The tomatoes are coming at me here at Struan Farm. I confess, I'm struggling to keep up. In case you're faced with the same situation, here are a few ideas, in addition to bruschetta and tomato soup as previously reported.
And yes, I know about passata, relish, kasundi, slow roasting (done that too), etc. etc. There are only so many hours in the day, and you can't spend them all in a hot kitchen on hot summer days! I recently rediscovered a cookbook from my early days, "The Silver Palate Cookbook." It may still be one of the best selling cookbooks of all time in the USA. I used it a lot, and recently purchased a new copy from Fishpond. Of course the first and second dishes I've made from it involve tomatoes, there's an entire chapter with ideas for using them.
The first was "Linguine with tomato & basil."
It really doesn't matter what type of pasta you use, this was fettuccine. I also used a small wheel of probiotic camembert, less that half of the rich cheese the recipe calls for. It wasn't as rich (thankfully from my vantage point) but definitely had enough of the taste of the cheese, which melts once combined with the hot pasta.
The second dish I made was "Spinach-and-ricotta-stuffed tomatoes." The Silver Palate is a big fan of stuffed tomatoes, and with the amount we've got on hand I think they may have a convert on that score. They suggest stuffing them with tuna fish, egg or chicken salads, rice, etc. These were delicious, with plenty leftover for lunch the next day.
A final idea for you, at least for today, is gazpacho: cold tomato soup. I make the "South Beach diet" version, which is healthy and tasty. I throw everything into the food processor, and don't worry about leaving it overnight for the flavours to mix together, a few hours is good enough. It will keep at least a day. I used to take it to work in a screw top jar. Served in a glass it's refreshing for a light lunch or as a starter for dinner.
For my next act I'm contemplating a tomato tart of some sort, but I'll need to whip up just a few batches of tomato soup before that!
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