Photo by JeffreyW
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From our Food Goddess, TaMara:
I am not a fan of canning. When I am overrun by tomatoes, I lean more towards freezing bags of pureed cooked tomatoes to use in sauces and soups later on. I also love to make a batch of salsa each week when the produce is fresh. Since I was faced with an abundance of tomatoes this week, I felt it was time for some salsa.
I have a Vita-Mix, which means if I’m not paying attention, salsa quickly goes from chunky salsa to picante sauce in the blink of an eye. Tonight my first batch went to full juice before I realized what I was doing. I’ll pulse my next batch and pay closer attention. Not sure what I’m going to do with the juice – but it sure tastes good.
Tonight’s recipes are all about tomatoes and what to do with the bounty from the garden or farm stand. I bet everyone has a favorite salsa recipe, I like mine fresh and simple. JeffreyW has a good salsa recipe and a nice Salsa Verde in case you’re tired of tomatoes, recipe here. He also makes and cans batches of his Awesome Sauce™, recipe here.
I love tomato season – sliced on a plate, grilled with olive oil, tomato cucumber salad (recipe here), or just going out to the garden and eating the grape tomatoes right off the vine. Are tomatoes a summer favorite? What’s your favorite way to prepare them? Anyone (besides JeffreyW) canning? And I know you have some salsa recipes to share…
Featured tonight, salsa recipes from me and from JeffreryW:
TaMara Fresh Salsa
4 tomatoes, quartered
6 green onions
2 tsp crushed garlic
½ to 1 bunch cilantro, remove stems
2 to 4 jalapenos*, remove stems
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
dash of limejuice if desired
blender or food processorIn blender or food processor, add all ingredients and coarsely chop until blended well**. If you can make a day ahead, it gets even better. Seal in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to a week.
**If you prefer a chunkier style salsa, you’d be better off chopping vegetables by hand.
(Oh, you wanted his recipe…)
JeffreyW’s Salsa:Couple of the jalapenos, a smallish onion or two, those green peppers, and most of the tomatoes. Added a couple of dried ancho peppers all snipped small, a dash of chili powder, a few garlic cloves, a good squirt of lime juice, a bit of salt and fresh ground black pepper.
(I think this is why I write the recipes and he takes the photos – both of us working to our strengths)
BGinCHI
Calling Dr. Vodka.
Bob In Portland
Having lived for close to forty years along the coast in the SF Bay Area I moved to the Portland area last year. I’m now living with a wonderful woman in Portland. WHO GROWS TOMATOES IN HER BACKYARD. It’s like heaven.
TaMara (BHF)
Popping in to say thanks to everyone last week who sent birthday wishes. And an update: the salsa juice became an awesome ingredient in some vegetarian chili-mac.
Have fun tonight. I have to get back to work. Someone had the brilliant idea to start her own business at the beginning of summer and now my cup runneth over…
Valdivia
@TaMara (BHF):
very belated happy birthday! I have been so out of it i totally missed it.
geg6
The entire surfaces of our fining and kitchen tables are completely covered by tomatoes and peppers and zucchini. Cabbage should be next.
John cans and plans to teach me this year. He cans tomatoes and tomato sauce. We’re going to pickle the Hungarian peppers. We have bags and bags of black and red raspberries in the freezer, much of it that John will use to make jams. We’ll be making some sauerkraut from the cabbage. I’m super bummed that our cukes didn’t make it through that crazy dry and hot June/July weather. John makes the absolute best bread and butter pickles you’ll ever eat. We have two jars from last year and we are miserly in using since we won’t have any cucumbers.
But the sauerkraut and pickled peppers may make up for it.
danielx
Provided you have really good vine ripe tomatoes
2 large vine ripe tomatoes
1 sweet onion – Vidalia or similar
1 & 1/2 cups balsamic salad dressing
1. Slice tomatoes in 1/2 inch slices.
2. Slice onion in thin slices.
3. Lay tomatoes and onions in alternating layers in a glass or equivalent dish (Corningware etc.)
4. Pour on enough salad dressing to cover (mostly).
5. Chill for an hour, and…
Enjoy. Eat it all either at one meal or next day at latest, tomatoes get too mushy if it sits for more than twelve hours. But a great quick and easy salad/side dish.
dexwood
t
Tomato sandwiches. A Summer pleasure for me for nearly 60 years.
Just Some Fuckhead
@geg6: Are you and John looking to adopt?
genghisjon
A great song for all you canners out there.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nb-0ZCqga48&feature=player_detailpage
auntie beak
as a born and raised new englander, i learned long ago not to trust hurricane season, so i’ve always canned rather than froze tomatoes. frozen? it’s a lesson everyone here learned last year!
i can some tomatoes roughly cut up in their juice, but mostly i can up quarts and quarts of tomato puree. you can find safe canning methods for all kinds of tomato products, along with some basic recipes, here.
i make a killer sauce with the puree during the winter, and i don’t have to worry about bpa-lined cans of tomatoes.
dance around in your bones
@BGinCHI: Heh heh heh.
burnspbesq
Wash, slice, serve. Salt and bleu cheese dressing optional.
MonkeyBoy
@danielx:
I’ve noticed that tomatoes in vinegar get mushy within hours (while cukes or onions don’t). If I’m making something like tomatoes and chopped basil marinading in vinegar and olive oil that’s going to be used hours in the future a good thing to do after a little marinading is to put the mixture in a strainer and remove most of the liquid. It seems to last much longer that way, including the basil which goes limp and loses flavor from a long marinade.
Maybe this is why fresh salsas have little moisture and can last for more than a few hours.
Corner Stone
@Just Some Fuckhead: That would require “Her John” to *actually* exist.
Which of course, he does not.
blahblah
Chilaquiles with the juice, or tortilla soup.
Yutsano
BLT. One of the best expressions of the noble fruit that is the tomato.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
2 lb chopped tomatoes
1/3 c sliced pitted kalamata olives
2 tbsp torn basil leaves
2 tbsp torn oregano leaves
2 tbsp EVOO
2 tbsp drained capers
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/4 tsp kosher salt
2 garlic cloves, minced
Toss with hot cooked spaghetti. Top with crumbled goat cheese.
I made this on a whim after seeing it in a WW magazine a couple of months ago. Hubby would eat it every day if we had enough tomatoes.
Lost in America
Oh awesome….I’m super jealous. Here in northern MN, all my romas are still green.
Here’s what I do with all of my excess tomatoes….and any that friends or family give me. I slice them up and bulk dry as many as possible until they are crispy. Also, I try to get some basil, garlic, and other herbs at the farmer’s market and dry some of those as well. Once everything is completely dry, I throw everything into the blender and grind it into fine powder and store that powder in a tupperware in the freezer. Generally, I end up with nearly a year’s worth of pizza sauce concentrate–cheap, easy to do, easy to store. I can rehydrate just the right amount that I need.
Typically, if I’m making a single-serve pizza on a tortilla, I’ll use about 2 tablespoons of powder, a half teaspoon of sugar (because it has a slight bitterness that sugar easily fixes), a teaspoon of olive oil, and slowly add water until I have the consistency I like (thick!). Tastes tangier and fresher than any pizza sauce you can buy in a store and whatever amount I need is always on hand.
It’s also great for thickening up chili and giving it a tomato taste.
Michele Quarton
Roma Tomatoes split in half,chop lots of garlic, salt and pepper,drizzle with olive oil and roast for 380* for 40 minutes.
Cool mixture. Chop up fresh basil. Put roasted tomatoes mixture in the food processor with basil; process. Wonderful fresh Marinara Sauce. Great for any Italian recipe. Easy to freeze