Originally published on January 13, 2015
It’s winter. It’s cold, and now there is actually snow on the ground. And because it’s so cold, the top layer of snow has actually turned to ice. So you don’t only get to walk through it (taking three times as long as it normally would), you get to stomp with every step so that you can actually walk through the snow instead of slipping and sliding through it. Needless to say, it’s miserable. Okay, so what does this have to do with food?
A lot, because in the middle of January, there are no Farmers’ Markets. There are no vegetable stands that you can run out to just before dinner to get your farm fresh vegetables. And those tomatoes you see in the grocery store? They’ve come from some unimaginable place like California or Florida – a place where a bright orb still shines in the sky, and they’re actually able to grow fruits and vegetables. Right now. Unfortunately, if you’re still daydreaming of snow shoes instead of sunny skies, the tomatoes you eat won’t taste nearly as good as they do when they come right off the vine. But, there is a way to make our grocery store tomatoes taste almost – almost – like the ones grown in the middle of summer. And all it takes is a little bit of sugar.
First, cut up your tomatoes. It doesn’t matter whether you’re using plum tomatoes, vine tomatoes, or cherry tomatoes. Just chop them up however you’d like, making sure that there is a bit of surface area showing the flesh of the tomato. Place them in a bowl and sprinkle a bit of sugar over top; I used about a teaspoon for every cup of tomatoes. Turn and toss the tomatoes so that the sugar is evenly distributed throughout and then set the bowl aside for about 15 minutes. Just like when you macerate strawberries, doing this will release some more juices from the tomato and sweeten them all up. You can then drain the tomatoes and use them for whatever you need, or spoon the entire thing over a Spring Mix Salad and it acts as its own ready-made dressing.
It might not be a skyrocketing temperature, a sunny hot beach, or an afternoon perfect for bike riding, but when it’s this cold, I’ll take any taste of summer that I can get.