Fruitful Second Acts

Fruits eaten long past their premiers in late stage preparations - late Fall tomatoes and cranberries.

On this traditionally Tomato Tuesday (for the gardening crowd), flashing back on this snowy (finally! - after more than 700 days of sub-1-inch snowfalls) January day to a week or so back, when I finally ate the tomatoes that were harvested post-Thanksgiving (subjects of a past post in late November). They ripened beautifully for six-ish weeks detached from their vine at room temperature; it was finally time, past time really, to consume them, even without an optimal meal pairing - with my weeklong out of state conference absence looming, I didn't want them to go bad without having partaken....

...They were lovely and sweet, with just a touch of acid to balance out their overwhelmingly fried companion dishes (some leftovers from a meal out, paired with a freezer staple bean burger and some spinach). Their flavor was enhanced by a quick blister in a pan on the stove - all the better to kill off any spoilage from their sitting too long (a few oozed as the others sat out ripening, destined as seed specimens for next year; the blister approach seemed safer than consuming them straight and raw, in a salad as originally envisioned). The tomatoes made that meal.

Post-conference, returning to some semblance of normalcy with a visit to the Mothership, next up for consumption were cranberries that went unused at Thanksgiving, and had been refrigerated since then. Those were originally to become a cranberry curd tart or a cranberry galette, but Thanksgiving was just too busy for more than one dessert.

They took a starring role in a modified apple cake recipe, and sliced almonds took the place of walnuts that were not at hand. The cake was delightful, and the tart cranberries a perfect counterpoint to the sweetness.

Have faith in your old fruits!