Supported by
Tomato Water (Remember That?) Charms Once Again
IN the 1990s, chefs around the country seemed mesmerized by an intense translucent liquid, a nectar of the vegetable garden: tomato water. Brightly flavored yet almost invisible, it was the clear essence of summer in spoonable form.
It’s debatable which chef started the trend, but tomato water quickly became beloved in four-star kitchens. It was ladled into oversize white plates as a fragrant consommé for fish. You saw it emulsified into sauces and frozen into sorbets.
Then, suddenly, it all but disappeared, though it pops up in the occasional cocktail.
Back in the day, I, too, fell victim to its charm. Everyone loved the seared salmon with tomato water I made from a magazine recipe. I served it repeatedly, until I threw it over for some other passing trend (cucumber gelée, perhaps).
Recently, a couple of overripe heirlooms that were just about to burst on my counter reminded me of tomato water and tempted me to capture their precious juice.
While even the mighty Internet could not find the original salmon dish for me, I found other tomato-water recipes using a range of techniques.
In one, tomatoes were puréed with aromatics (garlic, lemon grass), then strained into dark viscous juice. Another would have me mashing up tomatoes with a mixer, then draining them in a dish towel.
I used to halve the tomatoes, tie them up into an old thin T-shirt in lieu of cheesecloth and let them drip for hours. This gave me a potently flavored clear liquid with a faint yellow cast.
This time, to extract more juice, I cubed the tomatoes, exposing more surface area. I also salted the cubes lightly to season them and draw out the moisture. For a faint pinelike flavor, I tossed in a bruised rosemary sprig.
A few hours later I had an aromatic, albeit cloudy, liquid. I drizzled a little on some fish fillets seared alongside olives (using local blackfish in place of salmon), then topped it all with a slick of good olive oil, flaky sea salt and torn mint and basil.
The dish was sweet and a little tart from the lemony character of the heirloom tomatoes, and extremely vibrant and fresh.
I could easily see why I pulled out that salmon at every dinner party I held back in 1998. And why I think it could make a comeback this summer.
More on Food and Dining
Keep tabs on dining trends, restaurant reviews and recipes.
Flamboyant displays of fake flowers at restaurants have turned into a maximalist design movement, with one man as a chief trendsetter.
Perloo, a supremely comforting one-pot rice dish, is a Lowcountry staple with roots in West Africa.
Some of the greatest meals pair exalted wines with foods considered humble. Exploring beyond the conventional can be joyous, like the timeless appeal of Champagne and fried chicken.
For many Jamaicans, spice bun is a staple of Lent. But there’s nothing restrictive about this baked good, so named for its bold seasonings.
For Ecuadoreans, fanesca, a labor-intensive lenten soup served just during the lead-up to Easter, is a staple of Holy Week festivities.
Sign up for our “The Veggie” newsletter to get vegetarian recipes for weeknight cooking, packed lunches and dinner parties.
Eating in New York City
Once the pre-eminent food court in Flushing, Queens, for regional Chinese cuisines, the Golden Mall has reopened after a four-year renovation. A new one in Manhattan is on the horizon.
At Noksu, dinner is served below the street, a few yards from the subway turnstiles. But the room and the food seem unmoored from any particular place.
You thought Old World opulence was over? A prolific chef gives it a new and very personal spin at Café Carmellini, Pete Wells writes.
Eyal Shani’s Port Sa’id challenges the conventional wisdom that you can’t get good food in a restaurant with a turntable.
Advertisement