No matter how many heinous, experimental dishes our parents foist upon us in our youth, there are always those magical dinners that shine forth forever into adulthood as the culmination of home-cooked goodness. Chances are it's the simplest stuff, grown predictably perfect by virtue of experience, repetition and a few good ingredients, that you crave on a visit home; that, try as you might, you simply cannot duplicate exactly; and that, as soon as you take that first long-awaited bite, makes you think for a glimmering instant that, no matter what family feuds are raging around the table, "Damn, Mom's still got it."
For me, this dish is my mom's basic but breathtakingly delicious broiled tomatoes with melted parmesan cheese.
Now, note the caveat: attempted duplication. In my youthful ignorance, driven by pseudo-foodie presumption, I tried to make this dish fancy. But fortunately for recession-pinched wallets the world over, my pricey modifications were utterly and completely unnecessary. Mom's original version is, hands down, the best; and subsequently, despite the incongruous image pictured above, it is her plain old hothouse tomatoes and Kraft parm recipe that I'll be sharing with you today. My version involved heirloom tomatoes and freshly grated parmesan - and it was fine. But frankly, the heirlooms don't stand up to the broiler with the same spunk as their heartier, hothouse cousins, and the grated cheese just doesn't bubble and brown to perfection like the shaker variety. So don't mess with tradition. Do it mom's way, save a few bucks, and just enjoy the pretty picture above. And trust me, it's just as good with some Carlo Rossi and a bit of warm pasta with olive oil as it was when she lived on it back in her bohemian 1970's heyday.
Ingredients:
2 large hothouse tomatoes, halved
½ cup grated parmesan cheese
olive oil (preferably the spray can variety)
Recipe:
Preheat the broiler and lightly spray the bottom of an oven-safe dish with oil. Place tomatoes flesh-side down in the dish and generously cover the flat tops with cheese.
Broil uncovered for about five minutes, or until the cheese is melting and lightly browned. Remove, let stand for a few minutes, then eat! Serves four.
by Lauren Westerfield
