Tomato Summer Pudding

To make this dish, you need a full, 4″ hotel pan.

1. Take the first 13-1/2# tomatoes and cut a shallow X in the bottom of each one with a sharp paring knife and blanch the tomatoes in 6 batches in a 5-6 quart pot of boiling water for just a minute per batch. Shock each batch in a bowl filled with ice water.

Remove from ice water and peel tomatoes either by hand or with a paring knife. Set tomatoes aside. Place garlic in small pan, cover with foil and roast in 400 degree oven until garlic is soft. Remove from oven and squeeze garlic from skins and set aside.

Halve the skinned tomatoes crosswise, discard cores and scoop seeds into a fine mesh sieve set over a bowl. Press on the seeds to extract liquid, and then discard seeds. Coarsely chop tomatoes; coarsely puree chopped tomatoes in batches with strained tomato liquid and roasted garlic in blender or food processor.

Heat olive oil in a deep, heavy, stainless pot over moderately high heat and carefully add tomatoes (they will spatter), kosher salt and pepper. Simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 10-15 minutes. The goal is to just lightly cook the tomatoes, extract a little extra flavor but not create a “cooked” sauce flavor. Remove from heat and pour sauce into a hotel pan to cool quickly. Cool the sauce for about an hour and add the Sherry vinegar. Set aside.

Trim the crusts from the bread and if it isn’t already sliced, slice into 1/3 inch thick slices. Set aside. Core remaining 3# tomatoes and slice into 1/4″ thick slices and set aside.

To build the pudding, ladle 2-1/4 cups of the tomato sauce into the bottom of the hotel pan and spread to cover the bottom completely. Line the bottom of the pan with bread slices.

You may cut the bread to fit any open crevices and spaces and you want the bread to cover the sauce completely. Ladle 3-3/4 cups sauce over the bread layer, spreading evenly to cover. Then place several slices of tomatoes on top of the sauce, about 1/2″ from the edge of the dish. The tomato slices don’t need to cover the sauce completely.

Cover the tomato layer with more bread slices, trimming as necessary to fit in one complete layer in the dish. Repeat layering 3 more times, using 3-3/4 cups tomato sauce each time and tomatoes and ending with the bread. Cover the top layer of the bread with remaining sauce. Cover surface with plastic wrap, then top with a 2″ hotel pan. Weight the pudding evenly with heavy cans, place hotel pan on a sheet pan in case it drips and chill at least 12 hours.

Remove weights and top hotel pan and run a thin knife around the edge of the pan. Slice into squares (6×4 for 24 portions) and garnish each with fresh tomato slices and 1 teaspoon of freshly julienned basil. Serve with 2 ounces of mesclun mix or watercress.