Take Five Ripe Tomatoes . . .

In mid August, if you are growing your own or have access to a farm stand or farmer's market, the best recipes always begin with the phrase, "take five ripe tomatoes."


Here are some of the things we do with those tomatoes:
1)  Tomato Bread Salad - I'm serving tonight with fresh basil, fresh spinach, and fresh mozzarella.
2)  Homemade tortilla soup.
3)  Insalata Caprese  (tomatoes with basil, olive oil and fresh mozzarella)
4)  Tomato/vegetable soup
5)  A simple plate of sliced tomatoes with fresh herbs
6)  Gazpacho

Tortilla Soup

3 T. corn oil

4 corn tortillas, cut in strips

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 medium onions, chopped

4 tomatoes, skinned and chopped

1 T. ground cumin

1 jalapeno pepper

8 cups chicken broth

½ cup fresh cilantro 

Garnishes:  fried strips of tortilla, grated Cheddar, cooked chicken breast (in thin strips)

Diced avocado, chopped cilantro

Heat oil in 4 quart stockpot and fry strips of  tortilla until crisp.  Remove and drain on paper towels.

Saute  garlic and onions and cook until onions are soft.  Add remaining ingredients, including tortilla strips,  bring to boil and simmer 20-25 minutes.  Add salt and paper.  Serve  in bowls with garnishes. 

What are some of YOUR faves?

Here is a tomato bread salad recipe from Epicurious

Tomato Soup from Provence

For years, I saved every Gourmet and food magazine that came into the house, and there were many.  When we moved, I threw out a large collection, but of course the subscriptions didn't end.  For several years now,  I clip the recipes I might want to try and ditch the rest of the magazine.  Usually I save the Thanksgiving, Christmas and Barbecue issues. 


A couple times a month I actually cook something from these (by now) old clipped recipes.  And sometimes there is a real winner.   We were in New York last week and indulged a bit too much in food and beverages,  and so ye old bathroome scale showed a couple of extra pounds.  We find that eating soup is as good as dieting, so I dug out an untried soup recipe.  Decent tomatoes were on sale, and the rest of the ingredients were cheap.


Like everything in French cooking, there was some pain involved,   peeling, slicing, chopping, sieving, but the basic prep. was simple as I did other stuff in the kitchen during the actual cooking.  Yesterday, we tasted the results, and again this noon.  Ye gods, the soup had improved overnight.  I mean tomato soup.  How could it improve?  Well, it did.



I hope you are shopping supermarket specials.  I save $44.00 on a bill of $103.00 last Friday.  I found the exact recipe at Epicurious.  Don't let the list of ingredients intimidate you  I  used dried (from the garden) basil and had some dry fresh thyme.   A well-stocked spice shelf is a cook's best friend.



Here is the recipe.  If not now, try it when tomatoes are in season and your garden or farmer's market is bursting with them.  Yum! 



Provencal Tomato Soup with Rice 

We ate it with croutons and a salad of avocado, white asparagus, cucumber and romaine.