I love homegrown tomatoes. I've probably produced a hundred in my life
and mostly get them from the kindness of friends/not strangers. A old
friend from a different town stopped by yesterday and fooled my wife
into opening the door with the seductive phrase, "You want some fresh
tomatoes"?
He delivered thirty to forty pounds worth. I was looking at three
plastic grocery bags loaded to just less than the tear point with
tomatoes picked that day. It would be a crime to waste such bounty.
So, thanks to this group, I went to work after he left. I hadn't planned
on a chore, but there you go. I put more tomatoes than we can possibly
eat fresh on a glass server and processed/am procdessing the rest for
freezing.
I have skinned, seeded and simmered three batches of fifty tomatoes. I
added a half cup of olive oil to each batch while it was breaking down.
I reduced the tomatoes to a certain point, and then, I buzzed the
tomatoes with a hand blender and brought up salt to taste. I needed no
sugar. Homegrown took care of the sugar.
I'm processing the last batch now. It looks like I'll get the whole
damned lot into eight of those 22 ounce containers that Hillshire Farms
sells thin sliced process meat in. Those will fit in my freezer door.
That's eighteen tomato's worth of flavor per 22 ounce container! A few
approached cherry and some were half-beefsteak size.
I'd never peeled a tomato before. Now I'm a pro.
I *know* that with one of the batches, I just have to add cream to have
a grand tomato bisque. I wouldn't have had a clue without guidance from
this group over the years.
Oh, and I think I'll make a "salsa cruda" out of half the ones on the
glass server. I might just get through this without waste.

leo

On Monday, October 7, 2013 10:13:53 PM UTC-5, Leonard Blaisdell wrote:
> I love homegrown tomatoes. I've probably produced a hundred in my life
>
> and mostly get them from the kindness of friends/not strangers. A old
>
> friend from a different town stopped by yesterday and fooled my wife
>
> into opening the door with the seductive phrase, "You want some fresh
>
> tomatoes"?
>
> He delivered thirty to forty pounds worth. I was looking at three
>
> plastic grocery bags loaded to just less than the tear point with
>
> tomatoes picked that day. It would be a crime to waste such bounty.
>
> So, thanks to this group, I went to work after he left. I hadn't planned
>
> on a chore, but there you go. I put more tomatoes than we can possibly
>
> eat fresh on a glass server and processed/am procdessing the rest for
>
> freezing.
>
> I have skinned, seeded and simmered three batches of fifty tomatoes. I
>
> added a half cup of olive oil to each batch while it was breaking down.
>
> I reduced the tomatoes to a certain point, and then, I buzzed the
>
> tomatoes with a hand blender and brought up salt to taste. I needed no
>
> sugar. Homegrown took care of the sugar.
>
> I'm processing the last batch now. It looks like I'll get the whole
>
> damned lot into eight of those 22 ounce containers that Hillshire Farms
>
> sells thin sliced process meat in. Those will fit in my freezer door.
>
> That's eighteen tomato's worth of flavor per 22 ounce container! A few
>
> approached cherry and some were half-beefsteak size.
>
> I'd never peeled a tomato before. Now I'm a pro.
>
> I *know* that with one of the batches, I just have to add cream to have
>
> a grand tomato bisque. I wouldn't have had a clue without guidance from
>
> this group over the years.
>
> Oh, and I think I'll make a "salsa cruda" out of half the ones on the
>
> glass server. I might just get through this without waste.

Nice! I've been processing my tomatoes too. I skinned, seeded, and chopped one batch and froze them in ziplock freezer bags. Next was some nice tomato sauce. I love having that nice homemade tomato sauce around in the winter, it makes a killer Bloody Mary mix!

Leonard Blaisdell wrote:
>
>I love homegrown tomatoes. I've probably produced a hundred in my life.

Huh? In season I probably pick a hundred each day.

Leonard Blaisdell wrote:

> Oh, and I think I'll make a "salsa cruda" out of half the ones on the
> glass server. I might just get through this without waste.

How is your salsa cruda? I often make raw aglio olio e peperoncino where I
almost always add diced tomatoes: EVO oil, garlic and red hot pepper, let it
in a dish for some hours and then use over pasta. The diced tomato is a nice
addition
--
"Un pasto senza vino e' come un giorno senza sole"
Anthelme Brillat Savarin

On Mon, 07 Oct 2013 20:13:53 -0700, Leonard Blaisdell
> wrote:

> Oh, and I think I'll make a "salsa cruda" out of half the ones on the
> glass server. I might just get through this without waste.

I was gifted with far fewer tomatoes than your haul, but it was enough
to make 5 half pints of American style (no heat) chilie sauce, plus
some for the refrigerator - which is 4 more than my usual consumption
for a year.

--
Food is an important part of a balanced diet.

In article >, "ViLco" >
wrote:

> How is your salsa cruda? I often make raw aglio olio e peperoncino where I
> almost always add diced tomatoes: EVO oil, garlic and red hot pepper, let it
> in a dish for some hours and then use over pasta. The diced tomato is a nice
> addition

Apologies for the delay. I got the recipe from "Cuisine of the American
Southwest" some years ago. Since I don't glance at the recipe in the
book anymore, I'm comfortable spouting off my hazy interpretation which
works fine.
You need:
six three inch wide fresh tomatoes or the approximation
three approx. 2 1/2" wide tomatillos or more if smaller
one healthy jalapeño, seeded and deveined or more if you want
one medium onion. I use yellow
at least a half cup chopped fresh cilantro. That's a half cup after
chopping.

I use a food processor to process everything but the cilantro which I
add at the end. I chop and stem the cilantro by hand. Yes, I know
cilantro stems are fine as is, but I put I prefer not to have them.
First I process the onions until they just won't quite fall through a
collander and rinse the result while in the collander. Then I process
the jalapeño to the same grind and add to the onions.
I then process the tomato and tomatillo together to a reasonable
consistency, add the onion and jalapeño back in and mix or pulse with
the food processor till blended. Then I salt to taste. A tsp or less.
This is the only food that my wife tolerates fresh cilantro in. In fact,
she insists on it for salsa cruda.
I suppose I could just add all the ingredients to a food processor
without the extra steps, but I like what I do.
It's outstanding with tortilla chips and on eggs. I realize that
cilantro haters may come out of the woodwork to dis me on this.

leo

On Mon, 14 Oct 2013 17:02:32 -0700, Leonard Blaisdell
> wrote:

> It's outstanding with tortilla chips and on eggs. I realize that
> cilantro haters may come out of the woodwork to dis me on this.

No problems here.

--
Food is an important part of a balanced diet.

Leonard Blaisdell wrote:

> Apologies for the delay. I got the recipe from "Cuisine of the
> American Southwest" some years ago. Since I don't glance at the
> recipe in the book anymore, I'm comfortable spouting off my hazy
> interpretation which works fine.
[...]
> It's outstanding with tortilla chips and on eggs. I realize that
> cilantro haters may come out of the woodwork to dis me on this.

Nice recipe, thanks
--
"Un pasto senza vino e' come un giorno senza sole"
Anthelme Brillat Savarin