Sweet + Savory - Sungold Tomatoes

Welcome to my summer series ‘Sweet + Savory’ where I’ll be taking farmers market produce and using it in both sweet and savory dishes. Starting with the adorable Sungold Tomato 🌞🍅🌿 She’s cute, she’s golden, and simply begging to be used in a dessert imo. I used an apricot amaro mixture for the base to bring out the sweet, caramely notes, and infused the earthy olive oil cake with lots of citrus for brightness and a tart finish. The sungold’s burst in your mouth with every bite and are nice and jammy without feeling like a tomato sauce.

In a pasta, you barely have to do anything to make the sungold’s pop, but I wanted to balance the flavors with some bite and brininess so I added garlic, anchovies and Calabrian Chili for the base. Always keep lots of pasta water on hand for a luscious sauce which I emulsified with butter and pecorino for some richness. Finish it off with a few squeezes of lemon, lots of black pepper, basil, and chive blossoms for a pop of color and allium-y goodness.

So are you sweet or savory?

Ingredients

For the Sungold Olive Oil Upside Down Cake

For the Jam + Amaro Mixture:

50 g sugar

100 g apricot jam or marmelade

4 tbsp amaro (or you can sub for alternative liqueur, lemon, or orange juice)

For the Cake:

1 carton (approx 8 oz.) sungold tomatoes

315 ml extra virgin olive oil

200 g sugar

250 g flour

55 g cornmeal or almond flour

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

1 tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt

3 tbsp amaro, grand marnier, campari, or other liqueur (or you can sub for more citrus juice)

1 tbsp finely grated lemon or orange zest

3 tbsp fresh lemon or orange juice

3 eggs

For the Buttery Sungold Cavatelli

1 carton (approx 8 oz.) sungold tomatoes

3-4 anchovies

2-3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tsp calabrian chili paste

4 tbsp butter, divided

1 tbsp olive oil

1-2 tbsp salt, divided

2 tsp pepper

1 bunch basil

juice of 1 lemon

pecorino, as much as your heart desires

4-6 chive blossoms, to serve (optional)

To make the cake

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 9” cake tin (make sure it’s one with some depth as this does make a good amount of batter). In a small bowl combine your sugar, jam, and amaro with a spoon until a loose, almost caramel sauce like mixture forms. Pour into the base of your cake tin, coating evenly, then pour in your tomatoes.

Mix your dry ingredients in a medium bowl - flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. Mix your wet ingredients - the amaro and citrus juice in a small bowl. Set aside as well.

Combine your sugar, citrus zest, and eggs in a large bowl. With a handmixer or using a whisk, beat together until pale and doubled in volume, about 3-4 minutes. You’ll know its ready when you can “ribbon” the mixture, leaving a thick trail of batter between the whisk and bowl before dissolving.

Slowly stream in the olive oil while continuing to whisk. The oil will emulsify (almost like an aoli) and become even thicker and homogeneous. Then we’ll add our dry and wet ingredients. Beginning and ending with the dry in 3 additions. At this point we want to mix until just incorporated so that the batter doesn’t get gummy (resulting in a dense cake), giving a few folds with a spatula at the end.

Pour the cake batter into the tin, covering your tomatoes. As soon as you place the cake in the oven, turn the heat down to 350. Bake 45-55 minutes until the cake is golden brown.

Allow to cool for 15-20 minutes then flip onto a cake stand, serving platter, or plate. Revealing the golden tomato layer beneath.

To make the pasta

Start by getting a pot of water boiling for the pasta. Melt 2 tbsp of butter w/ the olive oil over medium heat, then add the garlic, calabrian chili, and anchovies. Break up the anchovies with the back of a spoon and saute until fragrant and sizzling, about 1-2 minutes.

Add the sungolds and saute until about half have broken down into a jammy sauce. Season with salt and pepper.

Salt your pasta water once boiling, then add your pasta and cook until al dente, reserving 1-2 cups of pasta water. Once the pasta is cooked, add to the sauce along with 1 cup of water. Start to toss with a pair of tongs until the water starts to absorb into the sauce and coat the pasta. Add the last two tbsp of butter and pecorino. Continue to stir, adding more water as necessary until the pasta is glossy and the sauce is emulsified, about 2-3 minutes.

Finish with basil, lemon juice, a few more cracks of pepper, and serve with chive blossoms.