Gracious Gourmand guest chef photos: part two: tomato aspic!

The finished dish: tomao aspic **double rainbow!!!** with tomato powder, smoked Kauai guava wood sea salt, tomato essence, and basil

Start with the best local, organic tomatoes you can get your hands on.

Puree (I'm always too lazy to find the accent!) each color of tomatoes (these are green zebras) separately with olive oil, homemade garlic vinegar (though white wine vinegar would be lovely), and salt and pepper.

Bring each puree to a boil with agar agar powder (I used 1/2 teaspoon per two cups of puree), then let each one set up in a container before pouring the next one on top. We layered some agave syrup inbetween to help glue everything together.

To make the tomato essence---the clear layer on top of the rainbow---you mix up everything delicious about summer with some salt, tie it up in a cheesecloth bag, and let it drip into a container overnight.

Scoop off only the clear liquid on the top (use the cloudy liquid on the bottom to make bloody marys!) and thicken it like the purees with agar. Pour it onto a sheet pan to make very thin layers.

This photo shows the essence well.

We garnished the dish with tiny basil leaves, some beautiful smoked Hawaiian salt, tomato powder I made by dehydrating tomato skins, and drops of yuzu juice.