Tachogobi – Field Tomato Sauce

I thought that I had missed them this year.  Every time I went to the green market, I checked all the stalls, starting with Tim Stark’s  Eckerton Hill Farm where they had been available for the last few years and never found him or the jewel-like tomates de milpa (literally field tomatoes) that I had been anxiously anticipating.   I first discovered this tiny wild Mexican variety in the markets of the Los Tuxtlas area of southern Veracruz.   But last week there they were, glistening in the bright sun, at Windfall Farms, the place where I normally buy squash blossoms though this year I missed them too. I grabbed two little half-pint containers and happily paid an outrageous $5.00 for each, brought them home in a paper bag,  and promptly forgot about them until this morning .  They were a little the worse for wear as you will note in the picture but I knew they’d still be good and started to look forward to making them for dinner.

This ancient species (Lycopersicon pimpinellifolium) came into Central America from the Andes millennia ago and are used to make tachogobi, a garlicky, hardy sauce, mostly eaten with fish but that would also go marvelously well with pasta or chicken cutlets as I had them tonight.

The skin is fairly thick and the flavor is extremely rich and concentrated, especially in Mexico. Unfortunately, they can be hard to find. Look for them in late summer or early fall at large farmers’ markets, where they may be sold by growers who specialize in either heirloom or newer-than-new varieties. You can substitute small sweet, flavorful currant,  grape or cherry tomatoes –- eat one to be sure. It should have a sweet, intense quality. I think grape tomatoes are usually the better bet. Larger tomatoes are not a good substitute –- too much water, not enough flavor.i

Late tomato season is also the time to see if any nearby farmer’s market has very tiny (about the size of a shelled peanut or smaller) fresh hot chiles like the Veracruzan fresh chilpayas used in this dish. Otherwise substitute dried chiltepín chiles. For the authentic tachogobi of the lakeside cafés, the miniature tomatoes used to be crushed by hand and all the ingredients were pounded or ground together in a stone mortar. Here I use a blender or food processor, but I normally make sure to stop while the mixture still has some texture.