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cherry tomatoes--HELP!


LindaK

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I am making this for an appetizer for a friend who is entertaining some neighbours tonight. I have made it before and it went over very well.

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

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All of the the ideas mentioned above are great.

I have been making marinara sauce, using nothing but cherry tomatoes, for years. I get rave reviews when I give jars as gifts.

The recipe is simply a generic one which is so-so with Roma or other paste tomatoes, but is extraordinary when make with the much sweeter cherry varieties.

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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I am making this for an appetizer for a friend who is entertaining some neighbours tonight.  I have made it before and it went over very well.

Ah, so my colleague's suggestion of an "edible bloody mary" [see above] wasn't as crazy as I thought!

My community garden--where my cherry tomatoes grow--is having a bbq tonight. I'll poll my fellow gardeners for other interesting ideas.

great links, everyone. I'm not feeling so overwhelmed anymore.


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If your cherry tomato plants are as prolific as mine, you will probably also have a lot of green ones nearing the end of the season.

So!

You can also make green tomato jam/pie filling with green cherry tomatoes. However you want to choose green tomatoes that have begun to look slightly translucent - both regular and cherry varieties.

I use the same recipe I posted in RecipeGullet - a Shaker recipe handed down from my great-aunt.

Green tomato pie filling.

I simply cut the cherry tomatoes in half.

Depending on the amount of green tomatoes I have, I double or triple the recipe and put it up in jars - using a water bath - the acid/sugar content is high enough that pressure canning is not needed.

It will also keep in the freezer for at least four months. Although I have never had it last that long.

We have a very long growing season here, rarely getting a frost that will affect tomatoes until late October or even into November. However, when we do get a frost warning, I simply pull up the entire tomato plants with all the green ones attached, and hang them upside down in the garden shed at the back of the house, it will protect the fruit unless the temps get into the low 20s. The fruit that is closer to ripening will ripen on the vine but usually I pick them and make this recipe, I pickle some, and occasionally make green tomato relish or chow-chow.

green tomato recipes.

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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Chop them in half, and put them in an omelette with chopped red onion and cilantro. I had this for the first time in India, and fell in love with it. Sometimes they'd add a spice mix - I have no idea what, they just called it masala - and put it between toast with a slice of American cheese. Heaven!

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For those who have suggested stuffing them as appetizers, do you use any special tool? Mine are not that big, so not sure how you'd actually do it. Sounds delicious, though.

A lot of people would use a pastry bag with a star tip.

Here's what I do: put the cheese mixture into a ziploc bag, and squeeze out all the air. Cut the tip off one corner, and use it like a pastry bag. This is how I fill deviled eggs, too. It doesn't do "decorative", but it works great otherwise.

To hollow out the insides, there's a gadget called a "tomato corer" (THIS link should work for awhile) that's great for this kind of thing.

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You probably already do this, but anyway.... A variation on a caprese salad. Slice tomatoes in half, bit of salt and fresh-cracked pepper, olive oil, fresh basil, and bits of a nice gorgonzola and goat cheese. Lightly toast some fabulous bread for dipping in the left-overs.

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Thanks to Nakji's omlette idea, I used a handful in a frittata last night for a quick late-night meal last night. I didn't have cilantro, so threw in some mint--there's always mint. Yum.


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Use them to top a pizza. Instead of using a tomato sauce, coat the top of the crust with garlic-infused olive oil, then sprinkle a mess of the little tomatoes (all cut in half) on the crust. Top with cheese and, when the pizza comes out of the oven, fresh basil leaves.

Paul B

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Or how about balsamic vinegar injected cherry tomatoes? Searching for my hypodermic right now!

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

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Or, how about a natural, organic alternative to Jello shooters: Bloody Mary injected cherry tomatoes served along with tasty treats like grilled or steamed shrimp, herbed goat cheese on crostini, steak kabobs, etc.? I think I need to borrow Anna N's hypodermic! :smile:

Inside me there is a thin woman screaming to get out, but I can usually keep the Bitch quiet: with CHOCOLATE!!!

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Or, how about a natural, organic alternative to Jello shooters: Bloody Mary injected cherry tomatoes served along with tasty treats like grilled or steamed shrimp, herbed goat cheese on crostini, steak kabobs, etc.? I think I need to borrow Anna N's hypodermic! :smile:

Yeah, didn't take me long to move to a little vodka, a little worcestershire, some celery salt for dipping, etc. etc.

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

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Yeah, didn't take me long to move to a little vodka, a little worcestershire, some celery salt for dipping, etc. etc.

I am a nurse so of course I have a hypodermic :biggrin: and a glut of tomatoes..some vodka..worchestershire..celery salt (can you inject celery too I wonder?) ...oh yeah I am doing this today for my 4pm hammock time!!!

this is my Saturday

thanks so much for the idea!!!

Edited by hummingbirdkiss (log)
why am I always at the bottom and why is everything so high? 

why must there be so little me and so much sky?

Piglet 

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This is what happens when I get busy and can't check posts--cherry tomatoes gone wild! If anyone actually went ahead and injected cherry tomatoes, please report back. This could be the next big thing in party snacks.

hummingbirdkiss, if you disolve the celery salt in one of the liquids, injection problem solved.


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Unfortunately the hypodermic I was sure I had is no more (or perhaps it was always just in my imagination!). However, a friend has promised me a hypodermic with a large enough bore not to clog and I hope to pick that up in the next day or two and then I will be giving it a go. My daughter is holding a huge end-of-season pool party on Saturday and is still picking loads of cherry toms from her garden so it's a perfect opportunity to try both the vodka injected and the balsamic vinegar injected toms. Stay tuned!

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

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I planted 14 different kinds of tomatoes this year, most of them small pear and cherry, so I was overrun as well. Thankfully they've slowed a bit but when they were at their peak, I actually made and canned salsa, which tastes pretty darn good. Follow a proven canning recipe to make sure you get the right acidity.

I also made Martha Stewart's Tomato Cobbler, not having gruyere I used cheddar in the pate brise recipe - it was to die for, it's one of my late summer favorites.

Mixed Tomato Cobbler

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14 tomato plants!!?? that's brave.

The cobbler recipe looks delicious. I'm nearing the end of the cherry tomato harvest, maybe I'll give it a shot.

Everyone's posts have opened my eyes to how versatile these little guys are. All these years I've limited them to salads. shame on me.


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I planted 14 different kinds of tomatoes this year, most of them small pear and cherry, so I was overrun as well.  Thankfully they've slowed a bit but when they were at their peak, I actually made and canned salsa, which tastes pretty darn good.  Follow a proven canning recipe to make sure you get the right acidity.

I also made Martha Stewart's Tomato Cobbler, not having gruyere I used cheddar in the pate brise recipe - it was to die for, it's one of my late summer favorites.

Mixed Tomato Cobbler

That looks and sound wonderful!

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How about vodka tomatoes

Cut a small cross in the end of the tomatoes and put them in a jar.

Fill up the jar with vodka, then pour back out (leaving the tomatoes and garlic in the jar) into a measuring jug.

For each 1/2 pint of vodka you have add 1 tbls of Worcestershire sauce, a 4 good dashes of Tabasco. Add salt and pepper.

Fill up the jar with vodka mixture, seal and leave in the fridge for at least a week, the longer the better.

Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana.

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Well the injected cherry tomato experiment did not go well. :biggrin:

Nature did not leave a lot of room inside a tomato so that in order to get anything much in there you must first find a way to get something out of there!

My very first attempt I managed to burst the tomato - aren't you glad I don't work in medicine any more? :shock:

I then made an attempt to withdraw some liquid from the tomato and this proved much more difficult than you might think. The amount of balsamic vinegar I was able to inject was really minute and hardly worth the effort.

I am putting my thinking cap back on before I make any further attempts but if any of you have any ideas - do share. My object is to make the cherry tomatoes appear to be whole and unadulterated!

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

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Anna, that is a heroic amount of effort for a cherry tomato! It is easy to imagine them bursting. I find that a good rain will result in a general CT explosion. I wonder if ermintrude's marination technique would work, since some of the tomato juice would presumably seep out.

While it's an entirely different direction, I'm wondering about a tomato vodka herb (basil? tarragon?) granita, serve in little, CT-size scoops.


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Last night we had gum surgery going on, which requires soft food. We also had a pint of cherry tomatoes about to go to the Dark Side or the garbage can. So we did a Pasta Quasi Carbonara.

I split the tomatoes and didn't bother seeding them. Tossed them with olive oil which was no extra virgin, and laid them out on a sheet pan in the oven at 350 for about fifteen minutes. They were cooked but still plump.

Then I did the carbonara thing -- sweating some bacon lardons, beating two eggs together with some cream, grating a cup of parm. I tossed the cooked capellini, eggs, cheese, parsley and pepper into the pan with the bacon and it's fat. Then I added the cherry tomatoes.

I've got to say, it was the best pasta dish I've eaten for a long time. The cherry tomatoes didn't overpower, but they brightened up the standard pasta carbonara.

Margaret McArthur

"Take it easy, but take it."

Studs Terkel

1912-2008

A sensational tennis blog from freakyfrites

margaretmcarthur.com

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Anna, that is a heroic amount of effort for a cherry tomato! It is easy to imagine them bursting. I find that a good rain will result in a general CT explosion. I wonder if ermintrude's marination technique would work, since some of the tomato juice would presumably seep out.

While it's an entirely different direction, I'm wondering about a tomato vodka herb (basil? tarragon?) granita, serve in little, CT-size scoops.

I can definitely attest to the fact that one cannot "infuse" cherry tomatoes by placing them in a vacuum marinating container, with a slit cut in the stem end which is placed cut end down in a puddle of balsamic vinegar with a little salt.

Oh, they do get marinated, however the poor little things look rather squished. I do believe I should have stopped the vacuuming a bit sooner - before the collapse of the outer structure.

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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