email this pageBut a Texas storm had other plans. It blew down all the plants. Then within a few hours, the sun was back out, blazing. It blistered the fruit on the ground. As Larry says in his twang-tipped drawl, “Well, I thought that was that.”
It wasn’t. As he and Carol Ann gathered up the tomatoes, he had a thought: what about that smoker over there? It’s a Texas tradition and makes a mean brisket. Maybe it could save some of the tomatoes.
“I sliced off the bruised bits and set the tomatoes on the rack,” Larry says. They were wrapped in a low-heat smoke of Savannah post oak—just 115F, cooler than a sauna.
Three and a half days later, he had what he calls “smoke-dried tomatoes.” They were so good, he handed them out to friends. Then he started selling them.
Larry and Carol Ann sell their tomatoes the old-fashioned way: send them a check or money order, and they’ll send you their smoke dried tomatoes. No credit cards, no fancy packaging. Just a terrific product from a new American farmer.
Boggy Creek Farm
3414 Lyons Road,
Austin, Texas 78702
512 926-4650
www.boggycreekfarm.com
info@boggycreekfarm.com
Sun-dried Tomato Pesto
Ingredients
1 cup sun-dried tomatoes
½ cup pistachios
1/4 cup chopped basil
1/4 teaspoon salt
Coarsely ground black pepper.
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
Recipe courtesy of Jill DeBona, "Relish a New Ingredient," April 2007.
Sun-Dried Tomato Pizza
Ingredients
1 1/2 ounces smoke-dried or sun-dried tomatoes
1 pound pizza dough
1/4 cup jarred pesto
1 large portobello mushroom cap, thinly sliced
3/4 cup shredded Fontina cheese
2. Place tomatoes in a medium bowl, cover with hot water, and soak 15 minutes. Drain and finely chop.
3. Press dough into a 12-inch circle in the center of the sheet. Spread pesto over dough; arrange mushroom slices on top. Dot all over with chopped tomatoes and sprinkle cheese on top.
4. Bake until brown and bubbly, about 20 minutes. Let stand at room temperature 10 minutes before slicing. Serves 6.
Recipe by Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough, "Relish a New Ingredient," April 2007.
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