Tomato

Bruce Aidells is a big fan of wood-fired cooking. Because a wood-burning oven has the ability to hold heat for long periods, it’s ideal for long, slow cooking overnight. Chili has become such a popular American classic that there are chili cookoffs and festivals held all over the country. Chili con carne has its origins in the slow-cooked stews from Mexico. One such stew, chili colorado, was no doubt made in clay pots and cooked overnight in the village baker’s oven. In this recipe the ingredients are just combined and cooked slowly over a long period of time.

This is a braised version of a traditional Turkish kebab dish. It’s adapted from one of my favorite cookbooks, Classical Turkish Cooking: Traditional Turkish Food for the American Kitchen by Ayla Algar. The meat is marinated in yogurt and lemon juice overnight to ensure tenderness. A separate yogurt sauce is used to braise the lamb. The result is very tender meat in a rich, flavorful sauce. Cooking in a wood-fired oven adds a slight smokiness and depth to the onions and tomatoes. Serve this with couscous or rice pilaf.

Poaching refers to cooking in a liquid that’s heated to just below boiling. The shells are kept on the shrimp while cooking to keep them tender and to allow the shells to release their flavor into the poaching liquid. Cooking halibut, salmon, or shellfish this way produces a delicate texture.

This is the perfect tart to celebrate summer. It showcases the ripest heirloom tomatoes, fresh corn, and basil. You can use any tomatoes, but I like to use a mixture of colors. The corn kernels add crunch and a burst of flavor. The tang of the goat cheese pulls all the tastes together.

I love the Southwest of the United States and the foods of that region. This recipe features three ingredients borrowed from its Native American culture: corn, beans, and peppers. Here, the stew is made with vegetable stock, but you can also use chicken stock. Wood-roasted pork shoulder or chicken can be shredded and added to the dish for an even heartier meal. The heirloom beans come from my friend Steve Sando’s company, Rancho Gordo. You can substitute other dried beans, but the flavor will be best if you use Rancho Gordo beans (see Resources). The stew can be made a day ahead and reheated just before serving. Any leftovers are terrific as a filling for tamales or enchiladas.

In the south of France, beautiful large ripe tomatoes are often stuffed with herbs and bread crumbs, then served with grilled fish. Here, the tomatoes are wood-roasted for added flavor. You can play with other herbs such as dill or marjoram in the stuffing.

Roasting chicken under bricks creates an evenly golden skin and moist, succulent meat. The bricks keep the chicken weighted down and somewhat flattened, which allows it to cook evenly and more quickly than if roasted whole. Brining the chicken keeps the flesh moist. Any number of vegetables can be roasted as part of this dish, but I prefer just tomatoes and shallots.

What could be more fun than popping open oysters on the grill or on the coals of a fire? Large oysters work best for the grill. Or you can nestle them in a skillet lined with rock salt. In either case, the cooking skill needed to make mouth-watering oysters is minimal. The basic rule: Don’t overcook the oysters! here, they’re served with an Indian-spiced barbecue sauce that’s cooked over the fire for added flavor.

Panzanella is a rustic Italian bread salad, created to use leftover bread. The vibrant tomatoes add moisture to the stale bread for a great summer main course or side dish. In this version, the bread is grilled for extra flavor. If your tomatoes are not at the peak of flavor, grill them, cut side down, until marked to bring out their natural sugars. Cut them into chunks and toss in the dressing before adding to the salad.

These stuffed flatbreads are shaped much like meat-filled galettes. Lamb is the meat of choice in many Mediterranean cuisines, and here it is combined with other key ingredients of the region—eggplant and pomegranate—along with the warm aromatics often used in Turkish cuisine.

Focaccia is one of the easiest flatbreads to make: No shaping is needed because the dough is stretched and spread out in the sheet pan. This recipe uses a very wet dough, resulting in a moist flatbread about 3/4 inch thick. You can substitute shavings of Parmesan for the ricotta salata cheese, if you like. Focaccia is best eaten the day it is baked.