Sunday Dinner: Using Garden Tomatoes

[ritajr]

This year I planted five types of tomatoes in my garden. But before you say, “Wow, that’s alotta tomatoes,” I have to tell you that I only had 2 - 4 of each kind.

3 Round cherry tomatoes
4 Roma plum tomatoes
4 Black Krim heirloom tomatoes
2 Early Girl
2 Big Boy

So, what did I do with all of my tomatoes?

1.        froze them (I want to learn how to can them in glass jars next)
2.        fresh salsa
3.        tomato sauce for spaghetti
4.        snacks and salads
5.        tomato and crouton “pie”

My son, Ian, makes a great pie-type dish from a recipe that he weaseled out of his aunt (my sister-in-law). It’s a great side dish and cooks up quickly in the microwave. I’m sure the recipe is on a website somewhere, but I haven’t been able to find it.

Easy Tomato and Crouton “Pie”

Fresh tomatoes, diced

Mozzarella cheese

Croutons

Italian-style salad dressing

Pour a layer of croutons in a glass pie pan. Cover the croutons with a layer of diced tomatoes and top with sliced mozzarella cheese. Pour Italian salad dressing over it and microwave until it’s hot and the cheese is melted. Allow to cool slightly before serving.
(Ian says you can use the toaster over but it will take longer.)

More information about my Summer 2012 tomato plants:

The Big Boy tomato plants did not do well. One began to die off early in the season and I had to remove it. The other was very bushy but kept dropping the flowers and did not bear fruit. I pulled it out in July.

True to their name, the Early Girl plants fruited early. I had edible tomatoes in late June and they are still producing.

Romas are what we always called Italian Plums when I was growing up. They are meaty and make great tomato sauce for spaghetti night. I have already frozen eight cups of Romas and yesterday I cooked up about four-dozen tomatoes into a sauce for dinner.

Black Krims were new to me. I never grew an heirloom variety before so I didn’t know what to expect. I kept waiting for them to turn red and when one started to rot on the plant I came to the conclusion that maybe their ripe looks different. They stay green-ish on top and as you go down the tomato to the blossom end, it turns black-ish, and blends into a maroon-ish red. When you slice into them they are beautiful and they have a different texture than the Early Girls or Romas. I think they are best to eat raw in a salad or sliced on a burger. However, I used them in a fresh salsa and it was wonderful.

Next year I will eliminate the Big Boy and the Black Krim. I will probably try a different type of heirloom tomato and maybe yellow cherry tomatoes or just use the extra room for more pepper plants.

Hopefully, I’ll have good luck with all.