Recipes with Julie Van Rosendaal: How to make the most of your tomatoes

It’s tomato season, and whether you grow them or not, you could have a surplus (if they’re still green, you can speed up ripening by storing them near a few bananas, which emit more ethylene gas than most Fruit).

What to do with everyone, especially those who get soggy quickly?

We’ve talked about a few ways you can use tomatoes on the Calgary Eyeopener in this week.

If you don’t have time to cook them right away, toss them straight in the freezer whole. This also makes them easier to peel, as the fruit will swell and tear open its skin, allowing you to peel it off with your fingers.

Many stews and casseroles call for a small amount of tomatoes (often a spoonful of tomato paste) for sweetness and tartness, and often you can just toss a whole tomato or two straight from the freezer into the pot to break up and do thing.

If you don’t want to make large batches of salsa or tomato sauce, you can also roast them sheet by sheet (roasted tomatoes are great for sandwiches or on pizza, they don’t get mushy). But one of my favorite things to do is melt them on the stovetop or in the oven when it’s on.

To do this, roughly chop as many tomatoes as you want to cook (don’t peel them). Place them in a pan with a drizzle of oil (butter is delicious, too) and sprinkle generously with salt.

Cook over medium heat until they start to break down. They will look like they are melting.

Add some garlic or chilies or spices. Cook them for as long as you like – they will condense and intensify the flavor.

Melted tomatoes freeze well, keep in the fridge for a while, and can be tossed with pasta or used as a quick curry.

And of course there are so many dishes around the world that involve cooking eggs in tomatoes: shakshuka, pipérade, eggs in purgatory. They make nests in the tomato mixture and crack eggs straight into the pan to poach them.

Add some crumbled feta or goat cheese, if you like. Tomatoes go very well with both. Or serve melted tomatoes with a whole burrata or some warm fontina or brie.

Other flavorful ingredients: fresh basil, a dash of balsamic vinegar, or something salty like mashed olives or a spoonful of capers.

A great veggie curry

I cook up big curries all the time with what’s in the fridge. I never measure when making this curry. You don’t need that either.

They cook by eye, using veggies that have to be used and tomatoes in all forms: fresh, frozen, canned, in jars, even salsa is great.

ingredients

• Vegetable oil or ghee for cooking
• mustard seeds
• Caraway seeds
• chopped onion
• chopped jalapenos
• crushed garlic
• Salt
• turmeric
• ground cumin
• coriander (optional)
• chopped coriander (optional)
• Tomatoes in any form: fresh, frozen, canned, in jars, even salsa or cooked veggies (I like to roast things like cauliflower florets for flavor)
• cooked or canned (drained) lentils or chickpeas (optional)
• a handful of baby spinach or shredded Swiss chard or kale (optional)
• Sour cream, yogurt, whipped cream or coconut milk

Set a large skillet over medium-high heat, add a dash of oil (or ghee) and warm some mustard seeds and cumin for just a minute, until fragrant and maybe popping a little.

Add some onion (if you like!), jalapeño and garlic and cook for a few minutes, sprinkled with salt, until tender.

Add a spoonful of turmeric and a shake of cumin and coriander, and some chopped coriander sprigs if you like.

Cook for another minute or two, then add your tomatoes and cook until very soft and concentrated (you may need to add more oil or ghee).

Stir in any veggies and legumes and cook to either heat or cook the veggies if needed.

Add more water if needed so you can continue cooking without getting too thick (cover if you don’t want excess moisture to evaporate).

Tear in some veggies if you like and stir them into the warm mixture until they wilt.

Stir in or swivel in some sour cream, yoghurt, cream or coconut milk as desired.

Tomato galette

A freestyle galette is easy and a great way to use tomatoes at their peak. There are so many ways to make it – with some pesto or other flavorful condiments (even thick dips like spinach and artichokes!) spread on the crust, or a layer of paper-thin lemons or caramelized onions.

You can add any amount of cheese – crumbled or grated – or herbs from your garden.

If you like, garnish your galette with crispy capers: pat dry a spoonful of capers and fry them in a small pan with just enough oil to just cover them, until they crisp up and open up a bit.

Just before serving, top with the capers and drizzle the tart with a little caper oil if you like.

Ingredients:

• ½ pack puff pastry, thawed

Filling:

• Pesto, olive tapenade, or garlic olive oil (optional)
• enough tomatoes of all colors and sizes to slice and cover your pie
• sliced ​​brie, crumbled soft cheese or boursin, grated parmesan, or really any other cheese you like
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• a small handful of fresh herbs or a few chopped chives (optional)
• 1 egg, lightly beaten, or milk or cream for brushing (optional)

Preheat the oven to 375 F. On a lightly floured surface (or on a Silpat baking mat if you have one), roll out the thawed dough thinly, about 1/8-inch thick. It can be a circle, an oval, a square or whatever. Transfer to a baking sheet.

Prick the bottom several times with a fork to keep it from puffing up in the oven.

If you like, spread a thin layer of pesto or tapenade on the base or brush with garlic oil (put some olive oil in a casserole dish and press in a clove of garlic) or crumble some soft cheese on top.

Slice the tomatoes about ¼-inch thick and place in a single layer, slightly overlapping, leaving about an inch of batter around the edge.

Fill in the gaps with cheese or small cherry or grape tomatoes, whole or halved.

If you like, grate some firmer cheese (like Parmesan) on top and drizzle with a little more olive oil (or the garlic oil).

Fold over the edge of the pastry and brush with a little beaten egg, milk or cream, as you like.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until deep golden.

serves: 4.

Tomato flavored baked beans

Braised beans are the new baked beans. Cooked until tender, then topped with a tomato boost (acid can keep dry beans from going soft, so tomato sauce is added after cooking) and, if you like, grilled with a cheesy lid.

There are many ways you can do this: stir in some cooked, chunky pasta or gnocchi into the beans before topping with cheese and baking, or simmer some sausages in the cooked beans — add them along with them add to tomato sauce, or fry or grill and then tuck in for a streamlined cassoulet of sorts.

ingredients

• 1 cup dry butter beans (aka baby lima beans) or kidney beans
• 1 garlic clove, peeled
• 1 sprig of rosemary or thyme
• 1-2 bay leaves
• Pinch of red chili flakes
• salt, to taste
• olive oil
• 1 cup chopped tomatoes, tomato sauce or puree
• grated or shredded mozzarella or parmesan or other melty cheese (optional)

If you’d like, soak the beans in plenty of water for a couple of hours or overnight — this starts the hydration process, but it’s unnecessary — starting from dry only adds about 15 minutes to your cook time, and you can set in notice that your beans hold their shape a little better and don’t splinter.

If you soaked them, drain the soaking liquid and add the dry or soaked beans to a medium saucepan or Dutch oven with about 4 cups of water.

Add the garlic, rosemary, bay leaves, chili flakes, and a large pinch of salt, add a drizzle of olive oil and cook over medium-high heat, about 1½ hours, or until the beans are tender.

Add more water (or broth if you have some) as needed if it reduces too much as the beans cook.

When the beans are soft, add some tomato paste or puree and cook until the liquid is reduced and thickened.

Remove rosemary and bay leaves, salt if necessary and serve with crusty bread.

If you like, grate some mozzarella and/or parmesan (or other melty cheese) on top and run under the grill until golden brown.

serves: 4