We live in a little rental in the back of someone's house, and the owners have a garden out back. They grow a green beans, squash, chard, and TONS OF TOMATOES. They have so many tomatoes that they can't give them all away! Anyway, they gave us 2 huge sacks of tomatoes, and it became my job to figure out what to do with them before they went bad.
For those of you who haven't tasted a home-grown tomato, you're really missing out. I tried my first one last year from my in-laws' garden, and oh man was it good. It's crazy how much different they taste when they're picked ripe instead of being picked green and ripening in a box.
Anyway, I have a couple of ideas for people with too many garden tomatoes.
Number one is a Russian favorite that my husband picked up during his 2 years in Russia:
Tomato and Cucumber Salad
3 large-ish tomatoes
1 cucumber
vinegar and salt to taste
Cut up the tomatoes and cucumbers into small, bite-sized pieces, and toss in medium mixing bowl. Add enough vinegar to coat vegetables, and about half a teaspoon salt (more if you're a big sodium fan). Toss and enjoy!
So Good Salsa
Word of warning--be careful with the chilies--they'll burn your fingers if you don't wear gloves.
3 cups chopped tomato (about 3 really big ones)
1/2 cup bell pepper (one small one)
1/2 cup sliced green onions (or white, or red, or whatever you like best!)
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
1 tbsp. finely chopped jalapeno chilies (be sure to remove the seeds!)
2-3 tbsp. lime juice (about 1 1/2 limes)
1/2 tsp. salt
Mix everything up in a big glass or plastic bowl (don't use aluminum--the acid could corrode the metal, and you'd wind up eating dangerous aluminum chemicals). Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hr. to blend flavors. To preserve, simply pour the salsa into pint jars and place in steam canner. Process for about 5 minutes, according to the directions with your canner. The salsa and the water will separate and look nasty, but you can shake the jar and mix everything up again.
For variety, you can add a can of drained/rinsed black beans, or be creative and see what works for you.
1 comment:
Add a little olive oil to that tomato and cuecumber salad and it adds a real good flavor. Funny I made this last Saturday night. Your salsa sounds good too.
Do you know how to can tomatoes? It's the very first thing that I learned how to can. Give it a try, then you can have tomatoes all year long. And I agree that homegrown tomatoes are the very best.
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