Comments on: Tomato Chowder recipe (Plus a contest and a challenge to readers)

By: Andrea Bellamy

Andrea Bellamy — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 22:19:35 +0000

Willi – thanks for the great recipe – it made a delicious lunch for me on this rainy weekend!

Nancy – sounds delish! I look forward to trying it.

Sami – mmmmmm… I’m getting hungry! That sounds awesome.

Judy – LOL. Love it! I must admit, the title made me do a double-take. Thanks for the truly seasonal recipe!

Christine – I can always use a good chicken recipe and this one looks fantastic. Thanks :)

By: Christine

Christine — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 12:08:53 +0000

I just found your posting for tomato recipes and I know I’m late, but couldn’t resist sending you my personal favourite late season recipe. Your soup sounds wonderful and I’m looking forward to trying it.

Pan-Roasted Chicken w/End-of-Season Tomatoes

3 tsps sea salt
1 4 lb chicken, cut into 6 pieces
3/8 cup flour, for dusting
freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
3 sprigs thyme
1 shallot — finely chopped
1/2 cup fino sherry
3 tomatoes, very ripe
1 tsp sherry vinegar — aged

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place flour and more salt and pepper in a plastic bag. Add chicken pieces, two at a time, and shake to lightly coat them. Vigorously shake off excess flour and repeat with remaining chicken.

Place a deep, ovenproof saute pan over medium-high heat. Add oil and butter. When foam subsides, add chicken pieces, skin side down. Brown well, adjusting heat as needed, then turn and cook for 3 minutes. Add thyme sprigs and transfer pan to oven. Roast chicken, basting every few minutes.

When chicken is cooked (20 to 30 minutes), transfer it to a platter and keep warm. Place pan back on stove, over medium heat. Add shallot and saute one minute. Pour in sherry and boil, scraping up any pan drippings. Reduce until pan is almost dry, then add tomatoes and increase heat to high. Cook until tomatoes have broken down and juices have condensed, 10 minutes. It should be pulpy, not drippy. Taste and adjust seasoning, sprinkle with vinegar, then spoon sauce over chicken. Serve.

Rich with flavour, beautiful to look it – the tomatoes make it very festive.

By: Judy

Judy — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 20:15:38 +0000

Blood Soup with Eyeballs and Maggots

A little something for Halloween and Calvin-type kids.

28 oz of crushed and puree tomatoes
8 oz chicken stock
1 T of rice vinegar
2 cloves of garlic minced
herbs and spices to your liking

Bring to a simmer.
Add
2 dozen cut in half black olives (Eyeballs)
Simmer some more and taste. Correct seasoning.
Add 2 chunks of butter. Turn to lowest setting and stir.
Add 1/3 cup of orzo pasta (Maggots)
Stir occasionally and cook until pasta is cooked.

Serve to your goblins before heading out to the graveyard.

By: Sami Holloway

Sami Holloway — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 16:12:11 +0000

One of my fav things to do with fresh, good tomatoes is to make tomato-centric personal pizzas: use individual pizza crusts (or fat pitas or english muffins) rubbed with garlic, lay on several good slices of multi-colored tomatoes, add thinly sliced red onion or sauteed yellow / white onion, basil, oregano, sea salt, fresh cracked pepper, slices of bell pepper (roasted is easier to eat), and top it all off with Parmesan and mozzarella cheese. We usually cook them in the toaster oven, which cooks less but does it faster and doesn’t heat up the kitchen in summer like the whole oven does.

They come out big– fork and knife or else lots of fall-off big– but they’re so tasty, and the prefect fresh tomatoes just shine. Really, we’ve made them with just the tomatoes, salt, pepper and cheese, and they were just as good when the toms are good to begin with!

~:D

By: Nancy Bond

Nancy Bond — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 05:01:29 +0000

I’m offering a salsa recipe, recently posted on my blog — it’s delicious!

http://nancybond.wordpress.com/2008/09/28/saucy-sunday-salsa/

By: Willi

Willi — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 18:20:14 +0000

Hmm…for some reason the recipe didn’t post. I’ll try again:

Tomato Bacon Sandwich
Lightly toast two slices of sourdough bread. Drizzle each slice with your best extra virgin olive oil.

In a small bowl, mash one avocado with two tablespoons of creme fraiche (or sour cream) and a bit of kosher salt. Spread the avocado liberally on one slice of the bread. Crumble three very crispy slices of bacon over the avocado and then layer two or three half-inch thick slices of your favorite heirloom tomato over the bacon (using a mix of red, yellow, and black tomatoes is especially pretty and tasty).
Top the tomato with thick slices of fresh mozzarella. Sprinkle salt and freshly ground pepper over the cheese. Place the second slice of bread

By: Willi

Willi — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 18:18:21 +0000

This is a great idea! And so timely

By: Andrea Bellamy

Andrea Bellamy — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 02:17:00 +0000

Patti – I read about roasting tomatoes in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. I’ll definitely try it out!

Ben – mmmmm – MSG jam. Nice!

By: Ben Garfinkel

Ben Garfinkel — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 18:22:22 +0000

I'm liking the green tomato jam. It's sweet, but the interesting thing about it is that tomatoes are one vegetable/fruit that naturally contain umami - considered "the fifth taste", it's a flavour enhancer synthesized by man in the form of MSG. It gives the jam an interesting, "can't quite put your finger (tongue) on it taste", especially if you served it to people who do not know what's in it. Bet they'd never guess!

By: Patti

Patti — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 17:56:06 +0000

Oh, my favorite thing if I ever have extra tomatoes is to roast them – cut them in half, put them cut side up on a baking sheet, pour a little olive oil on each piece, add some minced garlic – roast them at about 250F for around 3 hours. You can freeze them and they’re wonderful in the middle of winter when the good tomatoes are long gone – heat them up and have them on as is on pasta, or mix with some pesto and parmesan (or cream cheese!) for a pasta sauce.

Oh, now I’m hungry.