fresh burst tomatoes with bitters
Continuing on the theme of “produce you should be consuming in summer,” I present the quickest and easiest tomato “sauce” I’ve ever made, with literally three ingredients. Earlier this spring, I impulse-bought a tiny little tomato plant at the farmer’s market, who quickly grew into an insane behemoth of horticultural anxiety (mostly because it wanted to grow sideways? for whatever reason?) I named him Andy. My hope is that by the end of the summer, Andy will have produced a bounty of little cherry tomatoes that are ripe for me to cannibalize. Anyway. Here’s this thing:
fresh burst tomatoes with bitters
1/2 pound small cherry tomatoes, stemmed
Angostura or orange cocktail bitters
Worcestershire sauce
In a large skillet, heat about 2 tablespoons of olive oil on high heat. Once the oil starts to look shimmery, add your tomatoes along with a good pinch of salt and let them sizzle away, tossing occasionally, for about 3-5 minutes, until they burst and give up their juices with the slightest pressure from a wooden spoon.
Lower the heat to low and add 2-3 dashes of bitters, and 6-7 dashes of Worcestershire (boy oh boy is that a treat to type out more than once). Stir to combine. Add more salt to taste.
Eat with: a lot of pasta or gnocchi topped with basil and burrata, a really good baguette or sourdough loaf, some pan-fried whitefish, a spoon.
Level-ups: Toast some thinly-sliced garlic and capers in the oil before adding the tomatoes (which will give you more of a puttanesca vibe), but I really do encourage you to keep this simple and let the tomatoes really sing here.
Ta-ta for now,
Nicki (from my teeny tiny kitchen)