One of the things that makes The Tomato Head, well, The Tomato Head, is the monthly rotation of art. The Tomato Head is known for introducing art and artists that customers might otherwise not encounter, and that’s part of the fun. What matters most is that the work is of high quality and of interest. With that said, here’s the call. We’re looking forward to seeing what will be on our walls in 2011!

Open Call for Artists for Tomato Head / 2011
The Tomato Head is accepting submissions for its 2011 exhibit schedule. Artists may submit 5-10 images of wall-mountable work either burned onto a cd and mailed to Tomato Head Exhibits Committee c/o Bethann DeGrow, 1710 Jefferson Avenue, Knoxville, TN, 37917 or send electronically to bethann@degrow.com.

Submissions are requested by October 8, 2010. Please include a brief bio, artist statement and size of works.

For more information, please contact Bethann DeGrow, 546-6852 or bethann@degrow.com.

After a few weeks off from her appearances on WBIR, Mahasti started today by presenting a seasonally-scrumptious sweet to viewers. This recipe offers a wonderful way to use good bread that has just passed its prime and breaks away from the predictable apple pie dessert.

Enjoy!

Tomato Head’s Sour Apple Bread Pudding

6 cups stale bread, cubed
3 cups granny smith apples, cored and diced
2 cups cream
1 cup milk
3 eggs
3 egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
½ tsp cinnamon

In a large bowl whisk together cream, milk, eggs, egg yolks, sugar, vanilla and cinnamon. Add cubed bread and diced apples and toss well. Allow mixture to sit for about 3-4 minutes so bread can absorb cream mixture.

Meanwhile, lightly grease an 8 x 11 Pyrex dish. Pour bread mixture into prepared dish. Place baking dish on a cookie sheet. Place cookie sheet in oven and fill to rim with water. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 1 – 1.5 hours. Remove Pyrex dish from oven and allow pudding to sit for about 5 minutes. Serve hot with ice cream.

Leave cookie sheet in oven, until water cools before removing and pouring out water.

Serves 6 -8 people.

Mahasti asked for biscuit recipes and she has received! A huge thanks to everyone who has responded with hints, tips, helped to spread the word, or has provided one of those special family recipes. Your contributions are making her quest for the perfect biscuit all the more fun and, with fingers deep in dough, all the more successful.

Since the initial call for recipes, Mahasti has begun testing, with about three to four tests so far. Mahasti plans on baking biscuits every day this week to continue testing and she hopes to be able to send out a few tweets and messages about how things are going. It can, however, be tough to type and post with your fingers covered in flour.

We’ll send as many “thoughts from the kitchen” as we can. And until then, our ears are open for any additional ideas or recipes you have to share. Just send them our way at talktous@thetomatohead.com

Let those biscuits rise!

Last week, Mahasti enjoyed breakfast at what folks in these parts call “a country cookin’ place.” The establishment served up a bready and spongy biscuit, which got Mahasti to thinking – how does a biscuit get that texture? Was the biscuit homemade or commercially manufactured? What, really, makes the perfect biscuit?

Always experimenting and looking for new recipes and approaches, Mahasti wonders if you might help her on this quest for the best biscuit. When you think of your favorite biscuit, do you think back to a recipe from your Aunt Libby or your Granny? Is that perfect biscuit recipe one your mother made, or maybe even your uncle’s cousin’s nephew whose name you can’t remember now?

If you have one of those old recipes from a relative or friend that you think makes the perfect biscuit, would you be willing to share? Mahasti would love to give the recipe a test run and see if it gets her any closer on her quest for the perfect biscuit. Willing to help? Send your recipe to: talktous@thetomatohead.com and she’ll be chomping at the bit to get her hands in the flour.

The Tomato Head is pleased to roll out a new Sunday brunch menu in Knoxville today, July 25. The Maryville brunch menu debuted last week (Sunday, July 18). Details and links to each menu follow below. 

So what’s new? Two new sandwiches, two new huevos and two new burritos as well as a new breakfast pizza, the “Harold Shersky,” (in honor of Harold of the venerable Harold’s Deli).

Another big surprise…Egg Rolls. These unique brunch items combine scrambled local eggs rolled into Tomato Head’s pizza dough, served with a side of spicy organic ketchup and your choice of either ham, Andouille sausage, Benton’s bacon, house-made soysage, organic baked tofu or roasted onion.

We’ve also added Monkey Bread and scones, grown our biscuit and gravy options and included a few bagel combos.

It’s all yours for the trying at The Tomato Head in Knoxville on Market Square and in downtown Maryville. We open at 10am and brunch is served until 3pm.

Want to get a head start planning your order?

View the Knoxville brunch menu here.

View the Maryville brunch menu here.

Bringing new options to the “trail food” category, we love this cameo of a Tomato Head burrito venturing onto the Appalachian Trail. Thanks to “Tipi Walter” for posting this and for including The Tomato Head on the adventure.

So consider this a call to all hikers. We’d love to see you at The Tomato Head in Maryville as you’re passing through.

This month the Knoxville Business Journal prepared a series of feature stories on several women who’ve made a significant impact on the economy, culture and community of Knoxville. In an article titled, “Leading with Her Heart,” Mahasti receives recognition for her role in downtown’s culinary scene and reporter Carly Harrington reveals the evolution of The Tomato Head restaurant and the part it has played in the growth and revitalization of downtown and Market Square. If you haven’t had a chance to read the piece, here’s a quick link to the article: http://ht.ly/2dSQa

Enjoy! And thank you for 20 years of eating at The Tomato Head!

What to do with the abundance of peaches available at farmers’ markets right now (besides eating them straight from the peck)? Try our recipe for peach turnovers (as demonstrated by Mahasti on WBIR earlier today) for another delicious way to put summer on your plate.

Tomato Head’s Peach Turnovers

6 ripe peaches, peeled, pitted and diced
1.5 cups sugar
2 tsp cornstarch
2 tsp cold water
1 package frozen puff pasty

Two hours before assembling the turnovers, remove puff pastry from freezer. Remove the puff pastry from the box – leave puff pastry wrapped in the paper packaging until thawed.

Fill a medium pot with water and bring to boil. With a small knife make an “X” on the bottom of the peach. Fill a medium bowl with ice and water. Gently drop the peaches in the boiling water. Allow peaches to sit for one minute, then with a slotted spoon remove from boiling water and immerse in ice water. Remove peaches one at a time from the water and remove the skins. Cut the peaches along the seam and remove the pit. Chop peaches into ½ inch pieces.

Place peaches and sugar in a small pot, over medium heat. Reduce heat to low and cook peaches 10 – 15 minutes stirring occasionally. Dissolve cornstarch in cold water, add to peaches. Stir constantly until mixture loses its murkiness. Remove from heat and cool completely. (You can speed up cooling by placing peaches in a bowl and setting the bowl over another bowl of ice.)

To assemble turnovers:

For egg wash:

1 egg
¼ cup water

Beat egg and water in a small bowl.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Remove puff pastry from packaging. Unfold one piece at a time. Cut each sheet of pastry into 4 equal squares. Using a pastry brush, brush the edges of 2 sides of each square with egg wash. Place 1 tablespoon of peach filling in the middle of each square. Fold the puff pastry over the peach filling to make a triangle. Seal the triangle by pushing down on the edges with the tines of a fork.

Cut a small hole on top of each triangle – brush each with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar. Place turnovers on a parchment lined baking sheet. Place in oven and bake for 10 minutes. Serve hot or at room temperature with vanilla ice cream.

Makes 8 turnovers with a little extra filling leftover to eat with vanilla ice cream.

Along with tomatoes a-plenty, fireworks, and humidity, July brings new art for both Knoxville and Maryville restaurants. We hope you’ll come in and enjoy a meal as well as the new exhibits.

In Knoxville, as of July 3rd, Jarrod Justice presents his acrylic paintings. Justice lives in Knoxville with his wife Jennifer and two sons. Painting is a part time job for him and helps buy the groceries. With so many horribly grotesque images in the art world today, he aims to fill the canvas with joyful colors and freedom. His abstract interpretation of the urban landscape creates a dialogue with the viewer – about truth, faith, and reality. He uses the everyday door and window to symbolize perspective and choice. During the last ten years he has painted mainly for friends and family, but recently his colorful acrylic paintings have joined the local art scene.
You can look at images of his recent works at: jarrodjustice.com.

"i was hit by an old bicycle" by Jarrod Justice

Maryville’s Tomato Head receives the work of Julie Bernal, with an exhibit titled “Nature in Color.” Bernal’s work was most recently shown at The Tomato Head’s Knoxville location.

Now that summer is here in its full heat and humidity, the season is ripe for travel adventures, vacations, road trips, staycations, and hookey-playing. So where do you take your Tomato Head? Snap a picture of yourself, friends or family wearing a Tomato Head T-shirt (all vintages accepted) and send it our way. We want to create a Facebook Summer 2010 Album of all the amazing places our customers take The Tomato Head.