Maryland is tomato central right now. The ripe orbs are rolling in and I am inundated with a river of them from only 14 plants. Started in early March in my greenhouse, the spring was so warm that I planted them in the ground the third week of April. Our traditional last frost free day is around Mother’s Day in May and I usually wait until then.
What to do With All Those Tomatoes
Yes, I had to do something with them or they rot in a few days after picking. Now, I am dealing with the consequences. As fast as I can give them away, a new crop comes in from the garden. We eat them garnishing omelets for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch, fried, au gratined, sauced, or even baked in bread for dinner.
Focaccia Bread
I am an huge fan of focaccia bread and you can go wild with all the veg on top. Plum tomatoes are perfect for this! Go to my post on Garden Art: Focaccia Bread for my favorite recipe.
Tomato Jam
Tomato jam with chocolate as an ingredient? Count me in! I made several batches of tomato jam, one with red tomatoes and chocolate, and one with yellow tomatoes and basil. I loved both of them – one sweet and one savory.
Frying Tomatoes
A great summer side dish, frying tomatoes just requires some large ripe tomatoes, or half ripe is even better, and slice about 1/2″ thick. Bread and fry them in a pan of a mix of melted butter and cooking oil to get a nice brown crispy crust that gives them a wonderful crunch into the interior juiciness. Finish them off with salt and pepper, and serve with a ranch sauce or on their own. Delicious!
Tomato Tart
Layering tomatoes and onions on a base of puff pastry is a delicious way to enjoy a variety of tomatoes.
Upside-Down Heirloom Tomato Cornbread
Upside Down Heirloom Cornbread was a crowd pleaser and delicious too! It lasted for several meals and was even better heated up the second day.
Upside-Down Heirloom Tomato Cornbread
Ingredients
- 3 Large Heirloom Tomatoes Sliced into 1/2 inch rounds; I added some smaller ones
- 2 C Yellow Cornmeal Fine or Coarse
- 1 C All-Purpose Flour
- 1 T Baking Powder
- 2 tsp Salt
- 2 1/4 C Shredded Cheddar Cheese, divided Smoked or plain
- 1 C Fresh Corn Kernels About 2 Ears
- 1-2 Jalapeno chopped & seeded
- 1 3/4 C Buttermilk
- 6 T Butter Melted
- 2 Eggs
- 2 T Sugar
- Garnish with additional Basil Leaves
Instructions
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Preheat over to 400 degrees and line bottom of cast iron skillet with a round of parchment paper. Spray parchment paper and sides of skillet with cooking spray.
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Cut the tomatoes into slices and lay on paper towels to drain while you mix the batter.
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In large bowl, whisk together cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir in 1 1/2 C cheese, corn, basil, and jalapeno. Make a well in the center.
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In another bowl, whisk buttermilk, melted butter, and eggs. Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients, stirring until just combined.
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Place tomato slices in bottom of prepared skillet, overlapping if needed. Sprinkle with sugar and top with 1/2 C of shredded cheese. Spoon batter onto tomatoes, smoothing.
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Bake until golden brown and a wooden pick inserted in the center comes clean - 30-35 minutes.
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Let cool in skillet for 10 minutes and then invert bread onto serving platter. Top with remaining 1/4 cup of cheese. Garnish with basil.
Drying Tomatoes
Plum tomatoes are perfect for drying. I slice them and place in a dehydrator and 24 hours later, I have sun-dried tomatoes that I freeze and use for all kinds of recipes later. They are excellent on top of home made pizzas. An oven at the lowest temperature, around 250 degrees will do the same, but I don’t like the way an oven can heat up a house in August.
Tomato Sauce
I have sauce down to an art! It uses the most tomatoes in the quickest amount of time and I have cut corners to make it with minimal effort.
No peeling and seeding for me! I wash and core them and plop the tomatoes into a Dutch oven on the stove top and let them simmer until they become sauce. Here is the basic recipe, but you notice I don’t have quantities for much of anything. Play it all by ear. Just throw in what you have on your kitchen counter, and I can assure you, you will be successful. Plum tomatoes are perfect for a nice thick sauce, but I throw any kind of tomato in. If your sauce is too thin, add a can of tomato paste to thicken it up.
Easy Method Tomato Sauce
An easy to prepare tomato sauce that you can throw anything else in that you have in the garden
Ingredients
- Fresh ripe tomatoes, any kind, but plum tomatoes are best Core large tomatoes, and cut in half
- 1-5 Fresh Peppers, any kind Core, and chop into large pieces
- Bunch Fresh thyme sprigs
- Dollop Honey
- Salt & Pepper to taste
- Oregano, dried or fresh
- 1 Bay Leaf
- 1 Chopped Onion
- Chopped Fresh Basil
Instructions
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Core and cut in half your tomatoes and place in dutch oven on medium high heat. An alternative is to place cut up tomatoes in a large roasting pan and roast at 400 degrees for an hour and then dump them into your dutch oven to cook further
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When the mixture is bubbling away, throw in whole thyme sprigs, the bay leaf, honey, salt and pepper, fresh peppers, and onion
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Cook for at least an hour or two and remove the thyme sprigs. By this time, all the leaves will disappear and the stems will be left
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Using an immersion blender, puree the mixture until smooth
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Continue cooking for an hour or so until the sauce thickens to your liking. You could even add a small can of tomato paste to make it nice and thick
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Take it off the stove top and add chopped up basil and stir it in
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Once the mixture completely cools, put into containers and refrigerate or freeze
I use my most useful appliance in my kitchen to blend everything together into a sauce – an immersion blender.
Yum! I already ate supper, but now you have me hungry again with all your beautiful Tomatoes and recipes! 🙂
Beth @ http://www.PlantPostings.com