What To Do With Too Many Tomatoes

About author / Amy Powell

World traveler; gourmet 30 minute meals; lover of exotic ingredients; winner on FoodTV's Chefs vs City; graduate French Culinary Institute. Her recipes will tantalize your taste buds.

It happens to the best of us: one day we walk into the kitchen and realize that tomatoes are everywhere. It might have begun with a trip the farmers market where a wedge of a purplish-red Brandywine seduced you into taking home several pounds of beautiful-ugly heirloom tomatoes. Then there was your neighbor, whose months of labor in the garden resulted in a bumper crop of juicy red giant beefsteak tomatoes. And even your own attempts at growing, perhaps a little potted grape tomato vine, has started dropping its ripe harvest all over the patio. This time of year it is easy to see how every receptacle in a kitchen, from plates to bowls to colanders, can quickly fill up with all shapes and colors of the this delicious fruit.

Short of eating mozzarella, tomato, and basil salad every day for the next few months, it might be nice to have some other recipes in the arsenal to take full advantage of the bounty of tomatoes. In this time where farmers have rediscovered lost varietals and interest in unique produce is at an all-time high, the variety of tomatoes available to us has made cooking with tomatoes more interesting than ever. It is no wonder we over-indulge in the gathering of tomatoes so it's time to branch out beyond marinara sauce and you just might discover that the ways to cook tomatoes are as varied as the fruit itself.

Condiments: The debate over whether ketchup or salsa is the number one condiment in America might never be resolved, but neither would exist were it not for the tomato. Sure there are mango salsas and peach salsas that never see even the kiss of a tomato, but salsa in its most basic form, the pico de gallo of freshly chopped tomato, onion, cilantro, and jalapeno that graces the table of most Mexican restaurants, is still how we know it best. Then there is ketchup, a sweet, saucy paste of tomatoes, sugar, and vinegary tang, without which it is hard to imagine ever eating French Fries, hot dogs, or hamburgers, pretty much staple all-American food.

A nice way to combine the best of both condiments is with a tomato relish; a relish is kind of like a salsa but with the tang of ketchup coming most often from vinegar. Try mixing fresh corn kernels with chopped grape or diced Roma tomatoes along with red onion, a minced Serrano chili, a splash of cider vinegar, and some salt for a zesty condiment that will top burger just as well as it serves as a dip for a chip.

Soup: It may be summer but that does not mean soup is off the menu. This is the time of year when the daily soup option at most restaurants automatically defaults to the chilled tomato based favorite, gazpacho. What makes gazpacho truly great is that you never have to light a stove. Just throw tomatoes, broth, celery, onion, jalapeno, salt and pepper in a blender or food processor and seconds later you can be ladling soup into chilled bowls.

But if you can stand the heat in the kitchen for a few minutes, try a fresh tomato and red pepper soup by simmering the two main ingredients with herbs and garlic until the flavors have melded together. Blend the cooked veggies with an immersion blender and transfer to the refrigerator. The next day you have a chilled tomato soup right out of the fridge, perfect when topped with a dollop of Greek yogurt or a swirl of pesto.

Sides: It’s hard to imagine a summer barbecue or fish cookout without some side dish featuring tomatoes. Caprese, panzanella, Greek--none of these salads would be the same without the addition of some variety of tomato. I also like the idea of stewed, diced tomatoes, what the French call concassé, as a base for fish or any variety of grilled meats.

Add sautéed zucchini, summer squash, peppers, and/or eggplant to that concassé and you have the classic French provincial dish called ratatouille. Ratatouille works off a base of summer’s ripest tomatoes stewed with lots of olive oil, garlic, and herbs, then mixed with whatever other tender summer vegetables are on hand. The resulting colorful concoction reeks of summer’s bounty and can prop up grilled halibut, make a bed for sliced pork loin, or be eaten as is, right out of the bowl, with a loaf of crusty bread.

It is hard not to be inspired when tomatoes, once nothing more than a watery slice on a sandwich now come in colors that match the rainbow, shapes that seem to come from other worlds, and flavors vast enough to light up every taste bud. With the kitchen overflowing, it is time to turn that fruit of inspiration into a season’s worth of colorful, visually stunning, and tasty meals.

Serves/Makes: 4

• 2 pounds halibut, cut into four fillets
• olive oil
• 1 lemon
• 4 sprigs thyme
• salt and pepper
• 6 Roma tomatoes or other ripe medium sized tomatoes
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and lightly crushed
• 1 handful herbs (basil, oregano, sage, marjoram, rosemary, etc)
• 2 medium zucchini
• 2 red bell peppers
• 4 lemon wedges