A Brandywine from the fog belt at last - but was it worth it?

In retrospect it does seem silly to try to grow Brandywine tomatoes in the fog belt of the Richmond Annex; far more sensible to stick with cherry and plum tomatoes suitable for this area.  UC Davis has done exhaustive trials of what tomatoes grow best in each region of California (http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/pdf/8159.pdf) and therefore, despite finally producing a Brandywine from seed, I have concluded that it isn’t worth the time and expense to try to battle the elements.  I can walk to an organic market and my bi-weekly Farmer’s Market where I can purchase my favorite heirlooms (Brandywine, Black Crimson and Pineapple Tomatoes).   From now on I will stick to growing Sun Gold and Sweet Cherry 100s, which performed great despite a cool summer and an admittedly neglectful gardener.   


My experience growing the Brandywine is akin to that described by William Alexander in his witty and informative book: "The $64 Tomato: How One Man Nearly Lost His Sanity, Spent a Fortune, and Endured an Existential Crisis in the Quest for the Perfect Garden"

NPR provides an interesting podcast of an interview with William Alexander at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5360768.

The $64 Tomato

William Alexander

Best Price $0.01
or Buy New $10.93

With only a dozen of these sought after beauties I am not fussing with any elaborate recipes - just sliced tomatoes, fresh basil, Burrata cheese & a sprinkling of black olives.  

Provence in California - Georgeanne Brennan

Goat Cheese Souffles, Tomato & Blue Cheese Tart and Stacks of Grilled Eggplant, Peppers & Mozarella

Noted author Georgeanne Brennan gives cooking classes at her home in Provence and in California.  My fellow Master Gardener, Kathie Fitzpatrick, and I attended one of her California classes this week.  Lucky for us, the menu was a celebration of yummy tomato dishes. 

We began by gathering herbs and vegetables from her large garden.  In addition to the above pictured dishes, we made pizzas topped with homemade sausage, fresh tomatoes & basil which were baked in the outdoor pizza oven as well as chicken provencal and ratatouille confit made in a Tajine.

Our morning of toil was rewarded with a delicious repast in the garden complete with a light rose from Provence.

In sum, a good time was had by all!

Pablo Neruda & Tomatoes

The tomato displays its remarkable amplitude and abundance, no pit, no husk, no leaves or thorns, the tomato offers its gift of fiery color and cool completeness.  

- Pablo Neruda

Happily, I am now enjoying the amplitude & abundance of the luscious cherry tomatoes started from seed earlier this year as well as lots of basil.  

Today I am makng a roasted tomato & basil soup adapted from an Ina Garten recipe:

Ingredients

• 3-4 pounds ripe cherry tomatoes

• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 tablespoon sea salt

• 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

• 2 cups minced yellow onions 

• 6 minced cloves of garlic 

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

• 4 cups fresh shredded Basil leaves

• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

• 1 quart chicken stock

Directions

 Toss the tomatoes with 1/4 cup olive oil, salt, and pepper. Spread the tomatoes in 1 layer on a baking sheet and roast in a 400 degree oven for 10-15 minutes until the tomatoes collapse.

Saute the onions & garlic with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 2 tablespoons of butter, and red pepper flakes for 10 minutes, until the onions begin to caramelize.   Add the basil, thyme, chicken stock and oven-roasted tomatoes with their accumulated liquid. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes.  Blend with an immersion blender.  Garnish with basil pesto (see 4/23/11 post). 

Now off to pick some blackberries for dessert!

May Days

"What potent blood hath modest May." Ralph W. Emerson

The garden is awash in blooms: roses, sweet peas, foxglove, sea lavender, nigella, calendula and nasturiums!   The tomato seedlings started in February and transplanted in early April -- albeit with the use of the Wall-o-Waters -- are 4 feet high and laden with blossoms.  A few tiny clusters of cherry tomatoes have formed. I still have a week or so to harvest the remaining artichokes & asparagus and there is plenty of arugula for salads to stave off hunger.

Inspired by Georgeanne Brennan’s book “A Pig in Provence," recounting her early days in Provence establishing her farm and learning to make goat cheese, I tried my hand at making a simple Farmer’s Cheese with goat milk using a variation on a recipe provided by the Fabulous Beekman Boys.   It was delicious & simple to make.  

Farmer’s Cheese with Thyme

Ingredients: 1 gallon of organic goat milk, 1 pinch of salt & the juice of one large lemon

Directions: Pour the goat milk into a stock pot, and whisk in the salt. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly.  As soon as the mixture begins to boil, turn off the heat & stir in the lemon juice. The goat milk should begin to curdle within a few minutes. Pour the mixture through a sieve lined with cheesecloth.  Squeeze out the liquid (whey) and tie the cheesecloth bag to a wooden spoon suspended over the sieve to allow more of the whey to drain off from the curds. After the whey is drained off, mix in a tablespoon of chopped thyme.    

I plan to serve the cheese with arugula, artichokes & asparagus from the garden and some crostini with ham from Iberica, courtesy of The Spanish Table.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

Tomatoes

It's a little early, but as an experiment I transplanted a couple of Sugar Sweetie Cherry tomato plants into raised beds this week.  I warmed the planting area for two weeks with black plastic and the transplants are protected by a wall-o-water. I started these early to photograph for a class I gave on indoor seed starting. In general, I wait to transplant until the night temperatures are in the mid-50s and the soil temperature is 65 degrees.  However, the wall-o-waters are designed to permit early planting.  Wish me luck! As a back-up, I started another group of seedlings in early March for transplanting in May. I recommend the following free publication for guidance on growing tomatoes in California: “Growing Tomatoes in the Home Garden,” ANR University of California, Davis Publication 8159.