Pomodori alla Brace
A humble prescript that flaunts the goodness of summer tomatoes, that asks their roasting over wood, concentrating, ennobling their sweet juices. Propped, then, on crusty seats of bread with a gloss of good green oil and the grace of basil and mint, they soothe hungers for purity.
Recipe information
Yield
serves 4
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Build a wood fire. Hopefully, the fire’s heat and perfumes will be put to some other delicious purposes than the roasting of the tomatoes. Cut a thin slice from the top of the tomatoes and scoop out their seeds. Sprinkle sea salt generously inside their bellies, drop 1/2 tablespoon of oil and minces of garlic inside each, and place the tomatoes on an oiled grate over the fire. Roast them until their bottoms are charred and soft—about 7 minutes, depending on their size, the degree of ripeness, and the force of the fire—then topple them on first one side and then the other, avoiding turning them upside down, until their flesh is hot and collapsing, nearly bursting through their charred, wrinkled skins.
Step 2
During this rite, toast the trenchers of bread, too, over the grate, crusting them quickly on both sides without drying the crumb. Rub the whole garlic clove over one side of the hot trenchers, then drizzle them with big tears of oil, using about 1/4 cup. Place the bread cushions on a large, warm plate to await the tomatoes. When they are roasted, place a tomato on each cushion of bread, thread the remaining oil over them, and strew them with the leaves of basil and mint. Though the dish is built of such familiar stuffs, they emerge, somehow, new, sensational even, for the tomatoes’ short smolder over the fire.
