9 July 2019

TOMATO BREAD

CREATIVE PROCESS

For us, the creative process behind a recipe is always inspired by local raw material. We extended our research on heirloom tomato varieties to include Pera d’Abruzzo, Mezzotempo, and Tondo di Sulmona, with their intriguing nutraceutical and taste profiles. Then we turned our attention to the memory of taste, which conjured up a collective Italian reminiscence of tomato bread, a frugal snack enjoyed at any time on a summer day. And almost instinctively our thoughts turned to gelato and here we concentrated all the essence of the dish, but the bread seemed redundant after our work on the tomato, so we considered yeast and found its aroma to be more interesting. Here is our take on tomato bread for modern times.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

For the gelato

100 g Mezzotempo tomato

100 g Pera d’ Abruzzo tomato

100 g Tondo di Sulmona tomato

60 g Gentile di Chieti monocultivar extra virgin olive oil

30 g glucose

8 cl gin

15 ml fresh cream

For the tomato powder

100 g tomatoes

100 g mild Altino peppers

For the yeast cloud

20 g brewer’s yeast

200 ml of oat milk

For the crispy tomato waffle

200 g potatoes

50 g dried tomatoes in oil

Garnish

Wild herbs

Tomato vinegar

Procedure

For the gelato, we removed seeds and skin from the tomatoes by pressing through a colander then we blended all three varieties, adding the extra virgin olive oil and the gin. We heated the cream and glucose to 85 °C and left to cool quickly, adding them to the blended tomatoes, then placing in the blast chiller.

For the tomato powder, we prepared the preserve by cooking the tomatoes with mild Altino peppers until they reduced by half. We left the purée to cool and spread it on dehydrator trays lined with baking paper, then leaving it to dry for ten hours at 68 °C. This produces a dry sheet which we blitzed several times to make a powder that can be stored in a glass jar, away from daylight.

For the crispy waffle, we boiled the tomatoes and potatoes then blitzed them, spread the purée evenly on silpat mats and dried in the oven at 80 °C for two hours.

We then dressed the wild herbs with tomato vinegar.

We prepared the yeast cloud by soaking the brewer’s yeast in oat milk for at least two hours then whisking the liquid obtained.

We served a quenelle of gelato on the side of the plate, drizzled with the preserve, added the herbs and the crispy wafer, then garnished with the yeast cloud.