4 recipes to use up all your tomatoes
Have an abundance of tomatoes in the garden and not sure what to do with them all? Let these 4 recipes inspire you!
1. Tomato Paste
ingredients
5lbs tomatoes - vine ripened roma or heirloom are best
1 tsp fine sea salt
1/2-1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Large pot
Food mill or large sieve
Large rimmed baking pan
2 or 3 half-pint jars with lids or similar containers
method
Preheat oven to 300F.
Use only the ripest tomatoes and roughly chop them, removing stems and any damaged parts. If your tomatoes contain a lot of juice, you might want to halve them and squeeze out any excess watery juice.
Place tomatoes in a saucepan and boil over high heat. Cook, stirring, just until tomatoes soften, about 2 minutes.
Add 1/4 cup olive oil + teaspoon salt.
Run cooked tomatoes through a food mill if you have one, or simply push them through a large sieve with a flexible spatula to remove skins and seeds.
Pour your tomato pulp onto the baking sheets and bake in oven for 3 hours. If your tomatoes were on the juicier side, feel free to boil down the puree mixture on the stove first, reducing it by up to 1/3 by bringing to a simmer and maintaining until desired reduction. Then place on baking sheets and place in oven.
Stir tomatoes every 30 minutes or so, taking care to scrape the edges and re-incorporate into mixture.
After the tomatoes have reduced significantly (between 1/3 and 1/2), lower the oven heat to 250 F. Continue baking and stirring until thick, shiny, and the color of bricks, up to 2 or 3 more hours.
Once the tomatoes reach a paste-like consistency, transfer into your jars. Keep in fridge or process your jars using the water bath canning technique for shelf-storage.
2. Oven-Dried Tomatoes
ingredients
2lbs tomatoes
1 Tbsp olive oil
Salt
Optional ingredients for seasoning:
Pepper, garlic salt, dried basil, oregano, red pepper flakes
method
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F (95 degrees C).
Wash and halve tomatoes. Gently hull the core of each tomato with the tip of a knife or teaspoon to remove seeds, then cut into quarters or smaller if desired.
Place tomatoes in a large bowl and drizzle with the olive oil, salt and seasonings, if using, tossing gently to evenly distribute.
Place the tomatoes on a nonstick baking sheet and bake in oven until the edges curl up or they reduce in size by a third, about 2-3 hours. Leave to cool at this plump-dry stage or put back in oven for up to an additional 3-4 hours if you prefer a chewier texture.
3. Tomato Salsa
ingredients
2 ½ pounds cherry tomatoes, stemmed and cut in half
1 cup cane sugar
1 cup finely chopped fresh basil
½ cup finely chopped sweet onion
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
½ lemon, juiced
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon ground coriander
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
method
Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil while stirring.
Reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened and reduced by half, 2 to 3 hours. Remove from the heat.
Fill your jars and refrigerate for up to two weeks or freeze for up to four months.
4. Tomato Soup
ingredients
7-8 tomatoes, de-stemmed
1 large carrot, top cut off + sliced in half length ways
Half a zucchini
4 garlic cloves, in skins
Olive oil
Salt
Basil
2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
Coconut milk, optional
method
Preheat oven to 400F.
Place whole vegetables + garlic on a baking tray and drizzle generously with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.
Cook in oven for 45mins-1hr or until vegetables are evenly roasted.
Remove skins from garlic and place all the vegetables in a blender until smooth consistency.
Add in a handful of basil and 2 cups of broth and continue to blend. Add more broth if desired.
Option to add coconut milk if you like your soup creamy.
Serve with grated Parmesan cheese or store in jars in the fridge or freezer.
