Eat Well: Tomayto, Tomahto

The following post was written by my mom, WWW. Thanks, mom!
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I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with all of my tomatoes and have been combing through past Eat Well posts to find all of my favorite recipes.  As I said a couple of weeks ago, these grafted varieties give a crazy number of huge tomatoes, which is awesome but also comes with some responsibility.  I have been giving them away left and right but daily I pick 10-12 new ones and I don’t want them to go to waste. For any of you with a similar joy, or for those of you taking advantage of cheap tomatoes at the farmer’s market, I thought it would be a good idea to list my favorite tomato recipes here so that you have all them in one place.  And…I made a new tomato soup recipe today, which was yummy, easy, and used up 10 of my tomatoes, so I am including it.  What I love about this recipe is that it is creamy without the cream (the rice makes it thick and creamy).   And if you have a high-speed blender (Vitamix), there is no need to strain out the seeds and skins.

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Tomato Soup 
(From Alice Waters The Art of Simple Food)

2 T olive oil
2 T butter
1 medium onion, sliced
1 small leek, white and light green parts, sliced
Salt
2 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
2 lbs ripe tomatoes (about 10 medium tomatoes), washed, cored, and sliced
1 T white rice
½ bay leaf
1 small sprig of savory, thyme, or basil
1 cup water
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Heat pan over medium heat.  Add oil and 1 tablespoon of the butter. Add onions and leeks, cover and cook until soft but not brown. (Add water to keep from browning if necessary.) Add garlic and cook another 2 minutes.  Add tomatoes, rice, a pinch of salt, bay leaf, and sprig of herbs. 
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Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until tomatoes fall apart.  Add water and rest of butter and continue cooking until the rice is tender (10-20 minutes).  Remove the herb sprig.  Carefully ladle the soup into a blender and blend until smooth. If you have a traditional blender, you can pass the soup through a medium strainer to remove skins and seeds if you want to, but I used my Vitamix and it was perfect…no straining needed.  You can add more water if it is too thick for you.
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Garnish with crème fraiche and mint, or buttered croutons…or torn fresh basil.  Also good with Parmesan cheese grated on top.
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Enjoy!

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And here are some of my favorite summer recipes using tomatoes:


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How are you using your tomatoes this summer?  I’d love to hear from you!

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Love,

WWW

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