From: jhv@acpub.duke.edu (Joseph Vilas)
Newsgroups: rec.food.cooking
Subject: Re: REQUEST: Tomato recipes
Summary: 2 tomato recipes from opposite ends of the culinary spectrum
Keywords: tomato, bayaldi, recipes, sandwich
Date: 30 Jul 92 04:55:56 GMT
Organization: Duke University; Durham, N.C.

In article <1992Jul29.140330@is.morgan.com>, spgo@is.morgan.com
(Stefan Goellner) writes: 

[...]

> let's hear it for some favorite recipes involving tomatoes.

	Here's a couple of favorites of mine from opposite ends of the
culinary spectrum.  The first is from _Paul Bocuse in your Kitchen_,
by Paul Bocuse [(c) 1982 by Flammarion, English translation (c) 1982
by Random House], and is reprinted without permission.  The second is
from my mother.  

======================================================================

BAYALDI

Ingredients for 4 to 6 servings:
4 medium zucchini weighing about 1 1/2 lb. (700 g) total
2 small eggplants weighing about 1 1/4 lb. (600 g) total 
1 1/4 lb. (600 g) tomatoes
1/2 lb (250 g) onions
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
1 teaspoon thyme leaves
1/2 bay leaf, crushed
Salt, pepper
Butter (for the dish)
1 1/3 cup (100 g) grated Swiss cheese
5 tablespoons (80 g) butter (total) broken into small pieces

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. (220 degrees C.).  

Wash the vegetables and wipe them dry, then cut them into slices about
1/2 inch (1 cm) thick (if using a large eggplant rather than 2 smaller
ones, cut it in half before slicing).  Keep all the vegetables
separate from each other.  

Butter a large baking dish (preferably earthenware or enamelled cast
iron).  Cover the bottom of the dish with the onions, then make a
layer of zucchini and sprinkle with a little of the garlic, thyme, and
bay leaf, salt, and pepper.  Next, make a layer of eggplant, and
lastly a layer of tomato, seasoning each layer as you did the
zucchini.  Dot the surface with half of the butter, then place in the
oven for 30 minutes.  At the end of this time, sprinkle with the
cheese, dot with the remaining butter, and bake 20 to 30 minutes more
until golden brown on top.  (If the vegetables dry out during the
first 30 minutes' baking, cover them with aluminum foil; remove the
foil for only the last 10 minutes of the baking time).  

[...]

If preferred, the cheese can be omitted and 1/3 cup (8 cl) of olive
oil used instead of butter.  In this case, pour all of the oil over
the surface of the vegetables before putting them in the oven.  [...]

=====================================================================

MOM'S TOMATO SANDWICHES, by my mom

Take 2 slices of white sandwich bread, and slather one side of each
with mayonnaise.  Slice a ripe tomato, and lay the slices on a
mayonnaise-coated side of one of the pieces of bread.  Salt and pepper
the tomato slices, then put the other piece of bread on top,
mayonnaise side down.  Cut sandwich into pieces if desired.  Eat.
Have lots of napkins at hand to wipe up the tomato juice that will
ooze out.

=====================================================================

     The Bocuse cookbook is an odd, but interesting, cookbook.  It is
more a coffee-table book that a cookbook, with nice big full page
color photos of lots of the dishes.  It was translated from French.  

     I've made the Bayaldi several times, both the dairy and olive oil
versions, and it is delicious.  The onions tend to caramelize in the
bottom of the dish, and a wonderful juice collects with them.  I
usually make it in a 12" by 18" glass pan about 2 1/2" deep.  I have
also substituted yellow crookneck squash for the zucchini with
success.  

     The tomato sandwiches are just the thing to have at the end of a
hot summer day, when you don't have much appetite, and need something
cool to eat that doesn't require heat to prepare.  Modulate the
mayonnaise level to your liking: it helps balance the acidity of the
tomatoes.  

     Hope this helps.
-- 

          Joseph H. Vilas          jhv@acpub.duke.edu
     My opinions are my own.  Others are invited to share.
Newsgroups: rec.food.cooking