Late summer means beautiful tomatoes and I am buying, eating, cooking and preserving them like crazy!
I loved being part of the Grossi family’s Melbourne Tomato Festival, a glorious, sunny day of eating, drinking and celebrating Italian culture. I was honoured to be part of it (see below for the two dishes I demo’d).
Watch me make Passata. Buy my I Say Tomato eBook.
Bloody Caesar & Clam Salad
Serves 6
This is a two-part recipe with clams and tomatoes. I developed these two dishes for the wonderful Melbourne Tomato Festival.
Bloody Caesar is the Canadian version of a Bloody Mary cocktail and it’s usually made with ‘Clamato’, a commercial drink that combines ‘clam juice’ and tomato. My version uses fresh clam stock, reserved from steaming the clams. The clams are then used in a Thai-style salad.
Bloody Caesar
Ingredients:
- 200 grams water
- 500 grams clams
- 400 grams juicy tomatoes
-
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
-
juice of ½ lemon
-
1 long fresh red chilli, seeds removed
- 300 grams ice
- 200 grams vodka
Method:
- Place water in mixing bowl and clams in steamer basket. Cook 7 min/Varoma/speed 1.
- Reserve clams for the salad below (or linguini with tomatoes and parsley, another favourite).
- Reserve 150 g of the clam steaming liquid for the Bloody Caesar and keep the rest for use in the dressing for the clam salad.
- Add the tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, chilli, ice and vodka.
- Blend 45 sec/speed 10.
- Pour into tall glasses.
Clam Salad
Ingredients:
- 500 grams cooked clams
- 200 grams cherry tomatoes, halved
- 2 red shallots, peeled and thinly sliced
- 80 grams unsalted, roasted peanuts
- 1 tbsp ikan bilis (dried anchovies), optional
- 10 sprigs coriander, leaves only
- 10 sprigs Thai basil, leaves only
- juice of 1 lime
- 2 tsp fish sauce
- 1 Tbsp sesame oil
- 60 grams clam broth
- 2 tbsp Neil Perry’s chilli sauce, optional
Method:
Toss clams with tomatoes, shallots, peanuts, ikan bilis and herbs. Place lime juice, fish sauce, sesame oil and clam broth in a jar and shake to combine. Drizzle dressing over salad and gently combine. Dollop with chilli sauce.
What about you?
Do you have any favourite uses for surplus summer tomatoes? Let me know in the comments section below.
Watch me make Passata.
Buy my I Say Tomato eBook.
