A Long Relationship with Prasa kon Tomat

Prasa kon Tomat (Photo Courtesy of Susan Barocas)

For me, prasa is a dish that’s all about family food and the strength of food to connect us to family, culture and history across time and distance. Of course, there is a story.

My father, Poppi, grew up eating this dish he simply called prasa, Ladino for the main ingredient, leeks, as many of you know. Many also add the “kon tomat” since the other important ingredient is tomatoes.

Poppi’s parents had brought the dish with them when they came from the Ottoman Empire to the US in the early 1900s. My grandfather David Rafael Barokas (the k was changed to a c at Ellis Island) came from Ҫorlu, about 70 miles west Istanbul, and my grandmother Ester Testa from Monastir. Naturally, they and my father spoke Ladino.

Leeks were a favorite of Spain’s Jews and were one of the incriminating foods recorded in Inquisition testimony. They have an even longer history as part of Jewish food dating back to Biblical times when the Israelites wandering in the desert lamented the lack of leeks along with onions, garlic, cucumbers, fish and melons.

Although Poppi cooked quite a bit (unusual for a man who was not a chef in the 1950s and 1960s), unexplainably he never made prasa for us. Instead, prasa was introduced to my family by a newly discovered cousin from Cuba decades after my father ate it growing up on the Lower East Side of New York.

Dora Barocas y Ponte was my grandfather’s brother Samuel’s daughter. In 1960, she, her husband José and 2 young children were among the last refugees to make it out of Castro’s Cuba. They were resettled in Denver where José went to work for United Airlines. The service helping the family found our shared family name in the phone book and soon after, we met our Cuban cousins and began to share big family meals and many cups of Café Bustelo.

Dora was a wonderful cook and one day Dora made a dish we hadn’t had before, prasa. I’ll never forget my Poppi’s reaction, his look of surprise and joy connecting with something deep in his soul. When he finally spoke, he said it tasted exactly the same as his mother’s had decades earlier.  

How is this possible? Like my grandmother, Dora had no written recipe, just the centuries of prasa being passed from woman to woman, generation to generation of family cooks…from Spain to the Ottoman Empire to Cuba or New York and finally Denver. My recipe for this dish finally records prasa made the way Dora, then my father and mother, prepared it. This is a taste now embedded in my soul.

Many Sephardic tomato dishes are built on the aromatic base of a sofrito, here made with only olive oil, tomato and garlic. Prepare this dish in advance so the flavors can blend, then serve it hot, cold or at room temperature. It is a flavorful addition to a mezze (assortment of appetizers) or as a side dish on its own or over rice, quinoa or pasta. Since leeks are one of the seven symbolic foods blessed and served at a Sephardic Rosh Hashana seder, prasa is always on my holiday table then and at Passover, when leeks are a symbol of spring.

4 large or 6 medium leeks (about 3-3 1/2 pounds)

2 tablespoons olive oil                 

1 14.5-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes or 5-6 over-ripe fresh tomatoes

3-4 cloves garlic, crushed or grated

Juice of 1 medium lemon or to taste

Salt and freshly ground pepper

To clean the leeks, cut off the root bottom and just the darkest green tops, saving them to flavor broths. Peel off the 1 or 2 tough outer layers of the remaining stalk, then slice it into 1/4-inch rounds. Put the pieces in a strainer and wash under cold water, separating and moving the pieces around with your fingers. If there is still dirt or grit left on the leek, set the strainer in a bowl of cool water deep enough to cover all the leeks and swish the pieces again with your hand. Wait a few minutes for any dirt to settle, then lift out the strainer and wash leeks again under cool running water. Repeat if necessary until the leek pieces are clean of all dirt. Set aside to drain.

To make the sofrito with canned tomatoes, drain the liquid into a bowl to reserve it and either chop the tomatoes or break them up with your fingers, my preferred method. If using fresh tomatoes, roughly chop and seed, reserving all the resulting liquid. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. When hot, carefully add the tomatoes without any of the reserved liquid. Watch out for splattering as the wet tomatoes hit the hot oil. Mash the tomatoes roughly, then stir and simmer for 3 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic and simmer for another 3 to 5 minutes.

Mix in the leeks and reserved liquid. Lower the heat, cover and simmer the mixture for about 1 hour until the leeks are very soft and flavors well blended. Stir in the lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste. Stir and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes more, covered to preserve the liquid or uncovered to concentrate it. Serve hot, cold or at room temperature. The dish will keep a week refrigerated in a tightly covered container. It also freezes well. Defrost before reheating and serving.

Option: For a sweet-and-sour flavor, add 1 tablespoon brown sugar with the lemon juice.