Technique: Tomato Concassé

Tomato concassé!

In a previous post, my solo breakfast, I used tomato concassé as a garnish. It is simply a tomato that has been peeled, seeded, and diced. When done right, you are rewarded with the best part of the tomato flesh, with no watery seeds, nor tough skin. It adds a nice finishing touch to any dish.

How do you go from this:

to this?

You start by scoring the bottom with a crosshatch.



Then removing the tough core.



Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil, then the prepared tomato in for about 10 seconds.



Remove with a slotted spoon and dunk into ice water to prevent the tomato from cooking.



Peel with a small paring knife, and cut into wedges.

Remove all the seeds and center portion and reserve for another use.


Dice the tomato by cutting into strips, then cutting into small dice.



Now you have fancy tomato concassé. I worked at a restaurant straight out of culinary school that served a seasonal salad garnished with "tomato concassé", that wasn't. They claimed it was a "heirloom cherry tomato concassé", while it was really just plain cherry tomato halves. Although it was only served at lunch, it really kind of pissed me off to know that they were misleading the customer.

It is *that* kind of smoke-blowing that really chaps my hide...why all the snooty BS?!

Anyways, I'll get off my soapbox now. Enjoy your new garnish!

Recipe: Solo Breakfast - Eggs Florentine, Hold the Sauce!

M had to go to work on Easter Monday, so I was left to my own devices. (Not that I couldn't handle it! :)

In the essence of the holiday, I made a simple "fancy" breakfast - poached eggs with spinach, on toast. Eggs Florentine, my way!

I'm not one to drown my breakfast in oil, lard or grease - my Eggs Florentine is minus the heavy mornay (cheese bechamel) sauce, or the hollandaise sauce that usually accompanies poached eggs. I wanted to go for a jog after my breakfast!



Ingredients
1 egg
1 slice bread
salt, pepper to taste

1 T minced onion
2 handfuls spinach, washed thoroughly, drained, and trimmed of stems
pinch of thyme
pinch of nutmeg
salt, pepper to taste

Tomate concasse to garnish

Method
Bring to a boil a 3" deep pot of water. Put a couple drops of vinegar into the pot to help poach the egg (vinegar helps the egg white coagulate).

In a small pan, heat a small amount of oil on medium heat. Saute minced onion, stirring until onion is opaque.

Add spinach to pan (don't worry if it looks like a lot of spinach, it will wilt down to a beautiful glistening green!) and season with salt and pepper. Stir to coat in oil; season with nutmeg and thyme. Continue to cook for 2-3 minutes.

Meanwhile, toast the bread and poach the egg. Crack the egg into a small dish or ramekin first. (This prevents me from steam burns, and also from getting shells into the egg or breaking the yolk. Murphys law.) Slowly pour the egg into the boiling pot of water and turn the heat down to a simmer. Allow to poach 1-2 minutes, until the white has cooked but the yolk is still runny. Remove from the water and season with salt and freshly cracked black pepper.

Butter the toast. Place cooked spinach onto the toast. Top with the poached egg and garnish with tomate concasse (tomato that has been peeled, seeded, and diced).

Yum!

More photos available at my flickr photoset.