We had a glitch with the subscription service being down for a couple of days. It is back up now, but you may have missed the last post on Oven Roasted Cherry Tomatoes. In any case, this gives me the opportunity to share one more picture of Little Bird helping pick cherries.
I finally got around to processing our extra tomatoes this weekend. Out of 5 pounds of heirlooms and Roma’s, I made tomato sauce with garlic, based on Alice Water’s recipe. But my absolute favorite alchemy is what happens to cherry tomatoes when they are slow roasted in the oven. If you like the taste of sun-dried tomatoes, but could do without the leathery texture, then you will love these oven roasted cherry tomatoes. And you will be surprised how easy they are!
I love having the taste of summer throughout the year, and nothing speaks to the sunshine and vitamins of summer as well as these easy tomatoes. Try using them in place of sun-dried tomatoes in recipes, such as this Roasted Red Pepper and Walnut Pesto.
Rinse tomatoes and cut in half. Spread, cut side up, on a silicone mat or parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Drizzle, lightly with olive oil and a sprinkle of salt and pepper.
Roast in a 225°F oven for 2-3 hours or until somewhat dried, but still a little juicy. Let cool.
Enjoy as is or pack into a clean jar, cover with more olive oil, and can or freeze. If freezing, leave a little space at the top. Tip: as awesome as garlic, shallots, and fresh herbs are with tomatoes, DO NOT put them in your jars. They contain moisture and will make it mold more quickly.
Click on any picture in the gallery below to expand and see the steps.
Posted in Food, Healthy Recipes, Preserving and Canning, Recipes from the Garden, Seasonal Recipes, Urban Agriculture, Urban Homesteading
Tagged easy farm to table, easy seasonal cooking, easy seasonal recipes, farm to table, heirloom tomatoes, homesteading, naturally gluten free, naturally paleo, Urban Homesteading, vegan, vegetarian, victory gardens
Ever since a friend posted a picture of canning this tomato sauce recipe by Alice Waters, I’ve been wanting to try it. The owner of the legendary Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Waters is well known for pioneering California cuisine and championing organic and local food. I begged my friend to share the recipe and once she finally did I was shocked at how simple it was. (I also thought it kind of reminded me of this simple tomato sauce I threw together the other day.)
My sister and her fiance were visiting from Portland. She teaches science and shared that she had recently been reading an article on why homegrown Heirloom tomatoes taste so much better than commercially produced, genetically modified and supermarket sold “tomatoes.” According to the article in Scientific American, “a tomato’s flavor depends not only on the balance of sugars and acids within the fruit, but also on subtle aromatic compounds.” These compounds are called “volatiles”, are largely lacking in supermarket tomatoes, and the rarest of which make for the tastiest of tomatoes. –We always knew we were on to something, right?
In a sauce this simple, the freshness and quality of the ingredients really shine. We served it with our favorite meatball recipe, hearty penne pasta and freshly grated parmesan.
Cut or obtain 2 pounds of tomatoes. I had been wanting to try out our new kitchen scale
Escali Arti 15 Pound, 7 Kilogram Digital Scale
It’s cute, huh? It is the size of an iPad and also comes in fun colors, like purple. It has a hold function, but it was quick and easy to put another (identical) empty bowl on the scale and zero it out.
Although the recipe calls for 2 pounds, I happened to have 2 pounds and 5 ounces and just rolled with it.
I washed and scored the tomatoes. Please see this post for step by step directions on how to easily peel tomatoes.
Peel, seed and dice 2lbs of ripe tomatoes. Save the juice, strain out the seeds, and add the juice to the diced tomatoes.
Peel 5 large garlic cloves. Smash them and chop coarse. Put a heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat and when hot, pour in 1/4 c. extra-virgin olive oil. Add the garlic and when it starts to sizzle, immediately add the tomatoes and their juice with a large pinch of salt.
Cook at a simmer for 15 minutes. For a smooth sauce, pass through a food mill.
Variations: Add a handful of chopped parsley, marjoram, or oregano or a chiffonade of basil leaves to the sauce a couple of minutes before it is done. Saute 1 small diced onion in the oil before adding garlic. Add a whole dried chile or a pinch of dried chile flakes for spice.
I used just the tomatoes, garlic and basil. I was going to use the pepper from our garden but I really wanted to test out the basic sauce. It’s surprisingly flavorful! I did end up sautéing the pepper with zucchini and onions from the garden. We served the veggies, sauce and fresh parmesan over hearty penne with meatballs made by Papa Bird.
Posted in Healthy Recipes, Preserving and Canning, Recipes for the Whole Family, Recipes from the Garden, Step by Step with Pictures, Urban Agriculture, Urban Homesteading
Tagged easy farm to table, easy seasonal recipes, farm to table, heirloom tomatoes, homesteading, meals for the whole family, preserving, Urban Homesteading, victory gardens
A friend and reader on our new Facebook page asked about what to do with ALL the tomatoes her garden was producing. You can certainly freeze tomatoes, make salsa, eat salads and oven dry them. But when time is of the essence, and you happen to be hungry, nothing is better than a quick tomato sauce.
The heat has been strong for San Diego and many of our tomatoes have been splitting. This evening Papa Bird strapped baby on with his favorite carrier (an Ocah mei tai Didymos Indio wrap conversion, for those that are into Babywearing) and picked at least a dozen tomatoes. I was busy pasteurizing milk, switching out the kefir and starting cheese. I had spinach and ricotta ravioli that my sister gave me when she cleaned out her freezer before moving to Portland. That plus this recipe was about all I had time for.
Saute the onion and carrot in a pan with olive oil and salt and pepper. When soft, add the garlic, then the tomatoes. Let them cook down a little. If you add wine, make sure the alcohol cooks out totally. Simmer for about 10 minutes. If it’s soupy, don’t cover. If it’s on the dry side, keep covered.
I love how the center of this tomato looks!
It’s August in San Diego and my favorite time of year! I haven’t been to the beach as much as I would like, but our garden’s tomatoes are ready. To be honest, I can’t even buy them in the store any more. The taste just doesn’t compare.
This winter I decided not to purchase any out of season tomatoes from the store. Even “organic” tomatoes grown out of season are probably grown in Mexico, using precious water and resources to the detriment of the surrounding ecosystem. That sounds preachy so I should confess, it helped that I had our own heirlooms and cherries frozen and ready to go. We ran out a few months ago and I’ve been looking forward to preserving some more.
The tomatoes are great this year and baby LOVES them. She has a hard time eating the skin, so we peel or cut that away, otherwise she loves eating them baby led weaning style, a.k.a. as finger food.
Ok, funny story. I actually preserved my favorite batch of tomatoes last September, after my water broke and before I woke my husband to go to the hospital. True nesting. (You can read more of the story in this post.) Hey, I’m glad I did. It would never have happened once we came home. And having chopped heirlooms in pre-measured amounts of 2 cups made adding them to dishes super easy.
This weekend we finally had more than we can eat so I set about preserving. My mom got me a steam canner for my birthday, but I’m still a little intimidated (maybe that will be a future experiment and post.) She also gave me a book by Ball, as in the jars, on canning. It was weird, but the book actually said that freezing food was better than canning.
Here is my first, of hopefully many, step by step guides with pictures!
1. Pick your tomatoes when they are ripe, just how you would like to eat them. (Or find some at a farmer’s market.)
2. Give them a quick rinse. (I might have skipped this step.)
3. Put a pot on the stove filled with water and bring to a boil.
4. Get a large bowl ready filled with ice water.
5. So that they will be easy to peel, score each tomato by making an “X” with a paring knife in the skin.
6. Drop the tomato into the boiling water for a minute or two.
7. Transfer the tomato immediately into the ice bath for a couple minutes and then take out. The peel should be starting to fall off.
8. When they are cool enough to handle, peel the tomatoes by hand and roughly chop. (I don’t chop them too small because they tend to shrink a little through the freezing and defrosting.)
9. I like to measure them into 2 cup amounts. I put them in zip lock sandwich bags and then put the sandwich bags into a freezer bag.
10. Lay flat in the freezer.
I would love to get away from plastic next time. Any suggestions?
I also made a super yummy cherry tomato confit last summer. Our cherries haven’t been growing so much this year, but if they do and we get enough, I will definitely share that here, too. That one was also a repeater!
![Honey Bourbon Pecan Pie [New Recipe]](https://i0.wp.com/babybirdsfarm.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/honey-bourbon-pecan-pie-6-1024x768.jpg?resize=40%2C40){kind=small}
This website is carbon neutral! Want yours to be? Click here to get green web hosting. |
 |
 |
 |
 |