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Celebrating Summer

July 2, 2005 by Divina Cucina

With the summer heat , we are celebrating the wonderful produce of the season.
The first fabulous Florentine tomatoes are ready to be made into sauce.

Although my Florentine husband, Andrea, says August is really the month for tomatoes, I can’t wait! I won’t be buying kilo’s of tomatoes to prepare for sauce until August, when the market is glutted with the sweet ripe tomatoes and the price falls, but how can one resist makings some pomorola now, and bringing summer to your plate?

Fiorentine are what they call the people from Florence. These lovely pumpkin like-tomatoes are also called Fiorentine, even when grown in Sicily! They are a fabulous, rich, meaty heirloom tomato that makes an incredibly rich sauce, called Pomarola, which every Italian Mamma makes.

This week we have made it twice in class!
No butter, no oil just tomato at it’s ripest.
Nothing tastes more like summer.

  • To make your own Pomarola-

    Usually we cook about a kilo, 2.2 pounds of tomatoes at a time. It is really important to only use summer RIPE tomatoes. If not, off season we use canned San Marzano tomatoes, which are only picked at the height of perfection!


    Squeeze the tomatoes into a large pot with your hands.
    Add some torn basil leaves and a large pinch of salt.
    Cover pot and let cook over medium high heat until the tomatoes fall apart.
    Pass the tomatoes and all their liquid through a food mill ( moulix), not a food processor which would only chop the skin into the sauce.
    Keep pureeing until all that is left are the skins, rolled up, releasing all the tomato pulp.
    The food mill removes all the skin and seeds and leaves you only with the rich tomato puree’.

    To serve:

While you cook the pasta, heat some of the sauce in a skillet with a tablespoon of butter.
Lightly drain the pasta, and toss into the sauce, heating together to finish cooking.
Sprinkle with parmesan and serve with additional parmesan at the table.
Garnish with some fresh basil and you will taste Summer!



Mamma mia….. make this and you will make an Italian weep!

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Filed Under: All Recipes, First Course, Sauces Tagged With: tomatoes

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Comments

  1. mitch of kenny says

    July 5, 2005 at 3:54 am

    i love you! i just sent your diva web site to a friend!

    mchuich@aol.com or comcast.net

  2. Diva says

    July 5, 2005 at 5:06 am

    Mitch.. Baby!!!
    Love you too!
    we think of you often and the fun we had at the VIlla!
    Come back!!!

  3. Kate Hill says

    July 8, 2005 at 9:57 am

    Merci Judy, now I know what I am fixing for lunch– right now! I am growing these “Tomates Italianes” in my potager and just plucked the first two- let’s cook together soon. Kate

  4. Diva says

    July 8, 2005 at 4:16 pm

    Grazie Bella… hope to see your tomatoes on your blog…
    we should set up a date !!
    Truffles here in the fall?

  5. Pille says

    July 13, 2005 at 9:33 am

    I love the look of those tomatoes – really,really want some of these now!
    Only recently found your blog (through D. Lebovitz’s page, I believe) and am looking forward to reading more about your Italian food adventures..

  6. Diva says

    July 13, 2005 at 3:48 pm

    Great!!!
    The tomatoes are getting better everyday.. and Cheaper!
    August is when the tomatoes are the cheapest… and everyone is making their sauce for the year!

Judy Witts Francini

Originally from California; Tuscany has been my home since 1984. I found the city of Florence to hold all my passions, food, wine, art all in one place. When I am not in Tuscany, I am often found in Sicily, my other favorite place to be. Always searching for recipes to share and exploring for the guides I write to my favorite cities for food and wine.

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