She Says Tomato

At this time of year, bushel baskets, farm stands and produce displays are bursting with firm, oval Roma or San Marzano tomatoes – a sign that many home cooks are holing up in their kitchens, pressing and preserving these beloved, low-moisture varieties for use in the coming months as a base for sauces, stews and soups. 

No one is more attuned to this seasonal highlight than effervescent food personality Liz Fusato, known locally as the (volunteer) host of the cooking show Dish of the Day on Rogers tv Dufferin-Caledon, which she presented for more than five years. 

Liz and her siblings are the children of Italian parents who had immigrated to Canada from the village of Montecchio Maggiore in northern Italy, about an hour’s drive from Venice. The kids grew up on a farm in the Niagara region, and tomatoes were always central to their repertoire of dishes. Late summer was spent harvesting, cooking and preserving tomato-based sauces to enjoy throughout the winter. 

Once in Canada, says Liz, the family “grew everything, and everyone in my family cooked: my mother was a butcher, my father was a hunter and forager who collected wild greens and mushrooms, my sister later became a chef… it’s in our blood.”

The key, then as now, is to let the top-notch produce do the talking, she says. “My big philosophy is don’t mess with a great thing; let’s just enhance the flavour. If you start with a good product, there’s very little that needs to be done. That’s the importance of buying good quality produce. You don’t have to add a lot of other ingredients to mask a lack of flavour.”

Liz, who works by day in banking, recently invited In The Hills photographer Elaine Li into the kitchen of her Orangeville home, where she lives with her partner, Gord Purdy, and their dog, Aldo. (Her daughters, Madeline and Cassandra, are grown and no longer at home.) Elaine documented the steps as Liz prepared an easy take on tradition, her roasted tomato and garlic sugo (sauce), made with fresh Roma tomatoes from Rock Garden Farms in Caledon. (In fact, says Liz, all the ingredients for the meal, apart from the flour, were from Rock Garden.)

Because it uses fresh tomatoes and doesn’t require preserves, this particular recipe works for a busy weeknight dinner. She rounds out the menu with a classic homemade pasta, which she makes on a table downstairs in her bar area because she needs the elbow room, and a grilled radicchio salad. 

And true to her philosophy, Liz’s recipes, written by hand in a thick journal, are simple and succinct. The pasta needs only two ingredients; the sauce is primarily tomato, onion and garlic; and the salad includes only two vegetables, allowing herbs and the liquid-gold olive oil to speak for themselves. 

“Really these dishes are so easy to make, especially the sauce. And grilled radicchio and pasta is something that we enjoy at home all the time,” Liz says. “My mom made fresh pasta every Sunday; it was a ritual. We’d help turn it out, and I still use her old hand-turning machine. It’s still going strong, and it weighs a ton!” 

But you don’t need a pasta machine, Liz notes, because the dough can simply be rolled out the old-fashioned way – with a rolling pin – and cut into any shape you like. Her choice that day was pappardelle, a flat, wide noodle. 

While hosting more than 90 instalments of Dish of the Day, which you can still watch on YouTube, Liz often tried her hand at other cuisines, including Caribbean, Asian and Indian. “There’s a lot of diversity in the Dufferin area, so I didn’t only focus on Italian dishes,” she says.

When she was growing up in an area with few Italian families, Italian cuisine was still something of an oddity and pizza was the only commonly known dish. Cured meats, antipasto, dandelion greens and risotto were unheard of and when her family spoke of them, she says, “It was like we had three heads! It’s so different now, everyone knows about so many different foods.”

Liz’s TV job included writing the scripts, creating the recipes, preparing the ingredients and cooking on-site in a studio that didn’t even have a kitchen (she used a hot plate). This challenge forced her to be flexible and roll with the punches. “I am who I am on that set. It’s shoot-to-air, there’s no editing,” she says with her trademark infectious laugh.

These may be skills she learned in childhood. Liz vividly remembers harvest time on the family farm. It was all hands on deck, with lots of family friends arriving to pitch in, sometimes even showing up with ingredients they would simply hand to her and ask her to cook. “When I was small, I had to step into the kitchen and learn how to prepare everything,” she recalls. 

“When we had family gatherings, it was easily 30 people, so by the time I was 10 years old, I was making full meals for big groups!” 

Asked what the must-haves are in every Italian kitchen, her answer comes quickly: high quality olive oil, butter, garlic, onions, Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, dried hot pepper flakes, oregano, an authentic Italian herb mix and fresh basil. “Every Italian home will have these items,” she says. In addition to buying heaps of tomatoes from Rock Garden Farms, Liz shops in Bolton at Mercato Fine Foods and at Garden Foods. The latter carries “Italian staples like great anchovies, bread, seasonings, produce, a huge cheese selection, Italian sausages and deli goods. It’s the real deal.” 

As is Liz. We thank her for sharing recipes that she has known and loved since she was a child, food that connects the village of Montecchio Maggiore to her community in Orangeville. 

Buon appetito!  

Roasted Tomato and Garlic Sugo 

SERVES 4

Sugo – simply meaning “sauce” in Italian – is a traditional tomato sauce and a staple in every Italian home. Roasting the tomato and garlic in the oven brings out the sweet juices of the tomatoes and the rich, smoky flavour of the garlic.

INGREDIENTS

600 g / 1.3 lb Roma tomatoes 
1 whole garlic bulb 
1 medium onion
3 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper 
chilli flakes 
fresh basil leaves
butter (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 400 F.
Cut tomatoes into halves or quarters and remove as much seed as possible.
Peel and cut one onion into quarters.
Cut the top off the garlic bulb. Do not remove the skin or the garlic will burn and taste bitter.
Combine the tomatoes, onion and garlic with olive oil, salt, pepper and chilli flakes and spread in an even layer on a baking sheet. 
Place in the preheated oven and roast approximately 45 minutes. 
Once cool to touch, squeeze the garlic out of its skin and place all ingredients in a blender.
Blend until creamy.
Add torn basil to the sugo while warming it to serve. Add a knob of butter for an additional flavour boost if desired.
Refrigerate leftover sauce in a jar.

Simple Handmade Pasta 

SERVES 4

Making her grandmother’s pasta recipe every Sunday with her mother is one of Liz’s fondest childhood memories, and with only two ingredients, this is as simple as it gets. The dough can be used for any shape of noodle. For this article, Liz cut her rolled dough into noodles called pappardelle, which are about 3 cm wide. This recipe can shrink or expand to fit the number of diners. Each serving requires 100 grams (about ¾ cup) of flour and one egg.

INGREDIENTS

400 g (about 3 cups) of Italian “00” flour 
4 eggs (medium-sized, at room temperature, preferably organic) 

INSTRUCTIONS

Create a mound of flour and create a well in the centre. Crack the eggs into the well. Whisk the eggs.
Slowly topple the flour into the whisked egg and whisk together. Knead until smooth. 
Let the dough rest for 30 minutes, covered, at room temperature. 
Roll through a pasta roller until pasta is semi-translucent, or use a well-floured rolling pin on a floured cutting board to roll the dough flat.
Cut into strips 2- to 3-cm wide for pappardelle, or into any shape you prefer.
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil, drop noodles into the pot and cook for 2 minutes. 
Strain, then transfer noodles into the roasted tomato sauce and gently stir before enjoying immediately.

Grilled Radicchio Salad 

SERVES 4

Radicchio, sometimes known as Italian chicory, is a leafy vegetable with white-veined red leaves. It’s slightly bitter if eaten raw, but grilling brings out its natural sweetness. “But over-grilling is a detriment as radicchio is quite delicate and overcooking will create a burnt, bitter-tasting dish,” Liz advises. Use as many other salad greens as you prefer for this salad.

INGREDIENTS

1 radicchio 
olive oil 
salt and pepper 
fresh greens (such as frisée or curly endive)
shaved Parmigiano Reggiano
balsamic vinegar

INSTRUCTIONS

Cut the radicchio lengthwise into quarters. Brush with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. 
Grill at medium-high heat for approximately 5 minutes, turning occasionally. 
Dress fresh greens with olive oil and arrange on a plate. 
Lay the grilled radicchio on top of the greens, add shaved Parmigiano Reggiano and drizzle with balsamic vinegar.
Add salt and pepper to taste.