Fast Food: cherry tomato sauce

Pomodoro Mozzarella Rapida

Does that look good to you? It tasted good to me! This is a fifteen minute or less effort and is made of absolutely ordinary ingredients available most of the year in your supermarket. I know fresh mozzarella costs more than the hard kind, but since it is the star of a meal that has no meat, it’s well worth it. Why cherry tomatoes? Because they usually are still tasty in the dead of winter when the other tomatoes are horrible, because they are almost universally available, and because you don’t have to peel them. Blanching and peeling tomatoes takes more time than out 30 minute fast food limit, so canned tomatoes will have a place in our winter, but right now the cherry tomato plants are still bearing good fruit in enormous quantities, so go get them.

I used Pane Carassau, but if you can’t find that, use Lavash, an Arabian crisp bread. If you want to use pasta that’s fine, but it becomes a 25 or 30 minute meal, not exactly enough time to fall asleep over the stove.

Salsina di Ciliegine alla Mozzarella

for 4 people

1.5 pounds (650 g) fresh and ripe cherry tomatoes
1 or 2 cloves of garlic, minced fine
1 medium onion, chopped fine
2 tablespoons good olive oil
salt to taste or a seasoned salt
7 ounces (200 g) fresh mozzarella diced smallish

Optional 4 poached eggs (a very nice option that ups the protein and offers a nice taste contrast)

1 pound or 400 g of Pane Carassau or Lavash, briefly soaked in hot water then drained

Start the water heating for wetting the bread.

Wash the cherry tomatoes. Peel and mince the garlic. Peel and chop the onion. Both f these operations can easily be done with the pulse feature on a food processor.

In a wide frying pan, heat the oil. Add the onion and garlic, about 1/2 teaspoon of the salt you’ve chosen and fry them for a minute or so. Add the tomatoes and fry them, moving about once in a while with a wooden spoon until they soften and you can squash one fairly easily with the spoon. In between stirs dice the mozzarella and keep in reserve. Then poach the eggs if you are using them. That would actually be a nice job for your OH, who IMO shouldn’t be allowed to watch the news without helping you at all.

When the tomatoes are softened as described, use something like a potato masher or a clean bottle to smash the tomatoes slightly. This releases their juices to stir into the onion and garlic mixture. Check for salt and correct.

Quickly dip the crisp bread pieces into the hot water and remove, allow water to run off, then plate each serving. Top with the optional poached egg, then one-fourth of the tomatoes and scatter one-fourth of the diced mozzarella over it. It will start to melt immediately. Eat this blazing hot. As you cut into the dish, the mozzarella will move and thread.

I gave it some thought and decided to send this to Presto Pasta Nights. I know they may not still have fresh tomatoes coming from the garden, but they can just substitute lobster for cherry tomatoes and voila! Works for me.