Happy new moon, glorious beings.
In the summer essay, I mentioned the tomato butter that I like to make, so I thought I’d share a little how-to because it’s so delightful and simple. It’s actually butter-roasted tomatoes; I’m sure others use the term ‘tomato butter’ to refer to something else entirely. I’m not one for exactitude, as you’ll continue to see below.
There’s music for you, too, and a bid for holding your own hand. Read on, and thank you for being here with me.
^^ I’m a dummy and forgot to spoon the velvety pink butteriness over the rigatoni before I took the picture and then I ate it all. But you get the idea.
Taste
Tomato Butter for Pasta or Toast or A Spoon
Two small boxes of cherry or grape tomatoes*
Half a stick of unsalted butter
A couple of cloves of garlic (or more), rough-chopped
Some nice sea salt
Heat the oven to 400 and mix the whole tomatoes, butter and garlic in a roasting pan with higher walls (like a brownie pan). Roast for 25-35 minutes until the tomatoes pop and their crinkly tops are just beginning to brown. Take them out and smash them a bit with a potato masher until the tomato juice and the butter have melted into each other, sprinkle in the salt, and serve over pasta, toast, or whatever you like. Nice shreds of fresh basil are a very good addition, as is an intimidatingly large wallop of burrata right on top.
*I have fairly extreme opinions on all things grocery-related, and I’ll say that if you can’t get amazing little tomatoes fresh at a farmer’s market, the best store-bought ones are the Sunset Grown Sugar Bombs or Flavor Bombs. Sometimes I rub the stems on my palms when I’ve plucked off the tomatoes so I can inhale the smell for another hour.