Add This Amazing “palate Cleanser” to Your Thanksgiving Spread
I host a full Friends Day dinner in early November because it’s so nice to get my chosen family together for a home-cooked meal in a low-key setting. I also need to try the side dishes to share with you all. This year, the most amazing dish I made wasn’t pumpkin or another sweet potato variation, but a resurrection of summer fruit. I made a warm roasted tomato salad and think it may have earned its place on the table forever.
I think we can all admit that the Thanksgiving meal is, above all, a parade of delicious fats, umami, salt and carbohydrates. I have no problem with this. However, repeating the same flavors can cause what’s called palate fatigue (a term often used in wine tasting): nuances of flavor become harder to detect because your taste buds are exhausted. Incorporating an acidic dish like tomatoes creates resistance, giving you a “palate cleanser” sensation, essentially putting your receptors back into action.
Revive cold-hardy tomatoes
Yes, you could serve a raw tomato salad to access the bright acidity of the fruit, but fall and winter tomatoes have less flavor compared to the peak season tomatoes we saw a few months ago. I guess that’s why we don’t see them on Thanksgiving tables. Luckily, a quick trip to the oven can change all that.
When dull winter tomatoes are roasted, some of the water evaporates, concentrating their flavor, and the bottom portion browns, exhibiting the Maillard reaction and caramelization of the natural sugars. This is my long way of saying: in the fall, fried tomatoes will taste much better than raw ones. Plus, it couldn’t be simpler.
How to make a warm roasted tomato salad
I like plum tomatoes for this, but Campari tomatoes work too. I prefer these varieties because they are medium in size and they soften well. Using my air fryer secret , sprinkle the bowl of tomatoes with a little salt. Then drop a teaspoon of oil onto one palm. Rub your palms together and then rub each tomato with your oily hands. The salt will naturally be collected. Place whole or halved tomatoes on a baking sheet without paper. Unlined baking sheets will add more color to the tomatoes.
Bake the tomatoes at 375°F for about 30 minutes or—if they are whole—until they burst slightly. If they are split in half, they are ready when the bottom is browned. (You can place the tomato halves either cut side down or skin side down, but I find that the cut side is more prone to sticking.) The coating on this dish is flexible and almost impossible to mess up. Carefully place the tomatoes on a serving platter and sandwich pieces of burrata or fresh mozzarella between the burst tomatoes. If you don’t like soft cheese, you can slice large sheets of Pecorino Romano on top instead.
Drizzle the whole thing with a little olive oil and sprinkle (fill in the blank): This is where you can make the dish yourself. This year I used dry Calabrian chili flakes. Perhaps you could sprinkle chopped fresh basil on top. You might prefer chopped salted pistachios and za’atar. If you have garlic confit , you know what to do. But even if you skip the last garnish, you’ll have to sprinkle some flake salt on top.
The dish will look simple, but nevertheless interesting. I actually prefer to cook with easily identifiable ingredients so I don’t have to ask as many questions. You don’t need a ton—maybe one or two tomatoes per guest—to provide a sour interlude in the middle of the first serving.
Warm fried tomato salad
Ingredients:
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8-14 Campari tomatoes
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Neutral vegetable oil for coating
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½ teaspoon salt
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1 ball burrata cheese (or fresh mozzarella)
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A little extra virgin olive oil
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Sprinkle with flake salt
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Chopped basil, pistachios, chili flakes or other garnish (optional)
1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Place the tomatoes in a bowl and sprinkle ½ teaspoon salt on top. Pour a small amount of oil onto your palms; this should be enough to cover the tomatoes. Rub your palms together and then rub all over the tomatoes, turning them over to collect the salt. Place the tomatoes on an unlined baking sheet, drizzle with excess oil and roast for about 30 minutes or until they begin to crack and burst. Cool them for a few minutes.
3. Place tomatoes on a serving plate. Cut the burrata into six or seven pieces and sprinkle the dish with cheese. Drizzle the dish with a little olive oil, salt and any additional garnishes you like. Serve warm.