pray love eat?

Lately I have been feeling quite Liz Gilbert-esq and on a bit of an introspective journey of my own. Seeing Eat Pray Love (twice now since it opened on Friday) I feel like Ms. Gilbert (the main character & author) and I are kindred spirits in search for purpose and connection. While I completely love both the book and movie, I keep find myself wanting her to tie it altogether. She relearns how to eat amazing food and not feel the burden of guilt we often associate with it; she connects to her inner spirit with meditation and yoga; she breaks down the barricade she built around her heart and finally is able to fall love again.

So I am sure now you are thinking, “wait, I thought this blog was about food and cooking?! What’s the deal with all these feelings? Did I click the wrong link?”….wait for it… The recipe I going to tell you all about is what I would consider some sort of “Eat Pray Love” combination- though I would reorder it to read: “Pray Love Eat”.   :)

Pray: I prayed that the expensive (3.99 per pound) heirloom tomatoes I purchased would be well worth the experiment of using them as the base for this delicious sauce. I also prayed that by electing to not remove the seeds, the sauce wouldn’t turn out as a hot-bitter-mess.
Love: There was a lot of love that went into this dish. From trying new things like blanching the tomatoes, to adding the ingredients in just the right order, and checking-in (tasting) to make sure everything was going smoothly (much like a happy and loving relationship), there was love and appreciation for everything that was happening in my kitchen during this conquest.
Eat: No colorful language here: Then we ate it, and it was delicious.

Joking aside, I set out to put together a local and seasonal tomato sauce using AW’s “Simple Tomato Sauce” recipe (pg. 264) and to cook from basic elements that I could find at the farmers market, not having to search the insides of the grocery store for things like tomato paste, baking soda or worse: ketchup (I have seen it on recipes as an “added touch for sweetness”, boo). So here’s how you make it:

1. First you want to blanch your tomatoes. I doubled the recipe and used 4 lbs of heirlooms. Boil the water and place the tomatoes in there for about 10-15 sec each. Set aside to drain and cool.
2. Find a large pot that you will ultimately cook your sauce in. I used the same pan I blanched the tomatoes in and dumped the water.
3. Coarsely chop a large onion, or two small ones. Walla Walla sweet onions seemed to work really well here. Set aside.

4. The tomatoes should have cooled down by now and you will be easily able to take off the skins by hand. Toss the skins and remove the hard cores. I simply quartered the heirlooms (see left) and put them in a dish because I was fearful that if I diced them, I would lose all the good tomato juice. So I did something a bit unconventional. I put the quartered heirlooms in a dish and then took some kitchen scissors (having given them a pre-wash) to cut them up into the bowl by holding the scissors straight down and moving around the dish. I swear I saw it on a cooking show once, and I mean, they are professionals, they must know what they are doing! Once coarsely diced, set aside. (see left below)

5. Peel, smash and chop 10 large garlic cloves. (I think this might be the longest step)
6. Heat up the large pot to medium-heat and once warm add ½ c. of semi-decent extra virgin olive oil. I wouldn’t use anything too fancy but so long as you keep the sauce below 325 degrees (EVOO smoke point) the flavor won’t be compromised.
7. After about a minute, add the garlic and onions. (see below)

8. Once you hear a little sizzle happening, with a couple large pinches of good salt,add the tomatoes.
9. Stir this often and simmer for about 15 min.

10. Then a few minutes before you are going to serve, add some coarsely chopped fresh basil, letting that mix in for just a few minutes for flavor enhancement on low-heat.

FUN FACT: Did you know that Basil enlivens our reproductive hormones when we unconsciously detect them on other people? (Clearly I will be incorporating this into my next date.)

Being the lazy person I was tonight, I served it over some store-bought fusilli pasta. Or was it because I simply wanted to showcase the sauce? The food gods will never know...

I’d like to think that I made a very Italian version of this recipe (since there were no carrots or celery to the roux which many recipes call for) but if I were to make it again, I would try a few different things and give it more of a French-spin. I would: 1) add a little red wine to the garlic/onion roux, 2) add some mushrooms to the roux, and 3) replace basil with herbs de Provence (a combination of thyme, rosemary, basil, majoram, savory and bay laurel leaf). I will keep you all updated if I continue by quest for "pray love eat" later this week with the remaining four pounds of heirlooms currently sitting on my counter...

Do it all over again? – Clearly!

Total prep/cooking time: 45 min or less
Total cost: $20 (keep in mind I spent $18 for the tomatoes)