Tomato Day - Part One

Rain, Rain, Rain.   It's raining outside, but we are inside busy cooking with one of our favorite ingredients: Tomatoes!

G took a cooking class while in Tuscany in June and learned to make this creamy tomato sauce - “Fonduta Piccante”.  Fresh mozzarella is the key ingredient, so it’s worth finding the real thing.  Do not even think of using the shrink-wrapped stuff in the grocery store.  And by the way, in Italy one can find superb mozzarella everywhere, even in gas station/food stops on the Autostrada. 

It’s great any time of year, but we love it during the summer when you can use fresh tomatoes to make the marinara sauce. 

Note on Equipment

As you may or may not know we have an obsession with kitchen gadgets and appliances (D is even thinking about a part-time job at Williams Sonoma to be closer to the latest and greatest in kitchen gear).  Often good equipment will make the difference between success and failure and this dish is no exception.

We made it first with G’s “ordinary” blender (name of manufacture withheld) and then again in D’s kitchen with the almighty “Vitamix”.  This particular sauce should be extra creamy and it’s hard to achieve the creaminess with an “ordinary” blender.   Using the Vitamix did result in a creamier more cohesive sauce, the "ordinary blender created a slightly grainy sauce,  but the taste was not altered.  Still, with us being all about appearances (remember our aforementioned shoe obsession) the Vitamix was our first choice.

Recipe to follow

-D&G