Mock Tomatoes

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Small saucepan
• •Slotted spoon
• •Clean lint-free linen or tea towel
• •Mortar and pestle or small food processor
• •Small piping bag or parchment cornet with a fine leaf opening
• •Shallow nonreactive dish

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the beurre vert

   Bring a small saucepan of water to the boil and prepare a bowl of iced water. Reserve 12 neat parsley stalk tips, then blanch the leaves for 10 seconds and cool them immediately. Squeeze the leaves in a clean towel until truly dry, chop them finely, and pound or process them to a smooth green paste. Beat this into the softened butter with the salt until the beurre vert, green butter, is evenly coloured. If the butter turns shiny or greasy, it has become too warm; chill it for 5 minutes and beat again. Ça se rattrape.

   Water makes the butter spit and separate, so squeeze the parsley harder than seems necessary. The towel should come away merely damp, not wet.
2. 2

   Peel the tomatoes

   Bring the saucepan back to a lively boil. Prick the base of each tomato once with the point of a knife, lower three or four at a time into the water for 8 to 12 seconds, then transfer them directly to the iced water. Peel away the loosened skins without cutting into the flesh. If a skin still clings, return that tomato to the hot water for another 5 seconds rather than scraping it. Keep the 12 neatest tomatoes and reserve the spares for another plate.

3. 3

   Press them gently

   Lay each peeled tomato in a fold of clean, lint-free linen or a tea towel. Cup it between your fingers and press just until it yields slightly and the cloth absorbs the loose surface juice, keeping the fruit round. This is the principle that decides the dish: too wet and the marinade slides away, too much pressure and the tomato collapses. If one develops a small tear, keep the torn side underneath; if it splits completely, season it for toast and use a spare.

4. 4

   Marinate for thirty minutes

   Whisk together the chilled Cooked Marinade for Venison (No. 168), olive oil, and white wine vinegar in a shallow nonreactive dish. Add the pressed tomatoes and turn them carefully to coat. Marinate in the refrigerator for exactly 30 minutes, turning once halfway through. Longer is not better here because the acid eventually softens the flesh; if a tasted tomato seems too sharp, drain the batch at once and roll it in a teaspoon of additional olive oil.

5. 5

   Build the illusion

   Drain the tomatoes thoroughly and blot their bases so they will sit without sliding. Push one reserved parsley stalk tip gently into the top of each tomato. Fit a small piping bag or parchment cornet with a fine leaf opening, fill it with the beurre vert, and pipe two or three little leaves around every stalk. If the leaves slump, place the filled bag and tomatoes in the refrigerator for 5 minutes, then pipe again once the butter is cool enough to hold a clean ridge.

6. 6

   Chill and serve

   Arrange the tomates en trompe-l’œil on a chilled platter with a little room between them and refrigerate uncovered for 20 minutes to set the butter leaves. Cover loosely if holding them longer, then serve cold with small forks or cocktail picks. Cooking well is not cooking fancy. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Choose tomatoes by fragrance and firmness, not by variety. They must be ripe enough to taste of tomato but firm enough to survive peeling and pressing. This dish truly needs good fresh fruit; canned tomatoes cannot hold the illusion.
• •The Cooked Marinade for Venison (No. 168) must be completely cold before it touches the tomatoes. Warm marinade softens their flesh and melts the beurre vert before the platter reaches the table.
• •A clean linen towel is not decoration here. It absorbs moisture without leaving paper fibres on the peeled fruit, and it lets your hand feel precisely when the tomato begins to yield.
• •Serve with a dry, bright white wine or brut sparkling wine. The acidity clears the butter and meets the vinegar without crowding the fresh tomato.

Advance Preparation

• •The beurre vert can be made up to 2 days ahead, wrapped tightly, and refrigerated. Let it soften until pliable but still cool before piping.
• •Prepare the Cooked Marinade for Venison (No. 168) separately according to its own entry and chill the portion required here completely.
• •The tomatoes may be peeled, pressed, marinated, drained, and decorated up to 4 hours before serving. Keep them loosely covered in the refrigerator so the butter leaves remain firm.
• •Do not leave the tomatoes in the acidic marinade overnight. Drain them after 30 minutes, or their fresh texture will soften beyond rescue.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 100g)