Food I'm Eating: In Search of the Perfect Tomato

Even in California, there's no such thing as a perfect tomato in December. Having found fresh sea urchins at the farmer's market this morning (a treat we get only once or twice a year), I went looking for ripe tomatoes to use in a tomato cream sauce for pasta with sea urchins. It was hopeless from the outset. All made of rubber. I settled on some fat cherry tomatoes that at least had the scent of the vine to them after trying Whole Foods, The SkyHawk Market (a place I never go, but something attracted me there today; must be the time of year), and then to Oliver's, driving past Howarth Park, and the Rialto theatre along the way. What possessed me to drive all over the city for a good tomato? I suppose I wanted the tomatoes to live up to the promise of the sea urchin. Or was it something else?

This is what I did with my tomatoes:

I chopped them. I chopped a big shallot (onions will do, but shallots are perfect). I chopped a clove of garlic. I sauteed the shallots in butter and olive oil (mostly butter). When they were browned, I added the tomatoes. When the tomatoes were soft (but not too soft), I added the garlic (nothing worse than bitter, burnt garlic; never add it too soon). While the pasta was cooking, I added a few tablespoons of heavy cream and a couple tablespoons of tomato paste (not required if the tomatoes are perfect) and simmered it all very gently for a few minutes. When the pasta was cooked, I turned off the heat under the sauce and added great chunks of sea urchin, letting the lingering warmth of the pan heat the roe, not cooking it at all. I added the drained pasta into the sauce, tossed it, sprinkled it with salt (pink Murray River salt from Australia is my favorite at the moment) and finished it off with a little parsley from the garden.

And there it was. Very tasty, if I say so myself. With a 2006 Domaine Daulny Sancerre, it was perfect. It's meals like these that make me surly at expensive restaurants with big reputations and chefs that cook no better than I do.

The Domaine Daulny Sancerres are worth looking for. In Santa Rosa, you can find them at the Wine Spectrum Shop & Bar ((707) 636-1064). Tell Roland that Colin sent you. It won't do anything for you, but it might get me something next time I'm in (that's a joke), although I rarely get to go. It's at 123 4th St. in the old section of downtown.

[Update (9/27/09) Roland is no longer at the Wine Spectrum. Say "Hi" to some of the other nice people that work there.]