served on a Potato Cake and Swiss Chard. The serving was probably just right for most, but way too much for me (okay, I started with some oysters), so I took half of the fish and potato home. Ohbytheway… the dish was fabulous. The swordfish cut about half-inch thick, just as I like it, and very moist and tasty, the potato cake made with “smashed potatoes,” and making the just-right accompaniment. I ate all the chard.
SUNDAY DINNER
I hung out and read the Sunday papers while Carol went to the Safeway for our weekly staples and came back with a tube of supermarket polenta for dinner. She sliced that and served over pesto with a roasted cherry tomato and bread salad left over from last week. Still plenty good.
“You can slice some of the polenta for your breakfast, with an egg on top,” she said.
MONDAY BREAKFAST
I took Carol’s advice, but decided I wanted a tomato, instead of an egg, on top of the polenta (and a piece of Spam under it, yum).
MONDAY LUNCH
Which brings us to my Tomato Another Way. Take that restaurant swordfish and potato cake and warm them gently in a little skillet. Plate them and put in the countertop convection oven to keep warm. Core and slice your tomato and put the slices in the same skillet. Warm, turn and drizzle with a little olive oil and vinegar, salt and pepper. Serve on a separate plate.
Oh my… that was a good lunch for one.
eats for one 
One would think that here in the south that awesome tomatoes could be had. Not so. Growers here have (pretty much) all sold out and the hybrids they grow are tasteless and hard. We are trying to grow some in our yard but it is proving to be elusive. Got some good ones when we were in SC, but that drive’s a bitch for tomatoes. So be it, I guess
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Speaking of the south, I had the best fried green tomatoes in South Carolina last year. Tried them in several restaurants prepared differently in each.
I’m envious looking at your bowl of farmer’s market tomatoes. I was raised in PA with plenty of home grown, delicious vegetables. We kids were allowed to sell some of the excess tomatoes, squash, corn, green beans, etc. at an impromptu roadside stand (tent & blanket) along our not-well-traveled route 978. The big deal was we got to keep the money. My dad would get so mad at us because we would share the money with our friends who kept us company while we were selling. “What the ‘hell’ did they do to grow, weed, hoe, pick that stuff?” he would say.
AZ tomatoes leave a lot to be desired. Nothing compares to something remembered from childhood.
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