I have really great news: it is peak tomato season! For a while when asked the question, I would say that fall was my favorite season, but that was just to appeal to the masses. Everyone loves fall. Apple orchards, sweater weather, soup - to name a few pillars of the season. However, this was a lie. My favorite season isn’t determined by a solstice or an equinox on the calendar. Rather, my favorite season is found on this handy dandy graph from the Illinois Department of Agriculture.
Tomato’s time to shine starts in June, but I find it really ramps up in the later summer months like August and September. These months are when we start seeing my personal favorite variety: the sungold cherry tomato. Sungolds are characterized by their bright orange, apricot-like color and tart sweetness. Side note: Many confuse cherry tomatoes and grape tomatoes, which makes sense since they are very similar. However, key differences are levels of sweetness and water content. Cherry tomatoes have higher sweetness, higher water content. Grape tomatoes have lower sweetness, lower water content.
Sungolds can be found at your local grocery store around the August-September window, but I really recommend finding them at your local farmers market. I live right near the Chicago Uptown farmers market that happens every Wednesday and my go to produce vendor is Los Rodriguez Farm. They also attend the Lincoln Square Farmer’s Market near The Chopping Block. I always encourage asking your produce vendor at farmers markets about what is new and what’s in season. They know their product the best.
So now that you have your fresh farmers market sungold tomatoes, what do you do with them? Great question. One fantastic option if you’re a tomato freak like me is to just eat them raw as a snack. Alternatively, you could use them in this very indulgent pasta sauce recipe I have been tinkering with for awhile.
Sungold Tomato Pasta
Serves: 2
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Inactive time: 10 minutes
Total time: 35 minutes
1 small yellow onion, diced
1 pint cherry tomato
1 or 2 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 1/2 cup cooked pasta shape of your choice (I used penne, but rotini or rigatoni would do magic here.)
About half a ball of mozzarella (Have fun with it - if you want more, use more.)
1. First, heat a nice sized Dutch oven over medium heat. Add about 1/4 cup of olive oil and sweat the onion. We aren’t trying to get color here, just cooking until onions are soft and translucent. Add a pinch of salt and pepper.
2. Next add in the gorgeous sungold tomatoes and let them hang out for a while until they start to blister and release their juices - this will take some time so be patient. This would be a perfect time in the cooking process to pour a glass of wine or call a friend you haven’t spoken to in awhile.
3. Once things are starting to look soupy, throw in all the spices and garlic. In goes the oregano, thyme and pepper flakes. Also give it another pinch of salt and pepper. Once we can smell the spices and garlic, cut the heat and give it a taste for seasoning. Now would also be a great time to boil your pot of water for pasta.
4. Let this mixture cool for about 5-10 minutes then pour the entire mixture into your blender and combine until smooth. A stick blender would also work great here.
5. Once the sauce is blended, add salt to the boiling water until it is salty like the sea, and drop the pasta. Cook until al dente. Keep a spoon on hand so you can fish out a piece of pasta to check tenderness. You really do not want to go over on your pasta because we are cooking it some more in the next step.
6. Pour the blended sauce back into the Dutch oven and bring to a low simmer on medium low heat.
7. Add the cooked pasta to the Dutch oven with a 1/4 cup of the pasta cooking water. Bring to a simmer.
8. Tear up the mozzarella into small pieces and stir into the pasta and sauce until melted. The mozzarella may clump together, just keep stirring.
Et voila. You did it. Top with some fresh cracked pepper and enjoy your very cheesy pasta. Next time you’re at the farmers market in Lincoln Square, come pop by The Chopping Block and see what we have cooking up. Happy tomato season!
Want to learn how to make pasta from scratch to go with this delicious sauce? Join us for our hands-on Pasta and Gnocchi Workshop coming up this Saturday, September 27 at 10am.
And if you want to learn how to shape mozzarella yourself, don't miss our hands-on Mozzarella Shaping and Ricotta Making class on Tuesday, September 30 at 6pm.
