Tomato butter sauce highlights season’s harvest

What a wonderful time it is when sun-ripened tomatoes come into season, as they are right now during the heart of summer.

Sure, you can find tomatoes — even heirloom varieties of all colors, shapes and sizes — in the market throughout the year, thanks to hothouse agriculture and international shipping.

But tomatoes that have grown locally under the warm sunshine and have made just a short journey to your food store or farmers market will always taste better, be juicier and simply look more naturally beautiful than those you buy during autumn, winter or spring or those shipped long distances.

Of course, it makes sense to enjoy those seasonal tomatoes at their freshest, sliced or chopped to make all sorts of salads that seem to miraculously capture the season in every bite. The Italian caprese salad, with mozzarella, fresh basil and fruity extra-virgin olive oil, is the quintessential example, but I know you will let your imagination run wild.

When I cook with summer tomatoes, I always make sure that the recipe treats them with the respect they deserve, highlighting their essence in a way you just can’t do when the ingredient isn’t at its very best. That’s why I’m often tempted to make just a simple tomato butter sauce, which I find to be a perfect vehicle for distilling the vegetablefruit’s sweetness and body. As long as I’m doing that at the stove, I’ll also put in a little quick time to cook white fish fillets that have a mild flavor and firm yet tender texture that makes a suitable partner for such a fresh seasonal preparation.

Widely available halibut fillets make an excellent choice for this recipe; you could also substitute striped bass, cod, haddock, flounder or any other white fish fillets you like. Prepared on the stovetop in a buttered casserole, with some chopped shallots and white wine, the fish cooks in just a few minutes and is then transferred to a heated plate while you add to its cooking liquid a reduced juice of fresh tomatoes, reducing the mixture further and then enriching it with butter and cream.

That sauce sounds sumptuous, doesn’t it? And to make sure you don’t miss a delicious drop, there’s one final element to the dish: fresh pasta, which forms a base on which you serve the fish and its sauce. Just a glass of well-chilled dry white wine, and you have a casual yet elegant summer dinner.

DREAMSTIME When cooking with summer tomatoes, make sure that the recipe treats them with the respect they deserve, highlighting their essence.