Your Favorite Tomato Recipe

garden fresh

 

I remember not liking raw tomatoes; they reminded me of raw hearts. But the day came when I put aside that foolish thought and had one. Then I realized how many times I had missed out on this vegetable gem. I grew up on a farm, plus most of my uncles planted vegetable gardens. I was in my late twenties when I first had a fresh tomato; what a day that discovery was!

My mother's favorite memory of fresh tomatoes takes her back to childhood when her mother would pick them warm and flavorful from their rows of delicious, delightful vegetables in their garden and then lavishly spread mayonnaise on two slices of homemade bread.

"It was a midday snack that felt like a dessert."

What is one of your good tomato memories or recipes?



Comments

13 responses to “Your Favorite Tomato Recipe”

  1. Oh I love fresh tomatoes fresh from the garden
    Eaten as is I like to have them with olive oil and oregano drizzled over them and sometimes with feta cheese fresh tomtatoes are pure Heaven as is all home grown food
    I would love to see lots of good recipes on here of what to do with fresh tomatoes
    and a fresh tomatoe sandwich with bacon and lettuce
    Oh I can hardly wait to get fresh new ideas of what to do with fresh tomatoes
    Much love
    Jeanne

  2. Best Ever Tomato
    Soup! Guaranteed. From an Indigo flyer a few years back
    1 Set oven to broil.
    2 Mix tomatoes, onions, garlic, oregano and olive oil in bowl
    with salt & pepper.
    3 Place on baking sheet. Broil for 10 minutes. Rotate tray
    to char mixture.
    GREAT TIP: Fire roasting tomatoes adds smoky flavour
    to soup. If you do not have a grill, place tomatoes under
    oven broiler.
    4 Lower oven to 350˚F. Roast mixture for about 30 minutes.
    5 Add canned tomatoes, broth and basil to pot. Bring to boil
    and simmer. Add oven roasted tomatoes and simmer for
    about 15 minutes.
    6 Roughly puree soup. Let cool slightly, then fully puree.
    7 Roughly chop basil for garnish. Drizzle with olive oil.
    Serves 12
    Preparation: 15 minutes
    Cooking: 55 minutes
    6-8 ripe tomatoes,
    roughly chopped
    2 red onions,
    roughly chopped
    2 garlic cloves,
    roughly chopped
    1 28-ounce can,
    crushed plum tomatoes
    4 cups chicken broth
    3 tbsp olive oil
    1 tbsp dried oregano
    6-8 basil leaves
    (keep some for garnish)
    salt & pepper to taste
    ≧^◡^≦It tastes good!≧^◡^≦

  3. Martina

    My Aunty used to make toasted sandwiches with mayonnaise, lettuce and tomato. Sometimes she would add tuna. Dad suggested rubbing a garlic clove on the toasted and buttered bread before adding the usual. It was definitely a game changer. Most of us had to have two sandwiches, so good! Aunty would put sugar on the tomatoes, but that really wasn’t necessary.

  4. PICTURE IT PARIS 1981 – fresh out of high school– on a trip to see/be with my then French boyfriend…. his grandmother made us a tomato salad with the best Dijon mustard I had ever had- I will never forget that salad and that hot August late afternoon- I have dreamt of that salad and researched that salad— longed for that salad. With the advent of Facebook many many moons ago, for a hot second, he and I messaged each other and one of the first things I asked him was “Do you have the recipe for you Mamie’s SALAD DE TOMATE?” – I don’t think he had the same recollection of the event as did I. Some years later, on another trip to France , my sister and I were in an outdoor cafe in the south of France and I ordered the salad-it was good-but not even in the same league as that deliciousness enjoyed so many years ago. Maybe it was the boy or the Parisian apartment or everything I was experiencing that summer-maybe it was love-but that salad is legendary in my mind, my memory and my heart-

  5. I didn’t eat raw tomato until I was over 40! One of my favorite breakfasts is slices of garden tomatoe on a toasted English muffins with olive oil and plentiful salt and fresh pepper.

  6. marilyn

    Early in my working career I didn’t want to take sandwiches for lunch; so I would make a salad with sliced tomato topped with tuna, shredded lettuce and an olive on top. I ate that every day for years and loved it. Hummmm! I will have ripe tomatoes in my garden soon. I think I need to make plans for tomato-tuna salads.

  7. Kathie B

    Marcella Hazan’s Tomato and Cream Sauce:
    http://kathyredmonsblog.blogspot.com/2010/09/tomato-and-cream-sauce-for-pasta-from.html
    We love it over spinach-and-cheese filled ravioli, and over gnocchi. We make a multiple batch in order to have extra leftover, because the sauce freezes well. Handy to have when there’s not much time to cook.

  8. Kathie B

    P.S. Except… depending on the time of year, we use either fresh tomatoes from our garden, or home-canned puréed tomatoes.

  9. One of my favorite recipes to do with cherry tomatoes is to cut them in half and sprinkle with balsamic vinegar. I add a little salt and pepper as well. I think the original recipe also called for capers and fresh basil but honestly, we all just like the tomatoes with a douse of balsamic.

  10. Diogenes

    Homegrown tomatoes are always far superior in flavor to the store bought ones, at least here in the States.

  11. Diane B

    I wait all year for home grown beefsteak tomatoes to make a “mushy sandwich”. White bread, mayo, two giant slices of tomato, a little salt and pepper. Maybe a slice of Kraft Singles American cheese.
    It just says summer to me!

  12. Stephanie M

    The combination of tomatoes, mayonnaise and lettuce between whole wheat bread or rye bread is also very good with a slice of meatloaf and salt and pepper. Yum!

  13. My father made us the the same tomato sandwich as your mother’s from the tomatoes in his garden. Still one of the best memories!

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