Ok, so you went overboard with tomato plants this year and now you have an abundant crop... too abundant. Your neighbors thank you for your thoughtfulness, and your family has had its fill already of BLT's and homemade tomato sauce.
Here are 10 other ways to enjoy tomatoes while they last:
- Make a tomato and herb tart by layering slices of them in a prepared pastry crust; top them the slices with grated cheese and some minced fresh herbs like basil and thyme. Drizzle with olive oil and bake in the oven. Cut and serve in wedges.
- Stuff large hollowed out beefsteak tomatoes with cooked quinoa or barley flavored with oregano, fresh lemon juice and capers. Makes a great salad or side.
- Make a tomato and eggplant lasagne using alternate layers of thin sliced tomatoes, eggplant and mozzarella cheese. Bake covered at 350F for 35-40 minutes. Let stand covered to set before cutting. Serve room temperature.
- Make an uncooked tomato sauce using cherry tomatoes cut in half, minced garlic, parsley, olive oil, salt and pepper. Combine ingredients with tomatoes and let stand at room temperature for several hours before mixing with hot pasta such as rigatoni. Pass the cheese.
- Make a tasty tomato relish with skinned, seeded and chopped tomatoes mixed with diced sweet pickles, diced apples and raisins. Great on fish, pork and chicken.
- Dry plum tomatoes using a dehydrator or your oven; store in plastic bags and freeze to use in soups, stews and sauces. Or make dried tomatoes in olive oil.
- Puree garden tomatoes with fresh mint, then sieve out the seeds and skin and pour yourself a healthy tomato drink; serve cold
- Freeze plum tomatoes whole; use for making sauces, soups and stews
- Throw a tomato party where every course stars the tomato! Roasted tomatoes served on lightly fried sourdough bread for appetizer; fresh tomato soup, grilled beef and cherry tomato kabobs, tomato, mozzarella and basil salad and for dessert, chocolate tomato cake.
- Candied cherry tomatoes are delicious and easy to make. Cut 4 cups cherry tomatoes in half and place in large bowl. Toss with 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper to taste and place them on a non-stick baking sheets. Sprinkle the tomatoes with 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar and bake them at 400F until they begin to shrivel and give off their juices. Let them bake until they look glazed. Toss them once or twice while baking.
Recipes...please.
You sound a bit jaded to me.
There are far too many hungry humans on the earth to kid about composting healthy food.
http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/quick-recipes/2011/07/summer-tomato-bouillabaisse-with-basil-rouille
http://sitdownandeatyourpeas.blogspot.com/
Join a garden group, and get your new friends to share their tomatoes with you.
Or, you'll eventually figure it out yourself.
It helps if the weather cooperates.
We have bumper crops in the mid-Atlantic this year.
I had a tomato sandwich every day last week. My dentist didn't approve.
Anyway, they gave me some lovely tasty tomatoes until July when they suffered heat stroke. They went dormant but now, have lots of green ones ready to ripen up. Tomatoes must have temperatures below 70 overnight or will not produce.
Another week and more tomatoes. Yippee!
Sounds too good to be true. I thought you had to blanch them first and remove the skin. What's the catch?
It was great not heating up the kitchen to can them during the hottest days of the summer. Plus, much of the moisture will separate out when they are thawed, so if you're going to cook them down for sauce you can pour off the excess and save some time and energy. Just don't toss out the excess; it's got a lot of flavor for adding to soups or however else you might want to use it.
Most of us have at one time or other visited grandma's house to partake in her newly harvested tomatoes, or even freshly picked onions in the quaint back yard garden patch.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2700593/grow_a_back_yard_garden_harvest_truly.html?cat=32
Gazpacho soup
Tomato salad
I love tomatoes!