Simply Tomato Season

BY CARA STRICKLAND

Martha Holmberg is a food writer with an impressive series of credentials in her bio. She trained as a cook in France and worked there as a private chef. She’s a James Beard award-winning author for her role as co-author of Six Seasons: A New Way With Vegetables, which she wrote with Joshua McFadden (and even the people I know who aren’t into food wanted to talk about). She worked with Jeffrey Morganthaler to create The Bar Book, one of the definitive cocktail books. She created a fermentation lab in Portland in order to test recipes for the Noma cookbook. She was the editor and chief of Fine Cooking magazine, food editor of The Oregonian in Portland, and the founder of their food magazine MIX. She’s written and co-authored nine books, with her latest, Simply Tomato, just launched into the world in June.

Reading this impressive litany, you’re probably assuming that she lives in Manhattan or possibly a farm in Provence. It’s possible that you’d never guess that she calls Spokane home and the Perry District her neighborhood. But it’s true.

Like so many stories over the past few years, the pandemic served as a catalyst for something new. She and her partner were living in Portland and were ready for a new adventure, a place they could discover together. A non-negotiable requirement was easy access to outdoor activities and fresh produce. They made their way to Spokane, settled in, and the rest is history.

Holmberg’s new book is a love letter to tomatoes—the plant she says she’s always grown, no matter where she has lived. During the recipe testing for the book, her garden was overflowing with different varieties, but she’s cut it back to a few favorites now, waiting for just the right moment of ripeness.

The book itself offers a wonderful primer on cooking with and eating tomatoes—a topic you probably feel confident about. But I’m guessing you’ll learn something about a new type of tomato or a technique that saves you some time or gives you a different flavor than you are used to. Choose from recipes for snacks and drinks, salads, soups, pasta and risotto, main dishes, side dishes, tarts, and pastries. If you grow tomatoes, or know someone with a bounty, this book will ensure you never run out of ideas.

Beyond the fresh tomato, Holmberg does not dismiss the role of canned tomatoes. She offers many ideas and tips for using them in her chapter: “Canned Tomatoes Aren’t Second-Class Citizens,” a title that says it all, really.

There are simple, easy recipes here for those summer days when you don’t feel like doing much in the kitchen, along with more in-depth, time-consuming recipes for when you’re feeling like a little project. If you are looking for canning, this isn’t your book, though she does give a recommendation if that’s a step you want to take. But other than that, you should be able to play with tomatoes along with Holmberg, in just about whatever way you’d like in these pages.

When we met to talk about the book, it quickly became a conversation of swapping tomato stories—the perfect example of how this humble fruit crosses so many barriers and makes up so many memories no matter where you grew up, or when. Like so many other captivating fruits, a recipe is great, but the best ones allow the tomato to be star of the show. A wonderful tomato is just as delightful in a simple slice with a little salt, a quick bruschetta, or even warm, just off the vine.

Are you hungry yet? Tomato season is quickly approaching. With this book as your companion, you’ll never look at a “simple” tomato the same way again.