The Misunderstood Tomato

I seek to use the mighty tomato.  It’s allure is unfathomable, although that combination of texture, liquid, and flavour likely has much to do with it.  And perhaps, I feel somewhat sorry for a fruit which is perpetually classified as a vegetable.

No one’s been able to ask a tomato how they feel about being misclassified so frequently.  So, instead, we must try to put ourselves in the shoes (if they did, in fact, wear shoes) of a tomato and imagine how they might feel about this continual misclassification.

Quite possibly they prefer to be considered a vegetable– a wholesome, essential food with versatility.  To be considered a fruit would banish it, in many people’s minds, from the realm of the salad or the pasta sauce.

Or maybe there’s a hierarchy among plants, and being a member of the fruit fraternity or sorority is more prestigious, given that most of them grow on trees.  To be considered a vegetable would be cast downward into the realm of the lowly vegetable.

Or maybe they just don’t care.  Perhaps classification of plants is a human endeavour that only matters to the obsessively organized humans who feel compelled to attach a classification to everything, be it a fruit or a vegetable or a nut or whatever.

So, let us, as humans, liberate ourselves from this unnecessary obsession with classifying fruits and vegetables.  Let us keep open minds and make salads with tomatoes alongside rice and kale and cheese and watermelon, and whatever the imagination can conjure.

Tomato, Kale, Wild Rice, Mozzarella Salad
(adapted from Epicurious)

This wild combination of ingredients just seems to work.  Altogether, it is a complete meal for two.

What you need:

3 garlic cloves
1 small onion
1/2 cup of white wine
Salt and pepper
1 cup of wild rice
1 bunch of kale (I used curly, but others would work, as well.)
250 grams of soft mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup of yogurt
15 cherry tomatoes (although you can’t overdo them, so maybe more)
1 lemon

What you do:

1.  I put the rice in a rice cooker (1 cup of rice to 1 3/4 cups water).

2.  Dice the garlic and the onion, and fry in a large pan with a dash of salt until the onion is cooked.

3.  Add to the pan 1/2 cup of white wine.

4.  When the rice cooker is finished, dump the rice into the frying pan.  Depending upon doneness, further cook the rice until it gets softer.  I put a lid on the pan and kept the heat very low.  When the rice is already thoroughly cooked, take it off the stove and place the mixture in another pot to cool.

5.  De-spine the kale, slice into thin ribbons, then massage it to soften.

6.  Cut the tomatoes in half and add to kale.

7.  In a bowl, combine the yogurt, lemon zest, juice from the lemon, bit of salt, a couple of grinds of pepper, and cheese cut into small pieces.

8.  Combine the rice mixture with the kale and tomatoes.  You could possibly add a dash of olive oil, as well.  Spread on a platter.

9.  Dob the cheese mixture around the top of the salad.

10.  You are ready to eat!