At the same time, people--whether they're customers, co-workers, or friends--are always asking me gardening questions. I hope that this blog will be another forum in which they can ask what's bugging them in the horticulture world. For today, I want to start by sharing a recipe.
Customers often ask, "Are these green cherry tomatoes ripe?"
My reply, "Yes. Try one. These Green Grape tomatoes taste delicious in a tomato gratin recipe with our other cherry tomatoes, such as Black Cherry, or Blondkopfchen."
I'm always looking for simple recipes using fresh food from the farm and recipes that I can share customers. Who wants the ubiquitous red cherry tomato? I tend to stray from the ubiquitous and go for the more unusual. So, I was definitely interested in this tomato gratin recipe.
One of our customers appeared one recent Saturday with a recipe from Bon Appetit, Ina Garten's Tomato Gratin Provencal . The recipe is quick and simple. I reduced the olive oil with the bread crumbs to 3 tablespoons from the 3/4 cup stated in the recipe. This tomato gratin makes a great complement to mashed potatoes.
On the farm this year we experimented with growing more heirloom tomatoes--especially cherry tomatoes--and grew them in our new hoophouse and had fantastic results. We found these varieties of cherry tomatoes easy to grow and tasty. The Black Cherry, Green Grape, and Blondkopfchen cherry tomatoes continue to produce and we continue to pick them. They are available at our farm stand. Weather-pending, we'll have them for another 10 days-two weeks.
Stop by our farm stand, visit us on the web at http://www.hickoryhurstfarm.com , and follow us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/hickoryhurstfarm for more recipes and "doings".
Bon Appetit!
