Tomatoes again, and crabs and tomatoe essence martinis. Again, a relic of happier times when the august sun was hot.

New Jersey is actually known for its truck farms, fresh vegetable farms, and especially, tomatoes, and sweet corn. There is a reason Campbells soup is headquartered here, and their biggest seller since time imemorial is tomatoe soup. My brother’s in laws have a farm in south jersey, and they have their entire tomato crop under contract to a high end salsa company, Green Mountain Gringo. Jersey tomatoes are the best. And at the farmstands you can get sweet corn picked that morning, you stand in the field when you buy it, the only way to have sweet corn.
Another product for which we are rightly famed is Blue claw crabs from the Barnegat Bay. I catch them in my backyard. They are a nuisance, I prefer to go to the bayman’s shack across the highway and buy picked backfin crabmeat. Heaven.
So I wanted to combine all these Jersey summer treats. I made a pure New Jersey salsa, diced fresh jersey tomatoes, put them in a bowl with a little salt and that beautiful nectar, clear liquid tomatoe essence seeps out, its the most heavenly liquid on earth. Sometimes I take a few tablespoons of that essence, which takes a couple of pounds of tomatoes to produce, and strain it out, and put it in a cocktail shaker with black pepper and just a few slivers of scotch bonnet pepper, and a few sprigs of cilantro, and muddle it, then add good vodka and shake with ice, and make tomatoe essence bloody mary martinis.

But, to get back to the recipe, so far I have diced tomatoes. I take a couple of ears of sweet corn, shuck them, and put them on the grill to roast, just a bit, gently, just browned. Then cut the corn from the ears and add to the tomatoes. Then I dice some jalapenos very fine, throw that in. Then a good garlic clove, lay it on the cuting board, and smash it with the blade of my chef’s knife. Then sprinkle a bit of kosher salt on it, and turn the knife upside down, and using the back of the knife, crush the grains of salt into the garlic, carefully, over and over, until it is paste. Scrape that up and throw it in. Dice a little bit of fresh sweet green peppers and put that in, and the chiffonade some scallions, and chop a big handful of cilantro. Add some kind of acid, I am not yet sure whether it is best with lime or lemon or vinegar, vinegar makes it more genuinely a northeast thing, lime makes it more south of the border. Splash some olive oil on it, oil can extract some flavors the tomato essence cant, and chill it in the fridge.
When its cold, add jumbo lump crabmeat. As much as your budget allows. Serve it over a good lettuce, with some avocado slices. I have invented Jersey-Mex. You can serve steamed, chilled shrimp or lobster this way, too. Avocados would be a nice addition.