Tomato Consommé
Once you’ve used your most perfect tomatoes to show off to your gardening friends in an assortment of salads, you can whip out this recipe as a secret weapon to use up both your ugly, misshapen beauts, as well as your sweet tiny offerings. Savoury, acidic flavour and a clean, fresh mouthfeel. Balanced with the sweetness of sautéed carrot and shallot and infused overnight with crushed garlic, it really gives your tomatoes a chance to shine. Having said that, it doesn’t work if you have to use store bought tomatoes grown out of season, as these don’t develop enough flavour. So it’s a treat to have in the summer only.
When extracting the clear tomato water, reserve the flesh of the grated tomatoes and mix with extra virgin olive oil, crush garlic and a pinch or two of salt to have on toast with cheese (recipe coming soon!)
Consommé
A consommé is a type of clear soup, much like a Vietnamese Pho, that is rich and savoury, often flavoured using stock and clarified with egg whites or gelatin to remove fat and sediment. Traditionally it is made with the umami of ground meat cooked with mirepoix (onions, carrots and celery), but for this recipe I’ve explored the rich umami of tomatoes as a means to use up the juice leftover from making Pan con Tomate.
If you find the flavour of the consommé to be too strong or too weak, then either water it down or leave it to simmer for longer during the middle stage. You can reduce the volume of the liquid by over half and the flavour will intensify to the point where it almost becomes a tomato stock. For something a little different, why not add agar flakes to set it as a savoury jelly to be served with crab, basil or ewe’s curd. Remember, for an acidic liquid, 1.3g of agar is required per 100ml (compared to the usual 0.9g) as acidity makes it harder to set. Mix the agar flakes in and stir whilst boiling for 5 minutes. Pour the liquid into moulds or ramekins and store below 40C to set.
Consommé have been made since the Middle Ages (5th-15th century) and were sometimes turned into a sweet meat and fruit set dessert; a forerunner to modern-day gelatin desserts like panna cotta.
Traditionally, egg whites are used to create a ‘raft’ that captures all the sediment and fat. More recently, a less wasteful approach involves using gelatin to do the same, but in order to make our version even less wasteful we use a straining bag (such as one used in fermentation or fruit juicing), then chill overnight to set the butter on the surface where it can easily be scooped off. This process does alter the mouthfeel of the consommé, but also gives us more flexibility as it doesn’t require heat, meaning we can use it on temperature sensitive ingredients like fruit juices or soft herbs.
Tomato Consommé Recipe
Starter 6
Ingredients:
10-15 Large tomatoes
24 Small tomatoes
2 Carrots, diced
3 Shallots, diced
1 Stick of celery, diced
2 Cloves of garlic, crushed
Fresh basil or parsley
Salt
Specialist Equipment:
Staining bag
Step 1.
The day before you want to eat the consommé, grate the large tomatoes into a bowl. To do this, hold them by the point where the vine attaches and grate the opposite side. The tomato will fan open, leaving the skin in your fingers as the flesh passes through.
Once all the tomatoes are done, crush the garlic into the mix and add two pinches of salt. Mix it well, then tip it into a sieve above another bowl. Use a spoon to move the mixture around, allowing the juice to collect in the bowl below. Once the grated tomato is thick and lumpy, pack it into a jar and loosen up with olive oil before storing in the fridge. This is your Pan con Tomate. Your second bowl of tomato juice is currently at the middle stage and will have sediment remaining in it that has escaped the mesh of your sieve. Rinse the first bowl you used and pour the tomato juice into the straining bag above the now clean bowl. You should have handles on the bag so hang it up somewhere (I use a cupboard handle) and let the juice slowly pass into the bowl whilst you prepare the next step.
Step 2.
Finely dice your shallot, carrot and celery and sauté them in a saucepan with butter until sweet and translucent. When they are, give the staining bag a light squeeze to get the last of the clear tomato juice, then pour it into the saucepan with the mirepoix. Bring to a simmer and taste for strength and seasoning. Simmer for 5 minutes, then pour the whole lot into a container to refrigerate overnight.
Step 3.
The next day the butter will have reset and formed a floating crust on the surface of the consommé. Use a spoon to remove it and discard. You can now store the consommé in the fridge for 3 days or eat it whenever you like. It’s beautiful served both hot or cold. And if you fancy mixing it up, try deglazing the pan with red wine, vinegar or soy sauce before adding the tomato juice, or infuse it with other herbs and spices overnight. If you find it too acidic then sweeten with a pinch of sugar or honey.
To serve, bring back to a simmer and pour over 5-6 freshly picked small tomatoes.