Saturday, September 19, 2009

Tomatoes

I grew tomatoes in my garden for the first time this year. I wasn't nearly as successful as I had hoped. But here in Ohio, with a farmer's market on every corner, there is no short supply...
My friend Val learned how to can tomatoes from her father, and this year she taught me. She trucked all her supplies over to my house last week, and we had a blast making a mess...

I have to be honest. It was a lot of work (mostly done by Val) and I had to get more tomatoes than I ever imagined. I can't wait to use these this winter!! The fruits of her labor...ha...

I shared a jar with my sweet neighbor Kelli, who is a killer cook. She and her husband are also great gardeners, with a ton of tomatoes. She shared another interesting technique with me for roasting tomatoes, and I wanted to pass it along...

Core and slice your clean whole tomatoes tomatoes. Spread them out on a cookie sheet. Add sliced onion (or not), garlic cloves (don't leave that out), and drizzle with olive oil. Add fresh basil or dried, and kosher salt. Bake in the oven at 400 degrees for an hour...
Here's the before picture...
Your house will smell heavenly, trust me on this. Your neighbors and friends who stop by will want to invite you to dinner. Your husband will ask what smells so good, and so will the kids...
Your mixture will reduce, and when you take it out of the oven, it will be soft. Place your mix into a bowl and smash it with a potato masher (I love mine from Pampered Chef). My neighbor Kelli peels her skins, but I didn't--so you be the judge.
I know--the picture isn't great. But the lasagna my family enhaled this evening was the best I've ever made...

Give it a shot!! Let me know how it goes, too...




8 comments:

Laina Lamb said...

Are there any leftovers? YUM!

Heather said...

I hate fresh tomatoes but I can taste those ones baked in the oven...now those sound YUM!

jamie said...

oh! YUM!!!
now i am thinking of a fresh tomato sandwich.

BabyBokChoy said...

How exactly is this huge batch not as successfully as you had hoped? Was your original plan to open up a factory to compete with Heinz? LOL. Last year we harvested 350 tomatoes, I have no idea what all happened to them, lol. Love your pictures of cooking though, they always make me salivate.

Vanessa, Florida, USA said...

That looks and sounds heavenly!!!! Can I have some, too :-) YUM!!! Thx for your sweet comments on my blog... hope you can join us next year, my sweet friend... xoxo

Damaris said...

I am so trying this!!!
Hugs,
me

borcherding said...

OMG!! Give me a spoon so I can scoop up some of that goodness RIGHT NOW!!! YUMMY!! THANK YOU for sharing this. I wish I would have had this about 2 months ago. Oh well...going to make the hubby do twice as much next year because NOTHING beats homegrown mators!!!! WAY TOO GO on the canning too. Lots of work but the reward is GREAT!!

Stacy said...

Way to go on learning to can! It is a lot of work, but it's SO worth the effort! Enjoy your tomatoes!