morsels & sauces

Could there be anything more comforting than a bowl of hot polenta topped with a runny egg? Yep. If it's also accompanied by bursting cherry tomatoes and warmed radicchio and  f risée . And, people, it has been one rainy winter, so we're looking for savory comfort food. Food to be eaten while it rains, again . Food to be eaten while the sky is grey. Food for a Sunday afternoon. Enter  Sarah Copeland ,  the food director for Real Simple. In her second cookbook,  Feast , she gives an array of polenta options--one for each season.   Winter: Polenta with Winter Salad, Poached Egg, and Blue Cheese Spring: Polenta with Sugar Snaps Summer: Polenta with Grilled Tomatoes and Zucchini Fall: Polenta with Mushroom Pomodoro Don't those all sound delicious? I see a future for me and polenta. But what we really want to focus on here, friends, is this Winter Salad topping: radicchio, f risée, and a handful of sautéed cherry tomatoes.  And it...

It's winter, and I want tomatoes. This always happens. So what's a tomato-fiend to do?  Coax the flavor out of winter tomatoes, that's what. In  Sarah Copeland's  Feast , she presents a lovely mid-winter tomato soup (that, yes, would probably be even better if it were a late-summer soup) that guarantees satisfaction of any tomato craving.  Roasting tomatoes puts your taste buds on full blast: think intense, sweet, and smoky. Think perfect for pairing with rosemary or paprika or thyme. Think the perfect tomato on steroids.  Yes, yes, I hear you that one should roast tomatoes in the summer when they're at their peak. And I agree with you. But, even in the winter with mealy Romas or hefty greenhouse tomatoes, you're going to get good results.  Now imagine roasting tomatoes alongside some sweet red bell peppers, hearty onions, and pungent garlic?  People, we're talking full-on, umami heaven. How about some tomato roasting tips? ...