Debbie
737 posts
Jun 21, 2005
10:43 AM
|
Hey Bryanna,
I have lots of home grown tomatoes. For recipes that ask for 28 oz. diced tomatoes with juice, can I replace them with fresh tomatoes? I need to boil the tomatoes first, peel, and then slice them, right?
I don't want to buy canned tomatoes since I have lots of tomatoes at home.
----------
Debbie
Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all. ~ Harriet Van Horne
|
kourtney
75 posts
Jun 21, 2005
12:57 PM
|
In my opinion, it depends on the recipe whether you cook and/or peel them first. For anything that simmers, like tomato sauce or chili, I don't see any reason to cook the tomatoes first. I never peel fresh tomatoes, but you can if you prefer the taste or texture of peeled tomatoes.
|
Debbie
738 posts
Jun 21, 2005
1:09 PM
|
I am thinking about the Italian recipes like The Fisherman's Pasta (with Penne) in the new newsletter.
I bought 28 oz canned diced tomatoes too, just in case.
----------
Debbie
Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all. ~ Harriet Van Horne
|
Bryanna
Owner/Moderator
1035 posts
Jun 21, 2005
1:18 PM
|
@2 lbs. very ripe plum tomatoes= 1/ 28 oz. can
----------
"To look like a goddess, eat like a peasant." Karen Andres
|
Debbie
739 posts
Jun 21, 2005
3:23 PM
|
Thanks!
----------
Debbie
Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all. ~ Harriet Van Horne
|
Dori
254 posts
Jun 21, 2005
5:09 PM
|
Hi Debbie
Last summer i put tomatoes in the freezer whole, froze and then transferred to a bag. When I needed them for a soup that would not get pureed, I ran them under water at the sink and the skin peeled right off. Then I stuck the frozen tomatoes in my chili or whatever soup I was cooking. I didn't bother peeling them when I was making tomato soup or a pasta sauce that I would puree with the hand blender. I even froze a few romas to make ketchup this past winter when I had more time than i do during the harvest season. I did weigh the tomatoes to use at the ratio Bryanna gave 28 oz canned = 2 lb fresh or frozen.
I can't wait for fresh tomatoes, it'll be end of july beginning of august before I'll have any ripe. For fun last year I pickled and canned some small green cherry tomatoes - it was different for a change. I also canned lots of mild salsa for me and my daughter to eat by the gallons, we love it.
----------
"To cook is to create. And to create well...is an act of integrity, and faith." - author unknown
|
Debbie
740 posts
Jun 22, 2005
7:24 AM
|
Thanks Dori for the info! I will try that when we have too much tomatoes later. This is a useful info. I have never done canning myself. I will have to learn to do that if we start having veg. garden each year. We have a few Japanese eggplants also.
My co-worker brought lemons to work, lots of them, last year. I juiced them and freeze the juice in ice cube trays. Now, I have lots of lemon cubes that I use time to time for cooking and lemonade. It is very convenient. I think I learned that from this forum. I also freeze the lemon peels.
----------
Debbie
Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all. ~ Harriet Van Horne
|
Beansidhe
1 post
Jun 22, 2005
7:19 PM
|
Another option for preserving a bumper crop of tomatoes: drying. My grandpa grows tomatoes every year and last year I was lucky enough to be housesitting for for him and my grandma when they were finally ready to eat. I wanted to preserve them so that my grandparents didn't miss their whole crop, but rather than canning I decided to try drying them. This was very easy to do, though I'm not sure how much of this is owed to the lovely even heat of my grandma's convection oven. I just sliced them about 1/4 inch thick, put them on wire cooling racks lightly misted with cooking spray, then I stacked the racks on top of each other (so as to fit more in the oven at once), put them on a cookie sheet covered in aluminum foil and put them in a 200 degree oven and left 'em in there until the tomatoes were good and dry (this took up to 6 hours, depending on a lot of factors like the type of tomato, how thick it was cut, etc.). I'd just put a batch in in the morning and forget about them until later that afternoon while I went about my day. They turned out really beautifully, sweet, tart and chewy. I stored them in plastic baggies and they lasted for quite some time (I can't say exactly how long because they were eaten up long before they had a chance to go bad). Dried at home the tomatoes were a darker color than the commercial varieties I've seen, but were really delicious. I'd be careful about how high you stack the racks in a traditional oven as you don't want the ones close to the heating element to burn. You might change the order/location of the racks part way through for more even drying. Recipe ideas for dried tomatoes: tomato bread or even muffins, dried tomato pesto, wonderful in sauces and dips, chopped up in pasta and potato salad, mixed with tofutti better than cream cheese and spread on a bagel, and unlike with commercial varieties I've tried, I liked these as a snack all by themselves.
|
cv
95 posts
Jun 23, 2005
6:11 AM
|
What terrific ideas everyone has! I've also whizzed about 2 lbs at a time in the blender, skins and all, then frozen them in baggies for gazpacho in the middle of winter. The only thing you need to be careful about is setting the bags in a big mixing bowl while they thaw since they usually leak quite a bit. Catherine
|
Debbie
745 posts
Jun 23, 2005
9:18 AM
|
All great ideas! I have a gas oven and it has convection feature in it.
Thanks for all the ideas! Blend the tomatoes and freeze it is a good idea too.
----------
Debbie
Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all. ~ Harriet Van Horne
|
