The tomato deepens colour, perks up flavour and adds a broader dimension to foods it is cooked with.  Used on its own or as the main ingredient to a dish, it creates magic!  Considered the most important vegetable to the Western diet, and third most popular, it contains very high amounts of Vit. C., admirable amounts of Vit. A and D and good amounts of potassium, iron, betacarotine and phosphorus.  Add all that along with its high fibre and low calorie reputation, it is a wonderful food.

Though early varieties were small, yellow or orange-red, today sizes and colours range from very tiny, resembling currents, a close relative of the wild tomato, to the largest, the beefsteak tomato.  Colours range from yellow, to all shades of red, green, streaked or not, purple and bicoloured.  Fresh, cooked or sundried, who would want to miss the tomato?

In practice, the beefsteak and the smaller varieties are best for salads, being too juicy, with many seeds and less meaty than other types for cooking.  Amongst gourmets, this trend is changing and fruity sauces and coulis are often made with the smaller varieties such as the cherry tomato.

Sun-dried tomatoes are plum tomatoes usually packed in olive oil and are delicious just as they are but are an important ingredient in many modern recipes.  The dry packed type should be soaked in a cooking liquid, water or oil before using.  This can take 15 minutes to an hour depending on how 'hard' dried the tomatoes are and the recipe.

Storing

Tomatoes loose their flavour and become mealy-mushy when stored in a refrigerator.  Keep them somewhere cool if you can or purchase smaller amounts.  Don't despair if they go off.  It means they were vine ripened, not picked green and exposed to ethylene gas.  To ripen tomatoes, place them in a paper bag with several holes pierced into it and a piece of apple.  

Removing the skin

Bring a large potful of water to the boil. Add the tomatoes, turn off the heat and remove to a cold water bath after 1 or 2 minutes. The peel should come off easily.  For small amounts, cut the tomato into eighths.  At the right edge, make a starting cut between the skin and the meat. Angle the knife so that the thicker side of the knife is flat with the board and the blade is parallel to the board. This will create a thin space between the cutting edge and the board. The thickness of the knife creates a guide. Using a long, gliding movement cut towards the left. It is important that the knife handle is not touching the board, but rather in front of the edge of the board. A little practice and you will be trimming tomatoes, peppers and fruit like a professional chef!

Suggestions:

baked - Simply baked, simply divine.  Be sure to slit a ring around the upper fourth of the tomato near the top to prevent splitting.  Bake at a medium hot heat in a deep dish.  Depending on the size of the tomato, this can take from 15 to 25 minutes.  Bake until just tender and not reduced to a mush.  

braised - With meat elevates the au jus to heavenly heights.  Used to baste the meat or make a superb sauce, indispensable along with the usual trinity of carrots, onion and garlic.

cooked - What more commonly known way than as a puree, sauce or soup or as a main ingredient to a dish.

fried -  Fried green tomatoes, a southern favourite!  The English are well known for serving fried tomato slices  with their (in)famous 'English Breakfast' which includes bread likewise fried in the grease of sausages or bacon and fried eggs.  The animal fat used and ensuing arterial problems are obvious.  Too much grease for me, but tomatoes fried in a little olive oil is a temptation!

grains - It goes wonderfully with such grains as rice, millet, wheat grain products such as bulghur and couscous. 

herbs - The perfect marriage, they say, is with basil the King of Herbs and it seems indeed they were made for each other.  Other happy relationships occur with oregano, savoury, sage, dill, tarragon and mint.

raw -  Alone or in a salad, this is the healthiest way to eat them.  Very high in vitamins as mentioned above as well as anti-oxcidant properties and lycopene, important in fighting some cancers. 

roasted - Wonderful.  Set the oven to about 200° C. (+ - 390° F.) and spread wedges or coarsely cut pieces evenly in a non-stick baking sheet with sides.  Place the pan in the upper third of the hot oven.  After 15 min. use a spatula to turn the pieces.  Allow to further roast another 20 minutes or more until the tomatoes begin to slightly blacken along the edges and the juice has cooked away and is thickening to an almost caramel consistency.  This is also a very adequate substitute for sun dried tomatoes.  Click here for a roasted tomato sauce.

sautéed - Just briefly in a wide sauté pan with a little olive oil over a medium high heat.  Toss and stir now and again until chunks of tomato are softened and the juice has reduced.  Lovely over a meat or as a condiment/compliment to vegetables...or as a filling for a pita sandwich!

stuffed - With just about anything from lentils to rice and all grains in between!  Served hot or cold, stuffed tomatoes are an international favourite.  I like to lightly bake them in a hot oven for 10 minutes before filling them with a lentil mixture which I like to serve just warm or room temperature.  Cut off the upper fourth first and remove the seeds, inner meat and core carefully.  Try to catch the juice, chop the meat (I include the seeds too, not being afraid of roughage!) and mix in with the filling.  Used raw and served cold, cored and filled with a cooked rice filling is another favourite as well.

vegetables - The list is long, there are so many that tomato goes well with!  Fennel, cabbage, onion, garlic, peppers, aubergine and carrot.  My taste buds don't appreciate it combined with potato or kohlrabi as main ingredients - but then that is an individual choice.  Ratatouille is a relatively 'modern' dish and was not possible before the introduction of tomatoes to Spain.  It is a dish normally associated with French Provençal cooking, but originating from the Catalan samfaina, a kind of fried vegetable dish. 

Related article:

Beloved Tomato - The Scandalous Fruit 

See Recipe Collection for more recipes!

Join the update list and never miss what's new on the site!