When Life Gives You A Bajillion Tomatoes...

...make every recipe you know that includes tomatoes...

and then you'll still need to Google some more ideas.

I know I've already posted a LOT of tomato suggestions in my dinner posts. And you can only imagine how much salsa we've gone through in this house. We are seriously OD'ing on lycopene.

So last weekend, with an enormous box of tomatoes that had accumulated over the past few days posing an impending doom over my kitchen... I decided to finally try my hand at homemade tomato sauce. Remember how psyched I was to find a recipe that didn't require a food mill? And how I returned the one I'd purchased to get the food scale (which I do still love)? Well, it turns out I hadn't read the fine print (the blurb she writes in preface of each recipe)... 'cause I don't think I'll be doing this again until I decide to spend the $50 on another food mill. Basically, the recipe didn't say anything about needing one at first, but then later stated something like "if you have a food mill, go ahead and skip steps 1, 2 & 3 because the mill will do them for you". Ha! The blanching and peeling of the tomatoes was no problem. It was the cutting and squeezing of the juice and seeds that seemed to take forever. In the end the flavor was fantastic and I would recommend it... but only if you actually do have a food mill to take some of the labor out of it. I'm all for taking time out to cook and I do enjoy even some labor-intensive recipes. But the reality is: I'm a full-time working mom (priorities in reverse order, though - mom first, work second) and this is just too much to attempt on any regular basis. My per diem co-worker cans a ton of tomatoes and peaches every fall. She tells me "I just get the kids back in school and then take a day to get it all done". Well that doesn't work for me because whenever I'm home, my kids are also home. So that means I'm either wasting precious few hours I have to spend with them doing this or I'm staying up till all hours of the night (which I already do anyway with my day-to-day list of to-do's) trying to attempt an unnecessary feat. I'm giving myself a pass on this one. I would LOVE to make all homemade tomato sauce to can for the winter/year... but I would have to quit my job or work part time to make that a practical reality.

Here's my experience:

Before blanching, you need to cut a small "x" in the bottom of the tomatoes to make peeling a breeze later.

The tomatoes are dropped into boiling water for 10-30 seconds (blanching) before removing and rinsing under cold water.

Then the skin peels off very easily.

Next, you have to cut all the tomatoes into halves (for Romas) or quarters (for all round tomatoes) and squeeze the juice and seeds out into a reserve bowl through a fine mesh strainer. It's not hard... it's just tedious with 4# of smallish tomatoes.

Finally, you're left with this: juice to add as a thinning agent if needed later (or to be saved for future use) and the pulp of all those peeled, squeezed tomatoes.

After that, the sauce comes together very easily. A standard base of onion, carrot, celery and garlic... plus a little addition of red pepper flake here per a suggestion.

And then I just used a tomato masher to break up the tomatoes once they were added. I later added a little bit of tomato paste (a tablespoon?) and whizzed it up with my immersion blender for a smoother sauce.

Later that week when I served some of the sauce, I browned 1/2# of beef and added 2 cups of sauce. I served it over rotini (a kid fave) and topped with fresh grated Parm. This was a happy night for me. We were eating a spaghetti sauce recipe that didn't involve a single can or jar. Exactly what I wanted.

Okay, just one more recipe because this is like world famous amongst my friends and family. It actually came from a friend of my mom's and I know I've shared it here before. No, it's not salsa. It's tomato bruschetta and it's THE BEST.

Tomato Bruschetta

4 1/2 cups diced Roma tomatoes
3/4 cup diced red onion
3 tbsp chopped garlic
12+ basil leaves cut into strips
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper
some kind of Italian bread loaf
garlic powder or garlic clove for rubbing

shredded mozzarella or Parmesan cheese

Mix first 6 ingredients - cover and let set at room temperature for at least 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 400. Slice bread loaf into 1/2" thick slices and place on a cookie sheet. Drizzle or brush with olive oil and either rub with garlic or sprinkle with garlic powder to taste. Toast to light brown in preheated oven (8-10 mins). Top each slice with tomato mixture and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese (and or Parmesan). Place back in oven just long enough for cheese to melt. Serve and enjoy!

Sophie even liked it and generally I would consider balsamic vinegar a stronger flavor than my kids would tolerate!

We're eating BLT's almost every week, it seems. I think, come October, I will be good if I don't see another fresh tomato until after the new year. Well, maaaybe that's an exaggeration. :)