Tomato Aspic Recipes

Tomatoes stage a comeback

Regular readers of this column know that at least once a year, they'll be treated (Or is it subjected?) to my musings on that prized yet elusive quarry of the backyard patio gardener known by some as the "wolfpeach," or, in Latin, the Lycopersicon esculentum.

In these parts, it's better known as the tomato.

In years past, you've shared my joy of the first harvested tomato of the year, surrendering its juicy goodness one early morning in late June to my awaiting slice of sourdough toast with just a hint of mayonnaise for my inaugural tomato sandwich of the season.

Last year, you commiserated with me in record numbers over my worst crop ever. The extensive heat wave, with countless consecutive days above 90 degrees, sent my garden bees to the beach for the summer, never to return, rendering my plants unpollinated, unsightly and very unpopular with my neighbors and poker buddies, who count on me for the mainstay in their BLTs, pizza margaritas and homemade spaghetti sauces.

I threw in the towel in late July last year, lamenting the paltry yield, vowing to try again this year. True gardeners, after all, are anything but easily discouraged. The very notion that a seed planted in dirt (albeit the rock-hard red clay found in my garden) with a bit of water, fertilizer and some TLC will produce a creation of nature so beautiful, so perfect and so delicious is cause for sheer delirium in anticipation of the endless applications that these little babies will gladly give way to.

My winter months were spent researching aspic recipes, risottos and sauce-pomodoro to die for. I dutifully studied the Burpee Seed catalogue for heat/drought resistant tomato varieties that would thrive during our punishing summer months - hybrid Big Mamas anyone?

I would not be deterred; I had a game-changer in mind that was sure to help my boys off to a good start. Mulch would be my secret weapon. I'd never mulched before, and this spring, I swaddled my seedlings in mini-pine-bark nuggets and gave them some special 3-4-6 organic fertilizer.

Hope, springing eternal, managed to tease me in January and February over the possibilities of what sort of tomato mania awaited me in the spring.

Proving that not all garden luck is bad, this season, in spite of the heat (and likely because of all our rain), is proving to yield one of my best tomato crops ever.

I planted on tax day, April 15, and by early June I was picking yellow cherry tomatoes by the bowl full. Sweet as rock candy, these unblemished tiny sunbursts perfectly complemented cubes of seedless watermelon, fresh basil (also from my garden) and a splash of olive oil and champagne vinegar for a glorious and refreshing summer salad.

Tomato Aspic Salad | Tasty Kitchen: A Happy Recipe Community!

Preparation Instructions

Bloom (dissolve) gelatin in 2 tablespoons of tomato juice until soft.

Heat remaining tomato juice, adding the lemon Jello, lemon juice, sugar, sea salt, and pepper. Stir well until dissolved.

Add hot sauce to taste.

Cool, allowing mixture to slightly thicken.

Add miced vegetables and place in large or individual molds, chilling until set.

Unmold onto a chilled plate atop greens and enjoy.

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