Tomato Summer Pudding

This was a bit of an odd thing but we ate all of it and liked it, so that's good.  I was thinking a Summer Pudding, as the British make it, with bread and berries, but with tomatoes as the fruit. Mom said it was like a tomato mayonnaise sandwich that got made at breakfast time and carried around until lunch time, and I have to admit, that's fair.

I had a look around the internet before I made this and most versions out there are more like a stacked Panzanella. I wanted mayonnaise though, as this is probably the only tomato "sandwich" I will eat this year.

All my comments in the original Summer Pudding post about needing very high quality bread apply to this recipe too. I used an Ace loaf from the day-old rack for this, and it was just about adequate. If you have access to better bread, you should definitely use it. It should also be quite stale. In addition to buying my bread day-old, I cut it up and let it sit around for a few hours to get even drier before I assembled it. Since the bread is dry though, you need to be careful to get it all bathed in tomato purée and mayonnaise or you will just be eating mouthfuls of dry bread. Not at all exciting.

I used a variety of tomatoes from the garden for this. I made the purée with Cosmonaut Volkovs, and then sliced up a very large Striped German. That filled the pudding, and then I topped it with Jaune Flammé (orange) and my own hybrid I've been referring to as Ferdzy's Favourite (red).

6 servings
1 hour 30 minutes - 30 minutes prep time

Make the Dressing:
12 to 18 large basil leaves
1 clove of garlic
salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/3 cup mayonnaise (light is fine)
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Wash and dry the basil leaves, and roll them into a small cigar shape. Shred them finely (chiffonade). Peel and mince the garlic. I did it right on top of the basil, to chop it a bit finer. Put these into a small mixing bowl. Season with salt and pepper, and add the mayonnaise and balsamic vinegar. Mix until smooth. 

Assemble the Pudding: 
1 regular loaf sturdy white or whole wheat bread, DAY OLD
500 grams (1 pound) ripe juicy salad tomatoes (to purée)
300 grams (10 ounces) beefsteak or other heirloom tomatoes (to slice)
lettuce, arugula, or basil sprigs to garnish

Trim off the bottom, top, and ends of the loaf. You may also wish to trim the sides a little bit, but at that point I decided I was not going to have enough bread left if I did that and left them on. Cut the loaf horizontally into 3 large, flat slices as evenly as you can. If you can do this a few hours ahead of time and leave them sitting out to dry out a bit more, so much the better.

Meanwhile, have a pot of water on to blanch all the tomatoes. Blanch them for 1 minute then transfer them to a bowl or sink of cold water. Peel and core them. Put the beefsteaks or whichever tomatoes you are keeping to slice aside. Reduce the others to juice - mine were so juicy I just held them over a bowl and squeezed them to death, but you could use a food-processor if you are more daintily inclined. Slice the remaining tomatoes.

Spread the bottom slice of bread evenly with about one-third of the tomato purée and top it with tomato slices. Spread the bottom of the next slice of bread evenly with half of the dressing and place it on top of the tomato covered slice. Top that slice with about one-third of the tomato purée and sliced tomatoes. Spread the bottom of the final slice of bread evenly with the remaining dressing and place it on top of others. Top it with the remaining tomato purée. Cover the pudding with plastic wrap and place a fairly heavy plate on top of it. Add something else that will weight it down but not squash it out of shape. (You could assemble your pudding in a mold or pan of some sort, if you wanted to which would help keep it a neat shape, but it also depends on if the bread you are using is amenable to this). Let it rest in a cool place for 1 hour. Unwrap or unmold it, and garnish it with lettuce, arugula, or basil sprigs. Top it with more slices of tomato. Slice with a good sharp knife and a flat spatula to serve it.

Best eaten all at once - leftovers don't keep well.

Posted in: Ontario Food