Tomatoville® Gardening Forums


Notices

Post your favorite tomato-based recipes here.

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old May 10, 2016   #1
AZGardener
Tomatovillian™
 
AZGardener's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Zone 9b Phoenix,AZ
Posts: 390
Default Frozen Tomatoes.... Now what??!

Hi guys- I have 2 freezer bags full of different tomatoes that I froze whole from last summer. I need to start using them asap, as my tomatoes are setting and I'm probably a couple days away from picking my first big slicer of the year. Any ideas that I can use the whole frozen tomato for? I'm thinking of dumping them all into the crockpot and I can try making fresh tomato sauce?? Any other ideas?


Thanks in advance!
__________________
Kelly from Phx, AZ
Toes and Tomatoes on FB
AZGardener is offline   Reply With Quote
Old May 10, 2016   #2
BigVanVader
Tomatovillian™
 
BigVanVader's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Greenville, South Carolina
Posts: 3,099
Default

Salsa?
BigVanVader is offline   Reply With Quote
Old May 10, 2016   #3
Father'sDaughter
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: MA/NH Border
Posts: 4,919
Default

Sauce or salsa are probably the easiest options.

They will release a ton of water when they thaw. Put them in the sink to thaw out, then drain off the watery liquid. You can also easily slip off the skins at this point.
Father'sDaughter is offline   Reply With Quote
Old May 10, 2016   #4
ContainerTed
Tomatovillian™
 
ContainerTed's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: 6a - NE Tennessee
Posts: 4,538
Default

I would get out the slow cooker and make tomato soup. Slowly reduce the contents of the freezer containers without losing one bit of the flavors. Don't pour off any liquid in those freezer bags. Just reduce slowly and keep every spec of intense flavor.

UUUmmmmmmmm!!!!! I can't stand to waste anything.
__________________
Ted
________________________
Owner & Sole Operator Of
The Muddy Bucket Farm
and Tomato Ranch





ContainerTed is offline   Reply With Quote
Old May 10, 2016   #5
Salsacharley
Tomatovillian™
 
Salsacharley's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2013
Location: New Mexico
Posts: 2,052
Default

I agree with Ted.
Salsacharley is offline   Reply With Quote
Old May 10, 2016   #6
feldon30
Tomatovillian™
 
feldon30's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Rock Hill, SC
Posts: 5,346
Default

Dump out on a foil-lined cookie sheet. Toss with olive oil and roast in the oven at 375 for 1 - 1 1/2 hours. Puree into sauce.
__________________
[SIZE="3"]I've relaunched my gardening website -- [B]TheUnconventionalTomato.com[/B][/SIZE] *

[I][SIZE="1"]*I'm not allowed to post weblinks so you'll have to copy-paste it manually.[/SIZE][/I]
feldon30 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old May 10, 2016   #7
AlittleSalt
BANNED FOR LIFE
 
AlittleSalt's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 13,333
Default

I'm agreeing with Ted too - that sounds good.
AlittleSalt is offline   Reply With Quote
Old May 10, 2016   #8
bower
Tomatovillian™
 
bower's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Newfoundland, Canada
Posts: 6,794
Default

Got a blender? Make gazpacho.
Drop of evoo and some grated garlic, chop and add frozen tomatoes and a splash of red wine vinegar. Pulse, stir and pulse... until thawed. Serve cold! Very refreshing.
bower is offline   Reply With Quote
Old May 10, 2016   #9
Tracydr
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Laurinburg, North Carolina, zone 7
Posts: 3,207
Default

I'd drain off the water,cook down to a thick sauce for pizza or pasta. If it's really thick you'll be surprised at how little will come from a huge amount of tomatoes. Easiest is to freeze the sauce,one year I did this and made a nice marinara frozen.
Canning,you need to be more careful to use an actual recipe but still really easy.
Thaw quickly,I had a big batch of tomatoes start to ferment in the sink while I was slowly thawing in a warm,AZ kitchen. Made the most disgusting sauce and got thrown out.
Since,I've learned to thaw quickly and get it cooking. If canning, I run it through a food star tuner and remove the seeds. Skin slides off as it thaws.
Tracydr is offline   Reply With Quote
Old May 10, 2016   #10
oakley
Tomatovillian™
 
oakley's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: NewYork 5a
Posts: 2,303
Default

I just made a big pot of tomato soup last week for a party. Semi-thawed i put one bag in the oven with quartered onion, whole head of garlic, rib of celery, a carrot, a parsnip, some herbs... and roasted for an hour-ish or more. It reduced and roasted. Don't rinse all the good juice!
Chilled, then added another frozen bag of sliced heirlooms to the pot and put it in the blender in batches.

With fresh tomatoes right around the corner i use my last season frozens for soup and chili or sauce for pasta. Fresh salsa will be soon enough come harvest...

Made an herbed basil cream...to add at table....separate just in case someone had a dairy issue. Micro greens for garnish.
Attached Images
File Type: png Screen Shot 2016-05-05 at 9.44.03 PM.png (783.1 KB, 133 views)
oakley is offline   Reply With Quote
Old May 13, 2016   #11
AZGardener
Tomatovillian™
 
AZGardener's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Zone 9b Phoenix,AZ
Posts: 390
Default

Thank you all! Its going to be so stinking hot from here on out so I'm going to try and pick the "coolest" day to have the crock run all day. Coolest day means 90....
__________________
Kelly from Phx, AZ
Toes and Tomatoes on FB
AZGardener is offline   Reply With Quote
Old May 17, 2016   #12
NarnianGarden
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Finland, EU
Posts: 2,550
Default

Yes, sauce, sauce and sauce - or soup
Sounds you're a bit like many folks here with summer berries - they have plenty of strawberries, blueberries etc. in the freezer all winter, and when the summer arrives with new crop, it's a task to get rid of the old harvest .. plenty of cooking, baking etc
NarnianGarden is offline   Reply With Quote
Old May 17, 2016   #13
NarnianGarden
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Finland, EU
Posts: 2,550
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by AZGardener View Post
Thank you all! Its going to be so stinking hot from here on out so I'm going to try and pick the "coolest" day to have the crock run all day. Coolest day means 90....
One year my parents' freezer broke down in the mid July heat ... plenty of frozen berries that had to be cooked into a jam .. You can imagine the sweating ..! (the jam turned out very delicious...)
NarnianGarden is offline   Reply With Quote
Old May 17, 2016   #14
oakley
Tomatovillian™
 
oakley's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: NewYork 5a
Posts: 2,303
Default

Yup. Time to clean out the freezer. I just harvested 10lbs of rhubarb and still have some frozen along with some horseradish roots, berries, etc.

Two big packs of heirloom slices and a couple smaller packs i add to soups.
It's 50 and cool here and only 70 by afternoon for a few weeks ahead it seems.
Gazpacho, an oven roasted garlicy sauce, spicy tom juice w/celery leaves and horseradish, and a bbq sauce is on the menu. I use rhubarb in my bbq. Smoked a
couple chickens last weekend but have been out of bbq sauce for some time now.

In the heat of Aug-Sept during harvest i put the crock pot outside the kitchen on the deck on a work table under the eaves.
oakley is offline   Reply With Quote
Old May 17, 2016   #15
bower
Tomatovillian™
 
bower's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Newfoundland, Canada
Posts: 6,794
Default

Definitely freezer time. I'm running out of jelly and need to cook up last year's currants and dogberries. Looks like a beautiful spread, Oakley. (and my fave beer)
My rhubarb isn't big enough to harvest yet but getting there... Just cooked up the frozen rhu last weekend and one of my dinner guests whipped up a cobbler on the spur of the moment. Truly a kitchen party when the guests do the cooking too.
As for tomatoes, I should really do a freezer purge. Cook em all up, and then do without for a couple months so I am properly enthusiastic (ie starved) for the first fresh ones.
I know there are some old caplin down there that have to go... I'd like to bury them but not for the fox.
bower is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 05:30 AM.


★ Tomatoville® is a registered trademark of Commerce Holdings, LLC ★ All Content ©2022 Commerce Holdings, LLC ★