Top ten favorite foods

Last year, I made this tart with tomatoes I picked from my garden.  It was so good, I still think about it, and look forward to making it again when I have vine ripened tomatoes.  The picture was taken before I baked it, when it was easier to see the four different types of tomatoes I used.   Unfortunately, after it was baked it was hard to distinguish them from each other. 

Rosie, of the fabulous  Bitchin' In The Kitchen With Rosie  tagged me with a Favorite Foods meme and vine ripened tomatoes is the number two choice on my list below.  Go over to Rosie's blog and check out her list. She'll make you laugh and hungry all at the same time.

Here is my official Favorite Food List:

1.    Good bread.  You know the kind I mean--home baked or from a good bakery.   I can't resist a slice of hot, crusty bread right out of the oven, slathered with butter. 

Tomato tart fresh from the oven.

2.    Vine ripened tomatoes.  I never eat fresh tomatoes unless they are vine ripened and rely on canned tomatoes when they aren't available.   In Winter and early Spring, I almost count the days until  I can plant my tomatoes. My favorite way to eat a vine ripened tomato?  A tomato sandwich.  The drool is puddling in my mouth just thinking about it.  Good mayo, good bread, salt, pepper--and the tomato, of course. Sometimes the tomato is so juicy, you stand over the sink as you eat the sandwich.  Homer Simpson has donuts to make him drool, for me it's a tomato sandwich.  I'll probably plant my tomatoes at the end of next month, and start the countdown until I pick the first fruit.

3.    Homemade Jam.  It's worlds away in taste from the store bought variety, if made with freshly picked fruit.  And it isn't filled with corn syrup. Yes, I'm talking about you Smuckers.

Cowgirl Creamery Mt. Tam cheese.

4.    Cheese.  I could give up meat. But I'd be absolutely miserable if I never ate cheese again. Some favorites:  Cowgirl Creamery Mt Tam cheese,  Point Reyes blue cheese, Constant Bliss, and Gorgonzola Piccante.   And I could go on and on.

My favorite canned tuna.

5.    Tuna.  I grew up eating so much of it, kids called me "Tuna Mouth".   I love canned tuna from Italy or Sardinia.    Right now, I have the jar of tuna pictured above, packed with the best damn sun dried tomatoes in the world, in my pantry.  When the moment is right, I'll eat it  with some really great bread.

Speckled butter beans served on cornbread.

6.    Speckled butter beans. This is pretty much a Southern thing because it's impossible to get them any place but the South.  The beans are speckled when raw, but change color as they cook.  In our family, we pick them when they're small and incredibly tender. I grow them each summer and my husband loves them so much, he begrudges every bean I eat, because it's one less for him.  And this  from a man who told me he hated lima beans when we first met. One taste of speckled butter beans and he was a convert.

7.    Butter.  Love it.  I don't eat a lot of it, but life would be awful without some butter now and then.

    Agrimontana cherries. Food of the gods.

8.    Cherries.  I have a sweet cherry tree in my back yard and each Spring I eat the berries right off the tree.  California produces some of the best sweet cherries in the world,although people in Oregon and Washington might argue with that. But, my favorites are Agrimontana sour cherries from Italy.

Ahhh-polenta.   

9.    Smooth creamy food.  I couldn't choose between mashed potatoes, polenta, refried beans and steel cut oatmeal.   Usually they're the side dish, but for me they're the thing that makes the meal special.  St.Patrick's Day is near and that means colcannon.  Yippee!  I can't wait.

10.    Seafood Gumbo.   This is the big deal food in my family.  We often make it in huge quantities, with  teams of people peeling mountains of shrimp for the gumbo.  Emotional meltdowns among the shrimp peelers are not uncommon and can be memorable.   

Honorable mention.  Jay's potato chips, dulce de leche, avocados, morel mushrooms, and God help me---Cheetos!

Comments

[Rosie]

Awsome list! I had to get a bib when thinking about that tomato tart. Too bad there wasn't any bacon in it - hehe!

[Bunty]

I just caught up on your recent cooking dishes
they are great and the commentary is superb
I wish I knew how to save them like I do the pictures you send Instead of having to
the business of asking for your
http://whatdidyoueat etc
You will have to get me lined up in this in MAY!!!!

[Bunty]

I THOUGHT I HAD MADE MY COMMENTS ALREADY

WHAT DID I DO WRONG?

[sher]

Oh yes Rosie, bacon would be just right on that tart. I didn't include bacon on my list, but a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich is to die for! Drool.

Bunty, I'll send you the recipes by e-mail if you want

[melissa_cookingdiva]

I am with you from 1 to 10! But, you are right, the tomato tart is really really special :)

[sher]

Melissa,

Now all I think about is the tomato tart. Well, I plant my tomatoes next month--so that means "only" three months until I can make the tart. Sigh.

[farmgirl]

Delicous list. And those gorgeous tomatoes have me drooling! : )

[sher]

Farmgirl,

Thank you. I have tomato tart on the brain now! It will be so nice when tomato season starts.

[Miss Mirror]

look so delicious...

[Bob Jain]

Wow..I really love tomatoes..