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What Can I Do With All Those Summer Tomatoes?
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What Can I Do With All Those Summer Tomatoes?

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Tomatoes are the reason for my garden! Even though I plant lots of other things, tomatoes are really what get me excited about summer. In the days before my garden, my dream was to stand in a garden, eating a freshly picked tomato right off the vine, with the juice running down my chin and savoring the wonderful taste. And, guess what, my dream happily came true the first year of my garden. Freshly grown tomatoes, whether from your garden or the local farmers’ market, are luscious. Those mealy, tasteless, green-house grown grocery store tomatoes in the winter just don’t match up.

Tomatoes are one of those colorful vegetables (a fruit, really) that provide great nutrition. One medium tomato can provide 28% of the Recommended Daily Intake (RDI = average daily intake level sufficient to meet nutrient requirements of 97-98% of healthy individuals) of Vitamin C. This powerful antioxidant boosts the immune system. Tomatoes also contain other antioxidants, all four of the substances that make up the carotenoids: alpha and beta carotene, lutein, and lycopene, and Vitamin E.

Some years I have been so completely overwhelmed by tomatoes that I have been forced to find creative ways to use them. I often make batches of spaghetti sauce and freeze them for use later in the year. I have even made my own tomato paste and catsup. The catsup is so much better than the overly sweet variety frequently made with high fructose corn syrup purchased from the grocery store. Even though I try to stay away from sweetened foods, I have made tomato chutney, tomato jam, and last year a delightful tomato jelly with a hint of ginger in it.

There are some recommendations I can make about the care of tomatoes.

  1. If possible, choose ones that have been grown locally, as they will be the most flavorful. One friend has had great success this summer with cherry tomatoes grown in whiskey barrels.
  2. If you are growing them in your garden, pick just before completely ripe and allow them to ripen on your kitchen counter.
  3. Store ones that you have picked from the stem, stem side down. But if the stem remains on the tomato, store it stem side up.
  4. Don’t refrigerate the tomatoes, as this changes their texture and flavor, and wash them off just before using.
  5. The most flavorful part of the tomato is the jelly part surrounding the seeds, so when you seed a tomato, you’re actually discarding the tastiest part of the tomato. The skin is high in nutrient value, so leave it on.

Here are some of my favorite, easy-to-prepare tomato recipes.

Oven-Roasted Tomatoes

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Notes

Roasting is a great way to cook all those cherry tomatoes from that prolific plant. The tomato flavors concentrate and become sweet. They can be added to salads, eaten as a vegetable with a meal, or just used as a snack.
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
You can use any amount of tomatoes as long as they fit on the rimmed baking sheet you intend to use.
Line the sheet with aluminum foil. Cut the tomatoes in half, placing them cut side up on the baking sheet. Lightly spray with olive oil, then sprinkle lightly with salt, pepper, and dried thyme. Bake until the tomatoes just start to brown, do not let them burn. The length of time will depend on the thickness of the tomatoes, but will take about 10 to 20 minutes, so you will have to watch them. The tomatoes can be served warm or at room temperature.

Fresh Tomato Salad

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Notes

Slice two to three large ripe tomatoes and lay them in a platter, sprinkle with torn fresh basil leaves so that each tomato has at least three or four pieces of basil on it. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper, then add a vinaigrette dressing.
You do not have to use much oil as recipes call for to make a good vinaigrette. Oils are high in calories, so excessive use adds unwanted calories to your daily intake. I generally use two teaspoons of olive oil, one-half teaspoon of any kind of prepared mustard (which acts as an emulsifier, as well as adding a nice zing to the dressing), a squirt of lemon juice, and one to three tablespoons of flavored vinegar. I combine the ingredients in either a small bowl and mix with one of those small whisks, or put the ingredients in a small jar and shake vigorously to mix the ingredients.

Fresh Tomato Pasta Sauce

This recipe is an easy way to use all those cherry tomatoes and tastes so fresh on a bed of whole wheat pasta.
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Ingredients
  

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 clove of garlic sliced into matchsticks
  • 3 cups of cherry tomatoes cut in half
  • 3/4 teaspoon mixed Italian herbs (the mixture I use has marjoram, oregano, thyme, rosemary, savory, basil, and sage)
  • 8 -10 fresh basil leaves cut chiffonade
  • 1/2 teaspoonful sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon red wine
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions
 

  • Heat oil on medium heat, add garlic and cook for 1 minute to infuse the oil with garlic flavor, do not burn the garlic
  • Add the tomatoes and spices, then sugar and wine
  • Cook down until the juice thickens
  • Now you are ready to serve! Just spoon over your favorite whole wheat pasta

One Last Idea

In Spain, pureed tomatoes are enjoyed in the morning at breakfast, like jam on bread or toast. When I make this puree, I usually add a little salt and pepper to the tomatoes with a bit of garlic, which has been lightly sautéed in olive oil spray. It makes a nice tasty spread on toast without added sugar.

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