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Prep Time: 0 Minutes Cook Time: 0 Minutes |
Ready In: 0 Minutes Servings: 5 |
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Fabio Picchi, owner and chef of the restaurant Cibrèo in Florence, takes full advantage of seasonal abundance from the Sant'Ambrogio market next door. He delights in using traditional ingredients in novel ways, as his refreshing tomato aspic illustrates. It's a spicy tomato sauce with a wiggle (barely set), which is bright red, speckled with herbs, zapped with chilies and garlic, and much more fun than the conventional ladies-lunch aspic. Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less but requires additional unattended time. Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds vine-ripened plum tomatoes |
1 envelope (about 2 1/2 teaspoons) unflavored gelatin |
1/3 cup fresh basil or flat-leafed parsley leaves (or a combination of both), washed well, spun dry, and chopped |
3 garlic cloves, minced |
1 small hot red chili, seeded and minced (wear rubber gloves), or dried hot red pepper flakes to taste |
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons salt |
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil plus additional for drizzling over aspics |
Directions:
1. Lightly oil five 4- to 6-ounce ramekins.
2. Halve tomatoes and squeeze juice and seeds into a sieve set over a 4-cup measure. In a food processor blend tomato halves until smooth and force puree through sieve into a bowl, pressing hard on solids. Discard solids and add enough strained tomato puree to juice in measuring cup to measure 2 1/4 cups.
3. Transfer 1/4 cup tomato mixture to another bowl and sprinkle with gelatin. Let gelatin soften 1 minute. In a small saucepan bring 1/2 cup tomato mixture just to a boil and add to gelatin mixture, stirring to dissolve gelatin. Stir in remaining 1 1/2 cups tomato mixture and other ingredients (except for additional oil) and divide mixture among ramekins. Chill aspics, covered, until set at least 3 hours and up to 1 day. Run a thin knife around edge of each ramekin and dip in a bowl of hot water for 20 seconds. Invert each ramekin onto a plate and drizzle aspics with additional oil.
4. Red, White & Greens
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