Tomatoes
I'm a bit weird with tomatoes. I only like them if they've been cooked a little.
For those health lovers among us, it's good to know that tomatoes taste amazing and are amazingly good for you. Full of vitamins (a, b complex and C), minerals and anti-oxidants... and juice and flavor. And according to the internet, if you rub them all over yourself you get beautiful skin, Though I think i'll stick to eating them.
How to select and store tomatoes.
they shouldn't have any blemishes and the skin should be smooth. They should feel heavy for their size and smell like tomatoes on the bottom end.
They need to be stored stem down in a cool, dark place. not in the fridge though- cold makes the tomato loose a bit of it's taste. if you must put them in the fridge, remove them about an hour before using them.
How to prepare tomatoes
Some people don't like tomato skin. I prefer to leave it on. It's easier and I don't notice the skin at all. But how to peel a tomato? The best way is to remove the core with a knife (paring knife, preferably.) Then cut an "X" into the base. Then put them into a pot of boiling water until the skin starts to split (only about 10 seconds or so). Remove them with a slotted spoon and Place them in ice water to cool. This stops them from cooking any further. Then simply use the knife to lift up the skin and peel with your hands. The skin comes right off.
To remove the seeds (which have no nutritional value or tomato-y taste to speak of, and often ruin recipes with their texture) Cut the tomato in half at the equator and gently squeeze them out. This also gets rid of a lot of excess juice, so if you want as much juice as possible in what you're cooking you may want to work over a bowl.
You can't really do anything with the seeds themselves apart from grow them. If you want to grow them, you can save the seeds by keeping them in the goo in a container, with a couple tablespoons of water. Cover the container with plastic wrap and poke a small hole in to allow for airflow. Leave the container in the sun for a few days, stirring each night. Wash the seeds carefully to get rid of all the go (I use a very fine kitchen sieve.) Then dry them on wax paper for about a week. (stirring a few times to make sure every surface is dry)
To slice the tomatoes, it's often easier to chop them in half and put the chopped slide down on the board.
To chop, stack the slices and cut into strips, then line the stripes up and cut into cubes. I prefer mine nice and chunky.
To dice, chop smaller.
Recipes: Nachos
For those health lovers among us, it's good to know that tomatoes taste amazing and are amazingly good for you. Full of vitamins (a, b complex and C), minerals and anti-oxidants... and juice and flavor. And according to the internet, if you rub them all over yourself you get beautiful skin, Though I think i'll stick to eating them.
How to select and store tomatoes.
they shouldn't have any blemishes and the skin should be smooth. They should feel heavy for their size and smell like tomatoes on the bottom end.
They need to be stored stem down in a cool, dark place. not in the fridge though- cold makes the tomato loose a bit of it's taste. if you must put them in the fridge, remove them about an hour before using them.
How to prepare tomatoes
Some people don't like tomato skin. I prefer to leave it on. It's easier and I don't notice the skin at all. But how to peel a tomato? The best way is to remove the core with a knife (paring knife, preferably.) Then cut an "X" into the base. Then put them into a pot of boiling water until the skin starts to split (only about 10 seconds or so). Remove them with a slotted spoon and Place them in ice water to cool. This stops them from cooking any further. Then simply use the knife to lift up the skin and peel with your hands. The skin comes right off.
To remove the seeds (which have no nutritional value or tomato-y taste to speak of, and often ruin recipes with their texture) Cut the tomato in half at the equator and gently squeeze them out. This also gets rid of a lot of excess juice, so if you want as much juice as possible in what you're cooking you may want to work over a bowl.
You can't really do anything with the seeds themselves apart from grow them. If you want to grow them, you can save the seeds by keeping them in the goo in a container, with a couple tablespoons of water. Cover the container with plastic wrap and poke a small hole in to allow for airflow. Leave the container in the sun for a few days, stirring each night. Wash the seeds carefully to get rid of all the go (I use a very fine kitchen sieve.) Then dry them on wax paper for about a week. (stirring a few times to make sure every surface is dry)
To slice the tomatoes, it's often easier to chop them in half and put the chopped slide down on the board.
To chop, stack the slices and cut into strips, then line the stripes up and cut into cubes. I prefer mine nice and chunky.
To dice, chop smaller.
Recipes: Nachos