What does everyone do with your tomatoes?

uheep

The plants are really pumping them out right now, what is everyone doing with their tomatoes right now. One of my favorite things is a tomato and onion sandwich with plenty of black pepper and mayo on it.

NPHuskerFL

If your a mason jar guy this would be a perfect opportunity to save them for future sauces, salsa etc etc. Me, a lil S&P and I'm good

nolaegghead

tomato salad - with fresh mozz, basil and the best quality olive oil and balsamic you can find.  toss with some sea salt and fresh ground pepper.

RRP

Just like today for instance I'm making a big batch of my favorite pizza sauce. Besides fresh tomatoes I'm using my home grown sweet basil as well. I then package this into individual sizes of 3/4 cup and freeze them. I'll do this again again this summer and that means I'll be set for all my pizzas until next summer.

Griffin

Spaghetti sauce. Salsa. Pico de gallo.

 

EggSpinner

Tomato pie!  Bruschetta using grilled tomato and bread.  +1 with the tomato salad.  We also like to add red onion and then stuff in grilled portobella mushroom

Cymbaline65

nolaegghead said:

tomato salad - with fresh mozz, basil and the best quality olive oil and balsamic you can find.  toss with some sea salt and fresh ground pepper.

My crop is doing remarkably well this year too. What Nola said..def my fav...

Eggcelsior

nolaegghead said:

tomato salad - with fresh mozz, basil and the best quality olive oil and balsamic you can find.  toss with some sea salt and fresh ground pepper.

AKA Caprese Salad. Get it together, nola.

fishlessman

kabobs is always good, you could braise with them, but im thinking more on the lines of a fresh tomato bloody mary. mines a few weeks before they turn red. how about chopping some up and adding to mussels with the wine and garlic

Zmokin

Griffin said:

Spaghetti sauce. Salsa. Pico de gallo.

 

ditto

oh yeah, plus give them away to the neighbors.

CarolinaCrazy

Fresh, pasta sauce we call Spaghetti Lorraine, after my Aunt who introduced us to it.

Mash 3-4 garlic cloves with 1T kosher salt into a paste

Mix garlic w 1/3 Cup EVOO

Let sit for 30 minutes.

Add 3-4 large diced tomatoes

Add 2 T chopped fresh

Salt & Pepper to taste (should be a little too salty as it will mellow on the pasta)

Serve over 1 lb angel hair.

500

My favorite way is to eat them like an apple, with some secret salt on every bite.  I'll even eat the core on really good tomatoes.

For a salad, we like a tomato, onion, Gorgonzola salad; chunked tomatoes, diced red onion, Gorgonzola cheese crumbles, fresh basil, salt and pepper.  Dress with a homemade vinaigrette with EVOO, balsamic and/or red wine vinegar, Dijon, garlic, salt and pepper.  Very good sald to have with grilled steak.

fishlessman

pour some peterlugers steak sauce on a pile of cut tomatoes and it makes a nice side dish to a steak, dont pour it on the steak, it goes on the tomatoes. stuffed tomatoes is good, use a good pepper recipe and sub out the bell pepper. then theres sliced tomatoes on pizza

HendersonTRKing

For a special treat, cut the big ones in half, score the open sides in cross-hatch fashion, drizzle with evoo, an optional splash of balsamic, top with crumbled feta or your other favorite lighter cheese (not too much!), add a bit of fresh basil, coarse ground salt and pepper.  Grill raised direct (no smoke) til the flesh is just soft, taking care not to char the skins.  Makes a fine summer side dish -- quite a nice change from the typical capresi.  Go easy on the toppings, though -- the tomat is the star! 

berndcrisp

Are you canning or just freezing the sauce in ziplock bags?

itsmce

Mine are kicking into high gear about now too.  Soon I will start the canning process. Some just tomatoes, and I'll make and can salsa, marinara, and pizza sauce.  We'll be set for the winter!  Oh, and tonight, traditional margarita-style pizza.

Mickey

Dukes plus S&P :x

cajuncook

Tomato basil soup.

warwoman

We're lucky. We have a cannery close by that we can utilize. If you've ever canned (mason jars) tomatoes in your kitchen, you know what a time consuming, heat producing, messy process that can be. Having a county cannery available for your use makes it a lot more "enjoyable".

We'll put up 50 or 60 quarts to be used during the winter, and hot sauce if enough tomatoes available.

BugCollector

We (wife) cans them.  This year we're experimenting with fire roasting in a pan and then canning.  Really brings out the sweetness and a nice toasty flavor.

uheep

Awesome replies, there sure are a lot of creative people out there.

Firemanyz

@RRP‌ could you post or PM me your pizza sauce recipe? Last year I made about 30 quarts of sauce. This year it looks like I'm going to have a lot less as the Amish paste tomatoes I planted are getting blossom end rot. I have found that the vita mix is AWSOME in making sauce. I just toss in the maters an onion and some garlic and blend dump it into a pot and let it simmer for a few hours to cook off the water. Last week I made a quart of sauce and we had it the next day it was great fresh. I may experiment with a batch of sun gold sauce as they are growing buck wild.

SWVABeanCounter

What we don't use to make sauces and freeze, we'll blanch them, peel them and then freeze them.  Once they defrost, you can still use them for anything.  Oh yeah, +1 on tomato pie

RRP

Firemanyz said:

@RRP‌ could you post or PM me your pizza sauce recipe?  

 @Firemanyz Here you go!

RRP’s PIZZA SAUCE

Based on a recipe from BGE board but altered for our tastes

• 36 leaves of fresh basil diced (or 1 oz package of fresh basil from store)

• 3 T dried basil

• 1.5 tea dried oregano

• ¾ cup chardonnay or white zin

• ¾ cup fresh minced onion

• 4 cloves of garlic chopped fine

• 3 T extra virgin olive oil

• 18 Roma tomatoes each cut into 8 pieces

• 1  6oz can of tomato paste

• 3 tea California style garlic salt (that’s 1 tea PER layer)

• freshly ground pepper (15 good grinds PER layer)

      Optional - but really needed IMO add 2 tea of kosher salt to the final full batch

IMPORTANT first step: steep the dried basil and dried oregano in the wine for 20 minutes

In a skillet sauté onion and garlic in olive oil until onions turn translucent, stirring frequently. 

Using a Dutch oven add tomatoes, paste, onions/garlic and remaining ingredients. I put them in so there are three layers. Cover pot and simmer for 1 hour. Remove form heat and puree in a blender until smooth. Pour back into the Dutch oven minus the lid this time and simmer until the sauce thickens to a consistency of cold catsup.

Package in 3/4 cup quantities using ZipLoc snack bags. Freeze. Yield will depend on the size of your Romas, but normally this recipe is good for 9 to 12 bags. My pizzas are 14” in diameter so you might want to adjust according to what size you make.

Hint: During the thickening stage cover the pot with a spatter guard as that sauce really pops when it erupts and can make a mess of your stove. BTW this sauce is also good with bread sticks. 

Enjoy!  Ron Pratt aka RRP

             Dunlap, IL