Tomato Recipes- 5 Simple Ways to Use up 40 lbs

When tomato season is in full swing here are 5 simple tomato recipes for when you are suddenly in the midst of way too many tomatoes.

My mom’s neighbor called.

“Do you think Stacy would like some tomatoes from my garden?”

Is that even a question? For a chef, an offering of tomatoes is like a call of duty. I must have those tomatoes.

When I showed up at the neighbor’s home she told me about what they had done to the soil that year and how she wanted to remodel their home. Really a lovely lady. When she led me to her back patio I was overwhelmed with beauty. A table chalk full of ripe, organic, heirloom tomatoes. My mind began to wander to the kitchen. When she asked me how many I wanted I knew in my heart I could not reject a single tomato. And so she gave them all to me. All 40 pounds!!!!

I walked home with a full garbage bag, to the brim with sun-ripened love, at the beginnings of shortness of breath. After a moment of sheer glee at the sight of gold, purple, and red rubies, all mine, I had a moment of terror.

“What the hell am I going to do with all of these?”

As a result, as part of my “What to Do with Your CSA Farm Share Series” I have committed a large chunk of content exclusively to tomatoes. After two days of dreaming, conniving, and madly cooking I came up with 5 simple tomato recipes to either eat these hoards of tomatoes or preserve them. My conditions:

• No canning (in the water bath boiling, citric acid balancing kind of way).

• No peeling of tomatoes.

• As little deseeding as possible.

• Tomato products I’m actually going to use.

Here is the largest portion of prep I did. Removing the core/stem of the tomato.

I wanted to keep this simple but also come up with tomato recipes that I will actually use. So here it is.

Simple Caprese Arugula Salad

This recipe is a minimalist’s caprese salad, as if it wasn’t already easy enough. Each serving includes a garlic scraped crostini, fresh arugula, sliced tomatoes, a slice of fresh mozzarella, olive oil, balsamic and salt. Want more ideas for raw tomatoes? Try my creamy gazpacho .

Salsa 3 Ways

There’s nothing like fresh pico de gallo, but it doesn’t keep for very long. These simple tomato recipes will keep the salsa flowing for weeks. Using one large base this salsa recipe composes 3 different salsas: pico de gallo, fermented salsa, and salsa roja.

Rustic Tomato Paste

As you may know, I love making my own fermented ketchup . But finding organic tomato paste in BPA free cans can be difficult and/or pricey. Slow roast tomato puree for hours to make the most rich and brightly flavored tomato paste good enough to smear on toast.

Smoked and Roasted Tomatoes

Smoking tomatoes will up your pasta game by a lot. Perfect as a snack on their own or with a nob or goat cheese. By smoking and roasting your tomatoes you can throw them into the freezer for the next time you need to make barbecue sauce, smokey pasta, bruschetta, smokey salsa, a smoked tomato tarte tatin with goat cheese and balsamic…the list of awesome never ends.

Garam Masala Tomato Jam

Yes, you read that correctly. Tomato jam. Not something I grew up with, but out of all of these tomato recipes, this one is my favorite. This reminds of a slightly less tangy, tomato chutney. The garam masala really compliments the depth of flavor of this jam and topped with goat cheese it is 100% amazing. You could use this with curry, on toast for breakfast, as a condiment for eggs and bacon, flair up any kind of sandwich, or mash with an avocado.

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