Saturday, September 19, 2009

Great Tomato Recipes from Listeners!

Thanks to listeners for submitting their fabulous tomato recipes... Yum!
If you missed last week's broadcast, here's the link... CBC Radio All Points West...
Selection of listener emails below...
*****
Hello, here is one of the most creative recipes I have ever seen for  dealing with green tomatoes. I found it in a cookbook of my
grandmother's, it was submitted by Emily Zachidniak to the St.Mary's Ukrainian Catholic Women's League Cook Book (1981) of Flin Flon.

Strawberry Jam

4c green tomatoes
6c sugar
1-6oz pkg strawberry Jello
3 boxes Certo crystals or 1 1/2 bottles Certo

Grind up the green tomatoes in the meat grinder or blender. Measure 4
c of tomatoes, add 6 c sugar. Boil it all for 4 1/2 min. Remove from
stove, add the strawberry Jello and the Certo. Stir in really well.
Put in jars and seal.

-Alison Sawyer

I only heard part of the interview relating to Tomato Recipes, but since you requested favourites here is ours.....and it is so easy!

Baked or Barbecued tomatoes.

We love to eat baked or barbecued tomatoes. First cut them in half, crosswise, then add a tiny piece of margarine or butter, some freshly ground pepper, and some snipped basil and/or rosemary. If fresh herbs are not available use a little dried basil and rosemary.

Put the tomato halves on an appropriate plate or foil dish for the barbecue or the oven. If baking in the oven allow about 20 minutes at 375 F. If barbecuing cook on the upper shelf, above the main grilling area, until tender and slightly soft - about 20 minutes or so. Tomatoes make such an attractive colour addition to almost any plate, and all of our friends seem to enjoy them. Allow one half of a medium tomato per plate. Experiment with the cooking time, and also with other herbs if you like.

(The butter is optional, and some people might like to add salt. Yes, of course you can broil or grill tomatoes too, but this way you don't have to be watching all the time and you can use your oven or barbecue to cook some of the rest of the meal! Yes you can use the microwave too, but the effect is not quite the same.)

Elizabeth Fleet

Roasted Cherry Tomatoes in Parmesan Cups
Parmesan is the key to this recipe; richer cheeses such as pecorino or Romano may have too much fat to hold a shape.

Ingredients
125 g Parmesan cheese, coarsely shredded
300 g cherry tomatoes
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup basil leaves, cut into thin strips
Directions
1.      Preheat oven to 375?F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place 3 tablespoons of cheese on the paper and, with a spoon, spread into a 6-inch circle. Repeat with the remaining cheese to make 4 circles. Bake until lightly browned around the edges, 6 minutes.
2.      Meanwhile, place 4 custard cups or small shallow bowls upside down on a countertop. Working one at a time, carefully remove the hot cheese circles from the baking sheet and place over the cups. Let stand to form cups and cool completely.
3.      Place the tomatoes in a roasting pan and drizzle with the oil. Roast until the tomatoes split, 10 minutes. Add the basil, tossing to blend.
4.      Place a Parmesan cup on each of 4 plates. Divide the roasted cherry tomatoes equally among the cups and serve immediately.

Sarah Houghton's Tomato Sauce
Hi there, I just made this today with tomatoes I grew in my
garden!!

About 8 lbs roma tomatoes, cored and quartered
2 tbsp canola oil
1 small spanish white onion, finely diced
1 head of roasted garlic
2 oz bacon
2 hot italian sausages
kosher salt
fresh, rough ground pepper
fresh basil
fresh oregano
1 cup homemade beef broth

First of all, I softened the onion and garlic in the canola oil in a
moderately hot large saucepan (about 20 minutes). As the liquid evaporated I
added 1-2 tbsp of plain water.

Then I added the tomatoes and simmered them for about 2 hours.

At this point it was bedtime so I put the whole pan in the fridge.

This morning, I brought the sauce back to a simmer. Then I cooked the
sausage and bacon in a separate frying pan, took them out of the pan,
drained the fat, added the meat back in and cooked for another 10 minutes,
making sure they didn't get crispy. Then I added about 1 1/2 cups of the
tomates into the pan and simmered for about 1/2 hour.

I then added the meat sauce to the rest of the sauce, pureed it, added the
beef stock and simmered for about 2 hours. At the last minute I tasted it
for salt and pepper, added the fresh herbs and I think this is the best
tomato sauce I have ever made.

My family calls this Salsa, but it is really more like a chili sauce.  Regardless of the name, we eat all our tacos with this sauce.

Jacquie Ackerly

Jacquie's Sweet Salsa

3 stalks of celery, finely diced
2 medium onions, finely diced
1 large carrot, finely diced
3 bell peppers, finely diced
6-20 jalapenos  (ribs and seeds removed), finely diced
32 medium tomatoes, chopped (or 2 - 696 ml cans diced tomatoes)
1 cup vinegar
5 tsp pickling salt (or kosher)
1 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 cup white sugar

Place all ingredients except sugar in heavy bottomed pot. Simmer until desired consistency has been reached,  (I often start out with 3 cans of tomatoes (24 fresh) and thern add the rest closer to the end.  Add sugar at the very end as the sauce with stick and burn very easily after sugar is added,  Put into sterile jars and process in a hot water bath.  Follow manufacturer's directions.  YUMMY!!!

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