The Tomato: nature’s antidote for anxiety
“You know, when you get your first asparagus, or your first acorn squash, or your first really good tomato of the season, those are the moments that define the cook's year. I get more excited by that than anything else” ~ Mario Batali
‘Twas the night before classes and all through the halls all the students are streaming making cellular calls.
A summer spent sweating and planning has all the classrooms fitted with the latest technology and laboratories awaiting the next generation of scientists. It all felt so Swiss, polished trains set to run on time. Then a disgruntled colleague detonates an E-mail bomb. I should have felt it coming since they have done this for the past two years of my four year sentence as department chair.
I wish I could say I bore it well. I wish I could say I was a genius at managing this sort of thing. But two years of trying every trick I know, every trick my husband the management guru knows, has me stymied. So this time I simply forwarded the E-bombs to my boss, the Dean, and waited. Moments later I discovered in sweat drenced horror that somehow I managed to send it to the disgruntled one instead.
E-mail is a modern E-vil. I cannot even figure out how I made this mistake but there it is in my send box. It feels oh-so-Freudian.
It is the morning after, Saturday, and I wake to fragmented thoughts of the impending fallout. It isn’t going to be pretty. I prepare chai and take the steaming cup with me for my walk around the garden with my cup of chai, my dog Tula at my heels. The display of morning glories and a busy hummingbird allay my anxiety for a brief moment. But then it is back. Anxiety follows me through most of my days, and often the nights. Anxiety is common among academics. I think we fall into one of two categories: those who are sure they are the smartest one in the room and those who worry that they are not.
I look down from the periwinkle glow of the morning glories and spy a few newly ripened tomatoes, red and gold orbs dangling like Christmas ornaments. Anyone can grow these miracles and what is better than a fresh unadorned tomato? We are crazy about tomatoes; Lizzie, my oldest daughter, even devoted her college essay to this royal fruit disguised as a vegetable. Kat, the younger daughter, called them tornadoes – for years. The last week of August in Ohio brings with it this gardener’s greatest triumph; tomatoes and lots of them if you’ve been diligent, and lucky. We’ve been eating them off the vine for a few weeks now, on grilled hamburgers and in salads. But now we cannot keep up.
Clearly there are enough to make a batch of sweet tomato chutney. Suddenly a calm comes over me. Sweet. Tomato. Chutney. Capturing sunlight in a condiment that is sweet and spicy and will last all winter long -- happiness in a jar.
I grab the recipe off the shelf and make a list of things I need from the store. I head out on my bike to my favorite indie grocery store. Home again I plunge right in and for the next two hours I chop, dice, grind and stir. The aroma brings my husband and daughter to the kitchen. The company and the aroma have lifted my mood. Now all I have left is to eat it!
What to eat it on? The list is long ... toast is great but it is dinner time. I whip up the curried rice and we dine on rice and chutney in the early evening sun.
Sweet Tomato Chutney
I found this recipe many years back in Madhur Jaffrey’s World of the East Vegetarian Cooking. This recipe takes time, time during which the tomatoes turn from fruit of the vine into something divine. The process is comforting.
2 pounds red-ripe tomatoes
1/4 teaspoon whole fennel seeds
1/4 teaspoon fennugreek seeds
2 cups distilled white vinegar
2 cups sugar
10 cloves garlic, peeled and very finely minced
1/2 teaspoon dried powdered ginger
2 bay leaves
1/4 teaspoon ground mace
1/4 teaspoon garam masala
1/4 teaspoon cayenne papper
about 1 1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup raisins or craisins
Wash the tomatoes and dry them thoroughly.
Grind the fennel and fenugreek seeds together in spice grinder
Heat the vinegar in a 7-8 inch wide, heavy stainless-steel or porcel;ain-lined pot over medium heat. When it begins to boil, put in as manyh of the tomatoes as the pot will hold in a single layer. Turn the tomatoes around for 15 to 30 seconds, then remove with a nonmetallic slotted spoon and place on a plate. Do all tomatoes in this way. Turn the heat under the vinegar to a medium low.
While the tomatoes cool, put the sugar into the vinegar and let it melt slowly. Peel the tomatoes and cut them into 1-inch cubes. Put the tomatoes and any accumulated liquid into the pot with the vinegar and the sugar. Add the ground fennel and fenugreek, the garlic, ginger, bay leaves, mace, garam masala, cayenne, and 1 1/4 teaspoons of salt. Mix and bring to a boil. Now bring the heat ot keep the chutney boiling fairly rapidly and let it cook this way for about 40 minutes. Stir every now and then during this period.
Add the raisins to the chutney and stir.
From now on the chutney needs to be watched more closely as it can stick on the bottom. Stir more frequently and contineu to cook another 25 to 35 minutes or until the chutney has thickened and is no longer watery. It should have a nice sheen to it at this point. It will thicken some as it cools. You should have about 2 cups. Taste for salt.
Allow the chutney to cool completely, put it in clean jars, and cover tightly. Keep it in the refrigerator where it will keep perfectly for months.
Curry Rice
1 can (14.5 oz) organic chicken broth
1/3 cup sweet tomato chutney (p. XX) or substitute your favorite
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup organic basmati rice
1 tablespoon curry powder
4 cups chopped spinach
1 can organic black beans
1 cup sweet potato cubes (1/2 “)
1. combine chicken broth and chutney in a blender and mix
2. heat oil in a 4 quart sauce pan
3. add rice and curry powder and saute for 1 minute
4. add spinach and sauté for 1 minute
5. add beans and sweet potato cubes
6. mix
7. add broth mixture
8. bring to a boil
9. reduce heat, cover and simmer for 25 min – until sweet potatoes are tender
serve with yogurt
Great with grilled meats or fish.
Chai
10 cardamom pods, crushed just enough to pen the pods or ½ teaspoon cardamom seeds
3 cups of water
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons sugar
“You know, when you get your first asparagus, or your first acorn squash, or your first really good tomato of the season, those are the moments that define the cook's year. I get more excited by that than anything else” ~ Mario Batali
‘Twas the night before classes and all through the halls all the students are streaming making cellular calls.
A summer spent sweating and planning has all the classrooms fitted with the latest technology and laboratories awaiting the next generation of scientists. It all felt so Swiss, polished trains set to run on time. Then a disgruntled colleague detonates an E-mail bomb. I should have felt it coming since they have done this for the past two years of my four year sentence as department chair.
I wish I could say I bore it well. I wish I could say I was a genius at managing this sort of thing. But two years of trying every trick I know, every trick my husband the management guru knows, has me stymied. So this time I simply forwarded the E-bombs to my boss, the Dean, and waited. Moments later I discovered in sweat drenced horror that somehow I managed to send it to the disgruntled one instead.
E-mail is a modern E-vil. I cannot even figure out how I made this mistake but there it is in my send box. It feels oh-so-Freudian.
It is the morning after, Saturday, and I wake to fragmented thoughts of the impending fallout. It isn’t going to be pretty. I prepare chai and take the steaming cup with me for my walk around the garden with my cup of chai, my dog Tula at my heels. The display of morning glories and a busy hummingbird allay my anxiety for a brief moment. But then it is back. Anxiety follows me through most of my days, and often the nights. Anxiety is common among academics. I think we fall into one of two categories: those who are sure they are the smartest one in the room and those who worry that they are not.
I look down from the periwinkle glow of the morning glories and spy a few newly ripened tomatoes, red and gold orbs dangling like Christmas ornaments. Anyone can grow these miracles and what is better than a fresh unadorned tomato? We are crazy about tomatoes; Lizzie, my oldest daughter, even devoted her college essay to this royal fruit disguised as a vegetable. Kat, the younger daughter, called them tornadoes – for years. The last week of August in Ohio brings with it this gardener’s greatest triumph; tomatoes and lots of them if you’ve been diligent, and lucky. We’ve been eating them off the vine for a few weeks now, on grilled hamburgers and in salads. But now we cannot keep up.
Clearly there are enough to make a batch of sweet tomato chutney. Suddenly a calm comes over me. Sweet. Tomato. Chutney. Capturing sunlight in a condiment that is sweet and spicy and will last all winter long -- happiness in a jar.
I grab the recipe off the shelf and make a list of things I need from the store. I head out on my bike to my favorite indie grocery store. Home again I plunge right in and for the next two hours I chop, dice, grind and stir. The aroma brings my husband and daughter to the kitchen. The company and the aroma have lifted my mood. Now all I have left is to eat it!
What to eat it on? The list is long ... toast is great but it is dinner time. I whip up the curried rice and we dine on rice and chutney in the early evening sun.
Sweet Tomato Chutney
I found this recipe many years back in Madhur Jaffrey’s World of the East Vegetarian Cooking. This recipe takes time, time during which the tomatoes turn from fruit of the vine into something divine. The process is comforting.
2 pounds red-ripe tomatoes
1/4 teaspoon whole fennel seeds
1/4 teaspoon fennugreek seeds
2 cups distilled white vinegar
2 cups sugar
10 cloves garlic, peeled and very finely minced
1/2 teaspoon dried powdered ginger
2 bay leaves
1/4 teaspoon ground mace
1/4 teaspoon garam masala
1/4 teaspoon cayenne papper
about 1 1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup raisins or craisins
Wash the tomatoes and dry them thoroughly.
Grind the fennel and fenugreek seeds together in spice grinder
Heat the vinegar in a 7-8 inch wide, heavy stainless-steel or porcel;ain-lined pot over medium heat. When it begins to boil, put in as manyh of the tomatoes as the pot will hold in a single layer. Turn the tomatoes around for 15 to 30 seconds, then remove with a nonmetallic slotted spoon and place on a plate. Do all tomatoes in this way. Turn the heat under the vinegar to a medium low.
While the tomatoes cool, put the sugar into the vinegar and let it melt slowly. Peel the tomatoes and cut them into 1-inch cubes. Put the tomatoes and any accumulated liquid into the pot with the vinegar and the sugar. Add the ground fennel and fenugreek, the garlic, ginger, bay leaves, mace, garam masala, cayenne, and 1 1/4 teaspoons of salt. Mix and bring to a boil. Now bring the heat ot keep the chutney boiling fairly rapidly and let it cook this way for about 40 minutes. Stir every now and then during this period.
Add the raisins to the chutney and stir.
From now on the chutney needs to be watched more closely as it can stick on the bottom. Stir more frequently and contineu to cook another 25 to 35 minutes or until the chutney has thickened and is no longer watery. It should have a nice sheen to it at this point. It will thicken some as it cools. You should have about 2 cups. Taste for salt.
Allow the chutney to cool completely, put it in clean jars, and cover tightly. Keep it in the refrigerator where it will keep perfectly for months.
Curry Rice
1 can (14.5 oz) organic chicken broth
1/3 cup sweet tomato chutney (p. XX) or substitute your favorite
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup organic basmati rice
1 tablespoon curry powder
4 cups chopped spinach
1 can organic black beans
1 cup sweet potato cubes (1/2 “)
1. combine chicken broth and chutney in a blender and mix
2. heat oil in a 4 quart sauce pan
3. add rice and curry powder and saute for 1 minute
4. add spinach and sauté for 1 minute
5. add beans and sweet potato cubes
6. mix
7. add broth mixture
8. bring to a boil
9. reduce heat, cover and simmer for 25 min – until sweet potatoes are tender
serve with yogurt
Great with grilled meats or fish.
Chai
10 cardamom pods, crushed just enough to pen the pods or ½ teaspoon cardamom seeds
3 cups of water
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons sugar
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