Photo: Chronica Domus
It's late summer and the tomatoes in my garden have been superb this year. Funny thing is, I've practically ignored the poor things believing I had picked the last plump and tasty fruit weeks ago. It turns out, I have been wonderfully mistaken.
Surely, this must be the final clump of tomatoes of the growing season, right?
Photo: Chronica Domus
Photo: Chronica Domus
Not counting on benign neglect to be such a growth booster, my family and I have been hauling in the (we think) last flush of tomatoes for the past two weeks. They just keep coming and coming. I stopped watering the plants weeks ago which has only served to sweeten the bounty would you believe. Perhaps that is what the pros call 'dry farming'. Whatever it is that is going on, this gentlewoman gardener is just glad for it.
These large egg-shaped fruits are Japanese Black Trifele tomatoes,
picked when their shoulders turn green
Photo: Chronica Domus
Do you remember last year's tomato post and the White Current heirloom tomatoes I grew?
Well, here they are again, all volunteers!
Photo: Chronica Domus
Well, here they are again, all volunteers!
Photo: Chronica Domus
As you can well imagine, the kitchen has been abuzz with activity centered around our ongoing tomato harvest.
Tomato sauce made with a mixture of the Japanese Black Trifeles and the White Current tomatoes
Photo: Chronica Domus
Romano beans purchased at the farmers' market cooked in ...yes, you guessed it
(I used French heirloom tomatoes St. Pierre which did not yield as much fruit
as the Japanese variety I grew this year)
Here's the recipe from the New York Times
Photo: Chronica Domus
Photo: Chronica Domus
Romano beans purchased at the farmers' market cooked in ...yes, you guessed it
(I used French heirloom tomatoes St. Pierre which did not yield as much fruit
as the Japanese variety I grew this year)
Here's the recipe from the New York Times
Photo: Chronica Domus
And what would summer be without setting aside some tomatoes for everyone's favorite salad?
Photo: Chronica Domus
Photo: Chronica Domus
A classic Caprese salad made with homegrown heirloom Black Cherry
and White Current tomatoes, both varieties were, happily, harvested from volunteer plants this year
Photo: Chronica Domus
and White Current tomatoes, both varieties were, happily, harvested from volunteer plants this year
Photo: Chronica Domus
Aside from all the cooking, one of the greatest pleasures of having such a bountiful garden is sharing our crop with good neighbor friends. I hear reports that my friend Jeannette's young daughter is an avid consumer of tomatoes and she rates the White Currents as particularly sweet. Sweet for the sweet, isn't that what they say?
Do you have a favorite variety of tomato you look forward to eating during the summer months? How about any good recipes or ideas on how to use my excessive bounty? I'd be very pleased to hear about them if so.
Hello CD,
ReplyDeleteYour tomatoes are so obliging! So much reward for such little attention, and generously self-seeding as well. If only all gardening endeavours were so simple ...
I do find that tomato sauce does taste particularly delicious when made with very ripe cherry tomato varieties which, given the absence of a kitchen garden around these parts, means whatever looks most tempting at the greengrocery. Perhaps it's the inclusion of the skins, as a don't subscribe to the palaver of skinning them for pasta sauces. Skinned tomatoes belong in a tin and are quite a different animal.
The ripe, larger Rouge de Marmande and his kith are much beloved on hot buttered toast with s&p in this household, and a variation on your Caprese is to macerate the halved cherry tomatoes in a bowl with a minced garlic clove, shredded basil and salt for a while first. Delicious, if you love garlic! ("Delicious" twice in two paragraphs is not got English, but what better adjective describes the love apple?)
No suggestions on dealing with your bounty, just keep eating!
Agghh, twice times delicious and two spelling mistakes to boot!! I meant to say "I don't subscribe" and "not good English"! Fingers running away on keyboard.
DeleteWell, Hello Pipi, and please don't worry about any typos here.
DeleteI agree with you about including the skins in the sauce. Why waste them? I'm sure nutritionally they provide an excellent source of vitamins.
Off to research what a Rouge de Marmande looks like. Never encountered one over here, thank you.
Ah, got it now. Rouge de Marmande looks awfully like the generic term our farmers at the market term "heirloom tomatoes". Whatever you call them, they are certainly delicious!
DeleteTruly, your tomatoes resemble garden jewels. I cherish summer tomatoes especially when the season is relatively short. Here are some of the ways we enjoy them...
ReplyDelete1. Chopped with garlic, basil and cracked pepper as a fresh pasta sauce
2. Slow roasted in the oven with olive oil, fresh herbs (basil, oregano, thyme) and garlic to make a tomato jam.
3. Tomato chutney
4. Tomato sauce which I can or freeze for the dreary winter season.
5. Tomato pie/tart-there are may recipes on the Web and it's even easier with store bought pie shells or puff pastry.
5. The classic BLT or just an old fashioned sliced tomato sandwich on good bread with mayonnaise.
Bon Appetit!
KL Gaylin
Hello KL Gaylin,
DeleteNever thought of them as jewels but yes, they truly are. You've given me endless inspiration to use the remainder of my tomatoes in the kitchen. I never thought of freezing the sauce but that's a great idea, thank you. Also, a tomato sandwich is new to me. Never heard of it (not an English thing I guess). Must try one on my favorite bread, thank you.
Hope you are well and enjoying what's left of summer.
I encourage you to try a tomato sandwich. Just mayo, tomatoes, salt, and pepper on your favorite bread. You will miss not being able to eat them when winter comes!
DeleteHello Stephanie Bell,
DeleteOK, OK, I really must get my act together this weekend and try this famous tomato/mayo sandwich combo. It never occurred to my before reading these comments to do such a thing. My favorite sandwich growing up in England was cheese and tomato (Cheddar, of course!), with lashings of creamy butter. Will report back on what I thought of the experience.
Your tomatoes look so delicious! I'm wishing now that I had grown some this summer, here the high temperatures continue and I'd likely still be having a harvest as well.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the kitchen inspiration CD, I hope you and the family are all well. xx
Hello Dani BP,
DeleteSo nice of you to stop by. Yes, get your garden chore list together for 2019 and jot down somewhere "plant tomatoes" and heirlooms if you can. There's a reason they are still around in modern times; they are hardy and bear copious amounts of tasty fruit. You won't regret it!
Your late crop of tomatoes looks beautiful - and delicious!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Kris Peterson and yes, they are supremely delicious!
DeleteWhat gorgeous tomatoes. There is nothing tastier that a bona fide tomato (not those ridiculous pale creatures posing as tomatoes in the supermarket.) What a gift that they kept blooming after you were sure that they were done - there must be a life metaphor in there somewhere! Xx
ReplyDeleteHello JL, and thank you. I agree, there's nothing like a proper tomato for a sublime summer taste explosion. I hope I am as fortunate next year with my horticultural efforts and my plants bear plenty of volunteers.
DeleteHello CD, I only like cooked tomatoes, but can any fruit or vegetable look as appetizing as these colorful, ripe ones? My mother makes a fresh tomato sauce for pasta. It involves frying onions, then adding chopped celery, red pepper and tomatoes and not cooking too long--the tomatoes should not disintegrate. We like it so much that my mother has stopped making traditional "red sauce." It also makes the best sauce for pizza.
ReplyDeleteI am sure that any tomato recipe would be better with these beautiful heirloom varieties, especially when you grow and ripen them yourself.
--Jim
Hello Jim,
DeleteI've heard of others too that will only eat cooked tomatoes, and if a raw slice happens to fall out of their sandwich bread or bun, it will not be eaten. I think that may stem from (possibly) those tasteless crunchy specimens one finds between burger buns.
Your mother's sauce sounds positively delish! My sister makes a similar combination and includes zucchini and eggplant on occasion, blends it all together and feeds it to her youngins on spaghetti (great way of sneaking more veggies into the mouths of fussy eaters).
Last weekend we ate a Caprese salad too, and felt we were saying goodbye to this summer.
ReplyDeleteYour tomatoes are gorgeous - the only other things I know to do with them are a) curries b) roast them in the oven at a low temperature for a long, long time.
Hello Lisa,
DeleteDon't say goodby just yet! As a reminder, we Bay Area residents always think summer is drawing to a close around this time of year until, that is, we are surprised by the arrival of real summer weather just as October kicks off. Clear skies and warm weather, here we come!
I shall attempt to roast some of my tomatoes in the oven this weekend, thank you.