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  CONTEST FOR JULY/AUGUST Tomatoes

  If you have a favorite recipe or story about tomatoes, share it here. Please do not comment on other's contributions in this thread, at least until the contest is over, I don't want it to get cluttered.
  
  The contest is open until August 23rd, at which time, members of this group can cast their vote by sending me an Administrative email. I will announce the winner on August 29th. The winner will then choose the ingredient for the contest in September. Their name and contribution will be noted on the group information page. I may take part, but my contribution will not be a part of the contest. :)

  LeeLee started this discussion 3 months ago. ( reply )

• 

  bulphan 

  All my tomatoes get turned into tomato sauces for pasta or other tomato based dishes.
  
  1) Get the largest pot you can fit on your hob.
  
  2) Add some oil and heat up.
  
  3) Throw in lots of garlic.
  
  4) Start putting in the tomatoes, either well chopped or just squashed and bashed up a bit - you choose. You can also choose whether to skin them or not, if you want to then cut a small cross in the bottom and pop into boiling water for 10 or more seconds to make your life easier. If you're really fussy you might want to deseed too.
  
  5) Keep stirring and adding tomatoes until there are none left.
  
  6) Let them simmer for as long as you like. You can also add other stuff at this point, such as salt (or perhaps soy sauce to give the sauce a darker look), maybe a small amount of sugar to bring out the natural sweetness, perhaps basil or oregano or both. Maybe some chilli flakes or chilli sauce or whole chillies? Maybe black pepper.
  
  7) After some time has passed (minimum of half an hour), you now have a sauce. You can either leave it chunky or blend it by hand or in a food processor. You can then put loads of portions in the freezer for future use. And maybe eat some straight away!

  posted 3 months ago. ( reply )

• 

  Cindy W (edited)

  I am from the south (lots of butter and oil, so sorry) and here is my recipe for Fried Green Tomatoes!
  
  Get about 3-5 dark green tomatoes, cut about 1/4" (basically one tomato per person)
  
  Season flour (Maybe 1-1 1/2 C) with Emeril's Original Essence seasoning and LOTS of it (maybe 1 TBS) and mix well
  
  pre heat some Oil (about an inch high) in an electric frying pan at 350 or med
  
  Coat each slice with the flour mixture and put in pan, make sure not to crowd the pan, flip after 4 min or until color starts to turn gold, cook for another 3-4 min
  
  Take out, and drain on papertowel.
  
  You can serve with horseradish sauce OR make a Fried Green Tomato Sandwich (on white buttered bread- Really, it's good)

  posted 3 months ago. ( reply )

• 

  Bette L (edited)

  Quick tomato sauce for pasta: Heat a little (1/4 cup) olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add 3-4 large cloves of garlic, cut in slices, and cook until transparent. Add a lot of garden-ripe tomatoes, chopped, and about 8 large leaves of fresh basil, chiffonaded (roll leaves together and slice). Cook a few minutes, but this starts being yummy after about 5 or 10 minutes. Serve over any type pasta.
  
  Other favorite summer time dish is Caprese Salad, made with tomato and fresh mozzarella slices alternately arranged on a plate. Sprinkle liberally with olive oil, and just a little wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar. Top with fresh basil leaves, torn. Serve with a nice wine and some crusty bread to get every last bit of oil and juice.

  posted 3 months ago. ( reply )

• 

  littlemom25 (edited)

  I love fresh vine ripe tomatoes and this is my favorite summer recipe
  Italian tomato and bread salad
  Serves 4-6
  Loaf of ciabatta bread
  2/3 C extra virgin olive oil
  1 ½ lbs ripe tomatoes, coarsely chopped
  2-4 garlic cloves, crushed
  4 T red wine vinegar or balsamic
  Course salt and fresh ground pepper
  Handful of torn fresh basil leaves
  Pitted Italian olives (optional)
  
  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Cut the bread into large chunks and drizzle with ¼ cup of the oil. Broil the bread lightly until golden on both sides. Make the dressing of remaining oil and vinegar. Add garlic and S&P to taste. Toss in a large bowl with tomatoes, basil, bread and olives. Serve immediately.
  
  
  

  posted 3 months ago. ( reply )

• 

  mjacobs (edited)

  Another tomato pasta sauce, my version of "putanesca":
  Peel and thinly slice 2 medium onions. Let them get transparant in 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Meanwhile, finely chop 2 or 3 large pieces of garlic and add to the onion. Stir a bit. Now clean and chop a hot red pepper, add to the rest. This sauce needs to be hot, so make sure your red pepper does the job. If not, add another one. Don't be squeamish, if it is not hot, it's not putanesca. And the pasta seems to take away quite a bit of the heat.
  Peel and chop 1.5 kg of tomatoes (3 lbs I guess?), add to the pan. Give it a good stir, let it bubble. Cover.
  Now the sauce needs some black olives: I use Greek style, they are easy to pit and add a nice salty bitter taste. But the sauce is fine with ordinary ready-pitted black olives as well. I add about 20, cut up a bit. Then add 2 to 3 tablespoons of large capers to the pot (if using salted, rinse very well, or the sauce will end up too salty). When everything is in the pot, let it bubble quietly while you heat a large pot of water for your pasta. Putanesca is best served with very thin spaghettini, but spaghetti (fresh or dried) is ok too. The sauce will be ready when your pasta is cooked.
  This makes enough for 4 good eaters, and if you have too much, the sauce freezes very well too.

  posted 3 months ago. ( reply )

• 

  Aimeesue 

  Two favorites, an old one and one I recently discovered:
  
  my favorite way to eat fresh tomatoes (my Grampa's recipe:
  
  1.Slice tomatoes.
  2.Sprinkle a little bit of sugar or Spenda over the top
  3.Eat.
  
  Mmmmm! This always remeinds me that tomatoes are actually fruit.
  
  RAW TOMATO SAUCE
  (From Mark Bittman's How To Cook Everything Vegetarian, which is a great cookbook, BTW)
  
  2 cups cored and chopped tomatoes (I blanch and skin mine, as the kids don't like peels)
  2 TBSP EVOO
  2 clove garlic, lightly smashed
  Fresh basil leaves to taste (usually a quarter to half cup) roughly chopped
  salt & pepper to taste
  
  !. Put the tomatoes, EVOO[ garlic, and basil in a non reactive bowl. Seson to taste w/ S&P.
  2. Mash it all together with a fork or potaot masher.
  3.When your pasta is done, put some of the cooking water into the sauce to thin it out a bit and warm it up.
  4. Remove the garlic and toss the sauce with your pasta.
  
  This makes enough for about four servings (more if you have a finicky four year old, as I do!). It's soooo good and easy. You can make it a couple of hours ahead of time, too.

  posted 2 months ago. ( reply )

• 

  firefly_1824 

  I'm hoping to come up with something more involved later, but for now, I will submit this.
  
  thick slices of a larger tomato
  some miracle whip
  potato bread
  
  Spread some miracle whip on two pieces of bread, and make a sandwitch. Add salt and pepper if you like.
  
  Of all the tomato sandwitches I've ever had these are the best, it's the way my Dad taught us.

  posted 2 months ago. ( reply )

• 

  LeeLee 

  This is more of an idea starter than a recipe, I'm too lazy to worry about amounts, but here it is.
  
  Mexican Pasta
  2 lg. tomatoes, diced
  4 c. sliced mushrooms
  1/2 c. sliced sweet onion
  5 garlic cloves, sliced
  
  Put veggies in large flat baking pan, sprinkle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Broil in oven, checking and stirring every 5-7 minutes until mushrooms are golden brown. About 15 minutes.
  
  4 T. butter
  2 T. olive oil
  1 c. diced, cooked chicken breast
  
  Melt butter in pan, add to vegetables
  
  Boil pasta, toss with veggies.
  
  Sprinkle liberally with crumbled Cotija cheese and chopped cilantro. Add some chipotle sauce if you like that sort of thing.

  posted 2 months ago. ( reply )

• 

  Denizen (edited)

  CHICKEN AND FRESH TOMATOES WITH BOWTIE PASTA
  
  1 T olive oil
  
  2 green peppers, chopped (or mild chili peppers)
  2 t minced garlic
  1 T fresh basil (or 1 t dried)
  1/2 t salt
  1/2 t freshly ground pepper
  1 - 1 1/2 lbs boneless chicken breasts, cubed
  1 lb tomatoes, coarsely chopped
  1/2 c black olives
  8 oz bowtie pasta (or rotini, etc.)
  grated parmesan cheese
  
  Cook chicken in olive oil in large skillet, remove.
  
  Add peppers, garlic, basil, salt, and pepper to skillet - add more oil as needed. Cook until peppers are almost tender (about 5 minutes)
  
  Add tomatoes and olives and cook until tomatoes soften.
  
  Stir in cooked chicken.
  
  Meanwhile, cook and drain pasta and transfer to large mixing bowl. Stir in chicken mixture and serve with parmesan cheese.
  
  I'm not sure where this recipe came from - perhaps the newspaper several years ago? It's an easy summer dish that tastes great with fresh tomatoes.

  posted 2 months ago. ( reply )

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  firefly_1824 (edited)

  I finally got some tomatos to play with, so I have a recipe.
  
  Ingredients:
  Eggplant, cut into bite size pieces
  Onion, chopped
  Shredded Provolone cheese
  Tomatos, cut into bite size pieces
  olive oil, salt, and pepper to taste
  
  Cook eggplant and onion with oil, salt, and pepper in a skillet on the stove. Remove when done to your taste. Add tomatos and cheese.
  
  I had this for dinner the other night, it was really yummy, and also uses the oft-forgotten eggplant. Hope you all like it.
  

  posted 2 months ago. ( reply )

• 

  LeeLee 

  Today, August 23rd, is the last day for entries. I hope to get lots of votes, starting on the 24th, for a winner!
  
  Shelfari has changed the layout of the groups a bit, to send a private vote message to me, click on the tab in our group called, "members", there you will see a box to send a private email to the administrator.
  
  Let's get active again, shall we? :)

  posted 2 months ago. ( reply )

• 

  Kate MacDonald 

  This is the quickest recipe - other than fresh off the vine with nothing on them.
  
  Chopped tomatoes with a bit of really good olive oil and a dash of balsamic vinegar. Salt and pepper if you'd like.

  posted 2 months ago. ( reply )

• 

  LeeLee 

  Today is the last day to vote. HELLO? PEOPLE? IS ANYONE OUT THERE?
  
  I've only had three votes so far. Please vote.

  posted 1 month ago. ( reply )

  show 3 replies

  • 

    mjacobs 

    Lee, could it be that people are waiting for a seperate discussion entitled something like "vote now"? I must say I happened upon the way to vote almost by accident...

    posted 1 month ago. ( reply )

  • 

    Aimeesue 

    Oh. Indeed. I thought there'd be a thread. Sorry 'bout that.
    

    posted 1 month ago. ( reply )

  • 

    LeeLee 

    O.K., I'll extend the deadline just a couple of days and start another thread. Thanks.

    posted 1 month ago. ( reply )

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