Breakaway Tomato Spread

I think I’ve happened upon another flavor blast that will become a permanent staple in my fridge. I recently found a gigantic (more than a pound) bag of dried tomatoes — a truly excellent source of umami — for a song, so I bought them, and wondered how far I would get with them before they molded or otherwise went bad on me. Determined not to let this happen, I just started cooking, with no idea of what was to come other than I would be using a large quantity of dried tomatoes. I had a large onion, so I chopped that up, and began sauteeing it in butter and olive oil, then added a big handful of dried tomatoes. At this point I thought it might turn out to be a super-potent pasta sauce, or at least the base of one, but that’s not what happened.

After the onion softened a bit, I transferred the mixture to the VitaPrep, and let it rip. In went a clove of garlic confit (which will be covered in my next post), a few big spoonful of greek yogurt, and some olive oil, plus some salt and pepper, of course. It was delicious, just as it was. I immediately spread some on a lightly toasted slice of Tartine’s country bread (which gets my vote for best bread in the universe) and knew that it had earned a permanent place in the fridge, spooned into a little crock that used to house sweet butter. It’s creamy from the yogurt, tart and umami-laden from the tomatoes. I’ve since used it on sandwiches, in scrambled eggs (unbelievable), between a piece of halibut and the crust that I gave it, on baked tofu, in salad dressings, on baked potatoes. You can imagine a hundred other uses for it. Let me know some new ones if you try it, please.

• 1 tablespoon each of butter and extra virgin olive oil

• half cup onions

• half cup dried tomatoes (not the ones packed in oil), sliced

• 1 clove garlic confit

• quarter cup yogurt

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Melt the butter and oil in a heavy pan, add the onions, and saute over medium heat for a few minutes. Add the tomatoes and some salt and pepper, and continue to saute for another few minutes. Transfer to a blender, add the garlic, yogurt, and extra oil, and puree. Keeps for several weeks in a covered jar in the fridge.