I know full well that a single Sungold plant generates more tiny tomatoes than my two-person household can eat. Still, you can’t grow less than one, so every year at this time I am inundated. We snack on them like peanuts, but even so we can’t keep up. When we’re really getting backed up, I’ll roast a baking sheet full of them. Roasting buys me some time; the nearly caramelized tomatoes will keep in the fridge for several days, ready for adding to panzanella, tossing with linguine or—my favorite—spooning onto crostini. Typically, I’ll slather the toast with ricotta or whipped feta first, but mascarpone is my new go-to, thanks to some inspiration from a neighbor. That dreamy spread puts a luscious layer between crunchy toast and juicy tomatoes. Mamma mia –what an irresistible bite!
Waiting for mascarpone: oven-roasted Sungolds
Crave Brothers, a family-run farmstead creamery in Wisconsin, took first place for mascarpone at this year’s American Cheese Society competition. It dukes it out every year with Wisconsin’s BelGioioso mascarpone, which prevailed the two years before that.
Even Galbani, maker of mascarpone in Italy for a century, now has a U.S. plant, a sign of how big the American demand has become. But BelGioioso preceded it, launching a domestic mascarpone in 1990, and it remains the category leader in the U.S. by a wide margin. You can hear mascarpone pronounced correctly (with a Wisconsin accent) on BelGioioso’s website.
Caprese salad remix: cherry tomatoes and ciliegine
Is mascarpone even cheese? Some purists say no because the recipe relies on neither culture nor rennet. Methods for making it are top secret—as closely guarded as nuclear warheads, George Crave once told me—but it typically starts with a mixture of cream and milk, or sometimes pure cream. The mixture is heated and coagulated with acid, usually citric acid, then cooled. In times past, the mascarpone would be drained in muslin bags to remove whey, but that process is largely mechanized now, relying on some type of mechanical separator or strainer.
Mascarpone contains no salt, so its lifespan is short once you’ve breached the container. Plan to use it in four or five days. If you have as many cherry tomatoes as I do, that should not be a problem.
Roasted Tomato Crostini with Mascarpone
¾ pound Sungold or other cherry tomatoes
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon dried oregano, crumbled fine
Sea salt
Baguette slices, toasted
Mascarpone
Small basil leaves
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Stem and halve the cherry tomatoes. Put them on a parchment-lined baking sheet large enough to hold them in a single layer. Add olive oil, oregano and salt to taste. Toss gently to coat the tomatoes evenly. Rearrange them on the baking sheet so they’re in a single layer. It’s okay if they touch and it doesn’t matter if they’re cut side up or down.
Bake until the tomatoes are slightly browned and caramelized in spots, about 30 minutes—less if you turn on a convection fan. Set aside until lukewarm.
Slather the toasts with mascarpone, using as much as you like. Spoon tomatoes and some of their juices on top. Garnish with basil leaves and serve immediately.
Makes about 1 dozen crostini, depending on size
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