' TOMATOES and CHEESE .' appetiser.

Tomato & Cheese Three ways - Sungold tomato roe with basil pesto & parmesan crisp , Smoked red cherry tomato with buffalo milk mozzarella , Sun-dried tomato tapenade with lemon ricotta accompanied by a Chilled tomato consomme. 

                    The tomato totality with three cheeses, is a great opportunity to experience the humble tomato in four different preparations accompanied by three different cheeses. The influences for this dish firstly the fact that fruit is falling off the vines here in abundance, as tomatoes grow particularly well at this time of the year. The second influence is a recipe for 'tomato consomme' that I collected over time coming from the Brett's Wharf kitchen here in Brisbane an iconic seafood restaurant which closed its doors in 2012. This is one of those recipes I've wanted to try but always brushed it off. I've heard of this recipe being done with orange and lemon juice but I quite like Chef Alastair Macleod's version using white wine. Below is a list of all the preparations in executional order.                
     Tomato Consomme - Diced tomatoes were placed in a bowl with a little white wine, golden shallots thinly sliced, a small bunch of basil, salt, sugar and cracked black pepper. The tomato mix was then mushed with my hands to get as much juices out of the tomatoes, this was then strained through layers of cheese cloth into a bowl and repeated several times skimming until the consomme was clear. This was then poured into a shot glass, garnished with skinned, finely diced tomatoes, finely chopped chives and micro basil and thyme leaves, before being chilled in the fridge until plating.                                        
      Lemon Ricotta - In a saucepan I gently heated some milk to just before boiling point then added some freshly squeezed lemon juice to form curds and whey, these were then removed from the heat and the curds were strained through cheese cloth and placed in the fridge for later.                                            
      Tomato Tapenade - To make this I used store bought sun-dried tomatoes as our sun-drying gets done in the summer months our stocks are deplete as we are at the end of the sun-drying calendar year. In a blender I mixed together sun-dried tomatoes, caper berries, black olives, lemon juice, anchovy fillet, cracked black pepper, salt and a little olive oil to form a loose blend (roughly chopped). This was served accompanied by the lemon ricotta.                                                                                                    
       Heirloom tomato roe - This is simply the pulp scooped out of a Sungold heirloom variety, strained of its juices and chilled in the fridge until plating.                                                                                            
        Basil Pesto - This was a late autumn preparation and was made by blending sweet basil, olive oil, toasted pine-nuts, grated parmesan cheese, lemon juice, salt and pepper until a smooth paste. This being the accompaniment of the tomato roe and served with a parmesan crisp.                                                              
         Parmesan Crisp - This was simply shaved parmesan melted on a baking paper lined tray in a medium to hot oven until colour just started to show and then removed and allowed to cool and harden.                                                          
        Smoked Cherry tomato - The tomato was tea smoked for 4-5 minutes in a combination of green tea, jasmine rice, brown sugar, orange zest and peppercorns, removed from the heat and served along side a thick wedge of buffalo milk mozzarella.                                                                                              
         Tomato powder - This was used to top three of the presentations and is in the photos for individual preparations but it has not been used for the main photo.
          I simply plated the four elements in the four corners of the plate having the two taller preps opposite each other and as to the two shorter preps, this was done to maintain a visual balance.