What do you do with a 4 or 5 lbs of ripe tomatoes?

[SueCT]

If I have one or two ripe tomatoes, I have a tomato sandwich. If I have 3 or 4 I a make fresh salsa or a pizza with fresh tomato slices. If I have 10-15 pounds or so, I make sauce for the freezer. I now am at that awkward place of have maybe 4-5 lbs ripe tomatoes. I need ideas so I don't waste any of them. I can keep a couple another day or two without them becoming over ripe for sandwiches, but not the rest. They are a rag tag lot of Cherokee Purple, Cherokee Purple Heart, Sophie's Choice, 1 Opalka, a Mortgage lifter, etc, lol. I have a bowl of fresh salsa in the fridge already that I made last night. This happens every year after they start ripening but before the full onslaught of tomatoes happens that gives me enough to start making sauce.

[b54red]

Our favorite thing to do with them is make a big pot of soup if you don't want to make sauce to freeze or can. We make beef or chicken vegetable soup and that doesn't require cooking the tomatoes down much. Just saute some onions, garlic, bell pepper and celery in a pot then add the meat and the tomatoes. Get a bag of frozen mixed vegetables or use your own and add some cubed potatoes the last hour along with whatever seasoning suits you; we like a bit of Italian mixed seasoning along with some homemade hot sauce with salt and pepper to taste. The flavor difference from using canned tomatoes is amazing.

You can also make spaghetti or a marinara sauce by cooking the tomatoes down. Using those fresh tomatoes in a big pot of seafood or chicken and sausage gumbo is also wonderful.

If you do any canning you could can a batch of salsa but leave out the cilantro til you are ready to eat it. Found out that it is much better that way.

Bill

[HudsonValley]

Tomato tart? http://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/roa...-and-herb-tart

[Barbee]

Roasted tomato Soup!

[SueCT]

Thanks, Bill. I do want to make sauce, I just don't have enough for that yet. I suppose I could try making a small batch. Soup is a good idea. That tomato tart sounds awesome, lol, although sinful. Love puff pastry, but it is more than 50% butter by weight. No wonder its so good! That sounds like a particularly good recipe. We need a smile imoji that licks it's lips, lol.

[jillian]

I want to do this soon, maybe a good idea for you?
http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/best-thing-tomatoes/

[Labradors2]

If you have a freezer, you can put them in 1 gallon freezer bags. I do this when I have too many ripe tomatoes, and I use most of them to make sauce in the fall (when the weather has cooled down). I also save some freezer bags full of tomatoes so that I can add them to my recipes whenever I need them. It's very easy to run them under the hot tap to split the skin for easy removal.

Linda

[Father'sDaughter]

Originally Posted by Labradors2

If you have a freezer, you can put them in 1 gallon freezer bags. I do this when I have too many ripe tomatoes, and I use most of them to make sauce in the fall (when the weather has cooled down). I also save some freezer bags full of tomatoes so that I can add them to my recipes whenever I need them. It's very easy to run them under the hot tap to split the skin for easy removal.

Linda

I grow more pastes than slicers, so like Linda, they get tossed into ziplock bags and frozen until I have enough tomatoes and time to make and can purée. With only six plants of eating varieties, it's rare that I find myself with more than two of us can eat, but if I do, they too go into the freezer.

[crmauch]

I would probably fill trays with cut up chunks of tomato, and throw on some onion, salt, basil and whatever other spices/herbs you like and roast them in your oven. They'll get a little blackened in spots. After roasting, throw it all into a blender. After blending put in a sauce pot and adjust your seasoning to however you like. And you have sauce for tonight's dinner (or you can freeze)

Actually I find roasting makes my favorite sauce, but unfortunately I don't find it practical for large batches.

I will sometime however can just 2 -3 jars if that's all the tomatoes I have.

Chris

[brownrexx]

I like to make stewed tomatoes and then I divide them into portions for two and freeze them. You can do this with small amounts. Just skin them and chop and add celery, onions, salt, pepper and sugar to taste. Simmer until onions and celery are really soft. At the end I mix a little corn starch with water and add to the mixture to thicken it. It freezes well.

[Nan_PA_6b]

Make into tomato soup. I love Panera's tomato soup and found a copycat recipe online. (I'm not using the suggested San Marzanos, rather, whatever is available.)

Nan

[TomNJ]

When I don't have enough for a good batch of sauce for canning, I either wash and freeze some, or do a "Mill & Chill", that is process the tomatoes up through the milling stage and then fill the juice into one gallon freezer bags and store them in the refrigerator for a few days. I currently have about 35 pounds of tomato juice in the refrigerator and another 15 pounds in the freezer, so tomorrow I'll mill whatever new ones I have ripe and combine them all for a good batch for canning.

TomNJ/VA

[Worth1]

More salsa.

Worth

[Nematode]

Oven roasted sauce
Tomato olive oil garlic
Salt
325 till its sauce, takes hours.

[MuddyToes]

I've had my fill of salsa and have 3 gallons of Paste tomatoes in the freezer for making sauce. I have 2 quarts of dried tomatoes in the pantry. So I just loaded the ripe tomatoes sitting on my counter into a grocery bag and handed them to my next door neighbor who was happy to have them. ��