Monday, October 25, 2010

Natural causes


We still try to get all our tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers direct from the finca in San Barcholo, a practice followed, we understand, by the powerful buyers of both Paiz and Pollo Campero.

The other evening we had the misfortune to show up just as the little van from the Casa Santo Domingo was taking off with all the available ripe tomatoes. But at Q1 per pound, compared to Q7 the regatonas were asking for in the market last Thursday, it mattered little if the ones we managed to pick up were a little verdes.

You might have noticed how a bunch of bananas will all go mottled together at roughly the same pace, but if you separate them the process is slowed. Well, a corollary of this process forms the basis of a handy chef's secret: loose bananas are a great way to fast-track the maturing process of almost all fruit, avocados included.

3 comments:

Begonia said...

It's best also if you give those tomatoes some sun or warmth to speed the process along.

Green tomatoes aren't always bad. It is green tomato season here in the frosty north, and I just made my favorite green tomato dish yesterday:

Slice the tomatoes in rounds, place them on a baking sheet and drizzle olive oil over them. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, oregano, and feta cheese crumbles. (Queso de capas would work nicely.) Bake at fairly high heat (200-220 C) for 15 min, until tomatoes are soft and cheese is beginning to brown.

Begonia said...

oops, I forgot one more thing: Before baking, drizzle a large spoonful of mild vinegar (rice vinegar is nice).

Inner Diablog said...

You're not wrong - in Spain they like their tomatoes green and their asparagus white.

That recipe sounds yummy. I kind of gave up on queso de capas a few months ago when it ended up as the last remaining suspect amongst the foodstuffs which might be causing me persistent tummy unrest. But I'm feeling devil-may-care...

The bananas seem to have done the trick overnight. The top layer have reddened nicely.