Black Russian tomatoes that is and I for one, welcome their arrival.
It's a tomato that I've had miserable luck growing. I think in all my attempts I've only ever managed to harvest one lone tomato. So when I noticed one of the stallholders at Prahran market had them, they quickly ended up in my shopping basket.
They were soon joined by these adorable red and yellow cherry tomatoes.
With a few more ingredients I was able to mimic a tomato salad I've been enjoying lately at Church Street Enoteca.
Luckily I was able to find some of my favourite anchovies - these are by Agostino Recca
and while they aren't overpowering, they do have much more flavour then the Entreislas Anchovies I used in the eggplant stacks.
Mixed Tomato Salad with Buffalo Mozzarella and Anchovies
Black Russian Tomatoes
Red and Yellow Cherry Tomatoes
1 buffalo mozzarella - I used Shaw River, ripped into bite sized pieces
Anchovy fillets, sliced finely
Aged Balsamic Vinegar
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
sea salt
snipped chives
basil leaves, ripped
Sliced the Black Russian tomatoes into wedges and cut the cherry tomatoes in half.
Place the tomatoes in a bowl and sprinkle over with the sliced anchovy fillets and snipped chives - toss gently to combine.
In a small bowl, whisk together the balsamic, oil and a pinch of sea salt until amalgamated. Drizzle this over the tomatoes and toss to combine. Finish with a sprinkling of ripped Basil leaves.
To serve, transfer a quarter of the salad into your serving bowl and scatter pieces of mozzarella over the salad, top with another quarter of the salad and some more mozzarella pieces. Repeat until all ingredients have been used.
Drizzle over with the collected juices and finish with a little more ripped basil.
Oh, we never had much luck growing these guys, either. But those teensy yellow cherries -- we had a six foot bush of those, and we were drying them in desperation. Wow, are they prolific.
ReplyDeleteWe did get about six Russian blacks from one plant, and counted ourselves lucky...
Black tomatoes have such deep, complex flavor. I envy you, getting ripe tomatoes this time of year.
ReplyDeleteHi Haalo,
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year! These tomatoes look gorgeous - lovely photos.
Church Street Enoteca was on my "list" but unfortunately they were closed during my trip. Prahran Market was great, I was so tempted to buy so many things but had to restrain myself.
nora
Hi Tad - they are certainly the extremes, those cherry tomatoes seem to just grown by themselves.
ReplyDeleteHi Nate & Annie - It's good to see them so early in the season.
Thanks Nora - CSE closed on the monday before christmas so maybe put them on your list for your next trip down here - hope you had a good time at the other restaurants. It's good that the weather held out for New Years Eve.
I tried growing these but didn't have much luck. That salad looks delicious.
ReplyDeleteThanks TFH - I wonder why they are so difficult to grow
ReplyDelete