Saturday, August 25, 2007

tomatoes!

I went down to the farm stand yesterday, and found some great stuff. Cantaloupes, fresh corn, peppers. And of course, tomatoes. Hundreds of them. Maybe thousands. Stacked on carts, piled in tubs, crated in rows.

A tomato glut.

If you grow your own tomato plants you might have it, too. But don't fear, you can be a tomato glut-ton! Here are a couple of my favorite summer tomato recipes.

Fresh summer spaghetti sauce:
Take six ripe tomatoes, core them and cut them in half. Place them cut side up in a roasting pan or dutch oven. Top with minced garlic and drizzle generously with olive oil. Sprinkle with dried basil. Roast in a 375 degree F oven for 45 minutes or until soft when poked with a fork. Allow tomatoes to cool. Remove skins and place pulp in a large sauce pan. Squish with your hands until pulp is broken up. Cook over medium low heat for half an hour (no lid, but use a screen to cut down on splatter) to reduce liquid. You can also add a little bit of sugar if you like your sauce sweet.


Tomato and cucumber salad:
Slice two cucumbers lenthwise, remove seeds and cut into 1-inch chunks. Cut two tomatoes into 1-inch chunks. Slice 1/2 a medium sweet onion into ribbons. Put all ingredients into large bowl and sprinkle with dill. In measuring cup, mix 1/3 cup vegetable oil and 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar. Pour over vegetables and stir. Allow to sit in fridge for an hour or two or overnight before serving, to allow flavors to mix. (You can also add two stalks of sliced celery if desired.)

Salsa!
Finely dice two fresh tomatoes. Run half an onion, one jalepeno pepper (no seeds!), and half a sweet green pepper through the food processor. Add chopped fresh cilantro and salt to taste.

There they are! Hope they help you ride out that tomato glut.

--Donna

9 comments:

Susan said...

I swear tomatoes multiply faster than rabbits! We have a garden full of them and I don't even like them. Luckily everyone else in the family and neighborhood does. I'll have to pass your recipes around to them also. Thanks!

ChristyJan said...

Thanks for sharing these recipes. I've never made fresh spaghetti sauce or salsa before so now I have no excuse not to. I had no idea salsa was so simple!

Cherie J said...

These recipes sound delicious. Thanks for sharing.

Maureen said...

Usually we have tons of Jersey tomatoes around now but they're not looking so good this year.

ruth said...

Your recipes are great! thanks. Love summer tomatoes. I did make Gaspacho this summer. Great for the heat.

diane said...

The tomatoes recipes are so enticing. Just love all of them.

Shirley Hailstock said...

At work yesterday, I was on a conference call. We were waiting for one person to join the call and a woman on the phone said she loved Jersey tomatoes. She lives in PA and said it was worth the trip just to buy the one grown in NJ.

She's right.

Shirley

Michele L. said...

Oh I love tomatoes! I will definitely try your recipes! Salsa is one of my favorite things to make. I usually start out with a can of tomatoes and add in my fresh ingredients. I like your way of puree' them in a blender and adding in the rest of the ingredients so it is a little chunky.

Thank you for the delicious twist on Salsa! I like to add a little lime to mine also. We have two Mexican restaurants close to us and they say that is their secret ingredient. You don't have to add much. Just the juice of one slice to a small bowl of salsa adds that special zip!

Michele

Donna Birdsell said...

Okay, a week later, I am officially sick of tomatoes!! Now, on to squash....