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[UPDATE 9/21/09: I got permission from the wonderful Flo Braker to post the correct and complete version of the Dark Chocolate Cake Recipe from Baking for All Occasions.
You will find the recipe at the bottom of the original post from March 27, 2009.
These were fresh, from Lucero Organic Farms (at the SF and Berkeley Farmers Markets throughout the week) and I have never seen San Marzano tomatoes fresh before (only in cans for sauce), and I could not resist bringing these little eggplant-shaped tomatoes home. Right now is the end of high season for tomatoes and the markets here in Northern California have all manner of heirloom variety tomatoes, but after one too many $4 mealy, bland heirlooms, I don't buy too many of the giant heirlooms anymore.
In fact, I don't buy fresh tomatoes most of the year at all. I enjoy Early girls, especially "dry-farmed", with a slightly more intense flavor and a thicker skin.
They are pretty (even though they are often described as ugly) but I haven't had the transcendent experience with the flavor of fresh heirlooms that so many people have.
Considering my devotion to tomato sauces & salsas, I prefer the concentrated flavor of cooked or prepared tomatoes to fresh.
So I won't give you a caprese salad. If you have a lot of tomatoes than you can jam, pickle or cure them or do as I do-- dry them in the oven.
Photo by Paul Child
"The only real stumbling block is fear of failure. In cooking you've got to have a 'What the hell?' attitude." -- Julia Child
Even though so much has been written by so many who actually knew her, I could not let the month of Julia go by* without honoring her here. She was born and died in August. The movie that chronicles her early days in Paris with Paul and dogged earning of kitchen chops, Julie & Julia, has brought Julia's Mastering the Art of French Cooking to the top of the New York Times best seller list after 48 years.
In honor of Julia Child’s birthday, I want to give you a dose of her “what-the-hell attitude” in the kitchen, and fearlessly cook or bake something that has you scared. (For me, it’s yeasted dough, and butchery.)
