Tomatoes

Tomatoes with Garlic - Astrid Bear
Tomatoes with Basil - Mary S.
Tomatoes with Basil - Astrid Bear
Roasted Garlic-Tomato Aioli - Alice Gomez
Roasted Tomato Ketchup - Alice Gomez
Grilled Tomatoes - Linnea
Fried Tomatoes - Ray McPherson
Tomate Provencal - Sue Reynolds
Grilled Tomatoes - Elizabeth Nokes
Tomato Sauce - Susan Wenger
Tomato Sauce - Lois
Tomato Sandwiches
             A Southern Delicacy - Mary S.
             A New England Variation - Jill Bennett
Sugar on Tomatoes
             Sue Reynolds
             Elizabeth Nokes
             Marian Van Til
             Karen Swaine

Tomato Favorite - Astrid Bear
Our favorite tomatoes, which we just had this evening: sliced, sprinkled with copious amounts of minced garlic, then salt and pepper, then drizzled with good olive oil. And we also had salt'n'lime juice on cucumbers. Haven't tried it on cantaloupe or honeydew, but it's great on watermelon!

Tomatoes with Basil - Mary S.
Fresh basil is heaven with tomatoes... I'd probably rather have that than so much garlic - personal taste only.

Tomatoes with Basil - Astrid Bear
Fresh basil gets snipped on when I have it. It also sometimes goes into the salad, gets layered with fresh mozzarella, and olive oil on bread, and of course gets processed into the divine Pesto, guaranteed to evoke summer when the little baggies are thawed in the dead of winter and tossed with hot pasta. Or spread over halved tomatoes and broiled.

Roasted Garlic-Tomato Aioli - Alice Gomez
2 plum tomatoes, grilled, seeds removed and halved
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3 cloves garlic
2 cups prepared mayonnaise
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 baguette, cut into fourths
Mesclun greens
Place tomatoes, lemon juice and garlic in the blender and blend until smooth. Add the mayonnaise and blend until just combined. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Yield: 4 servings

Roasted Tomato Ketchup - Alice Gomez
1 1/2 pounds ripe tomatoes, cored and quartered and roasted
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 medium onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, finely diced
1/4 cup cider vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Toss the tomatoes in 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and place on a baking sheet. Roast in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes or until soft. Transfer the tomatoes to a food processor and process until smooth. Strain the tomatoes, pressing against the solids with a wooden spoon to extract as much pulp and juice as possible. Heat the remaining olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat and saute the onions and garlic until translucent. Add the tomato puree and remaining ingredients and continue cooking, uncovered for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally until thick.

Grilled Tomatoes - Linnea
I used to make a tomato dish--I don't know where I got the idea:
Place tomato halves onto a baking pan, salt and pepper and sprinkle brown sugar on them, then top with a mixture of homemade bread crumbs, lots of parsley and basil, top that with grated Parmesan or any cheese, drizzle a little olive oil over all and brown in a broiler. Ambrosia.

Fried Tomatoes - Ray McPherson
Tomatoes fried in bacon fat, the way the English do it is one of the great delicacies in life. Served with eggs, tea, porridge, bacon, and toast. YUM

Tomate Provencal - Sue Reynolds
If you have an overabundance of real tomatoes, you can slice them in half, squeeze the seeds out, top them with breadcrumbs, garlic, and basil, and cook them under the broiler for Tomate Provencal, but I'd rather make pasta sauce.

Grilled Tomatoes - Elizabeth Nokes
Grilling is what tomatoes need, to bring out the flavour! I agree, don't sugar them - I never said I ate them that way - just watched Aged Grandparent in amazement!

Tomato Sauce - Susan Wenger
... I'm going to give you a simple recipe that looks really, really bad, but is quite good - trust me and try it: this is fine for people who usually HATE anchovies.
Saute a few canned anchovies in butter. I SAID TRUST ME, DIDN'T I?
(It's all right to start with just 2-3 since you don't believe this is going to be any good - but if this works for you, up the ante to 5-6 anchovies the next time you make this - then adjust to your own taste).
After about 2 minutes, the anchovies are practically dissolved, liquefied. Add a can of tomato sauce - I find an 8 ounce can of Hunt's is just fine, but use whatever brand you like.
The anchovies will completely dissolve, and you would never guess that there were anchovies in there - but you'll have a piquant, somewhat salty but good-tasting tomato sauce. Add whatever you usually add to doctor your tomato sauce, and Barbara's your aunt - this is an unusual recipe but foolproof and tastes better than you'd imagine.

Tomato Sauce - Lois
Cook tomatoes down in a pot with garlic and basil, then freeze. In winter, I will add them to big pots of vegetable stew, which I cover with parmesan and eat like a kind of soupy thing.
Cook onions in oil, add and brown lamb shanks (or not), then add some water and wine to cover, carrots, green beans, whatever else is in market and looks interesting, cabbage slices, tomato sauce. Add whatever herbs, spices. Cook slowly. Chop some, leave some intact. Give dog lamb bone.
Freeze some. Eat rest all week, with some grated cheese.
Best when it's cold outside.

Tomato Sandwiches
A Southern Delicacy - Mary S.
A Southern delicacy not yet mentioned is the tomato sandwich: slices of tomato on white bread, with a scrape of mayonnaise and a sprinkle of black pepper. Ambrosia when made with real, garden-ripened tomatoes.
My mother-in-law would slice ripe tomatoes and leave them to sit awhile mixed with some sliced onions and just a smidge of sugar. This was delicious when you got around to eating it. No bread required here.

A New England Variation - Jill Bennett
I must have some southern blood in me, then, for tomato sandwiches are among my favorite. The one addition I would counsel is some shredded, fresh basil.
A New England or mid-Atlantic variation produces my favorite sandwich, as you described below but with a slice of cheddar and a thin slice of onion. And salt!

Sugar on Tomatoes
Sue Reynolds
Why not sugar on tomatoes? Even better, why not sugar, salt, and pepper, on freshly sliced tomatoes still warm from the sun in the garden? Pure ambrosia, and the only way to celebrate the first real slicers of the season!
Slice ripe, homegrown tomatoes, and sprinkle on salt, pepper, and a very tiny amount of white granulated sugar.
Yep, my family says I'm crazy too, but it's how my parents ate them, and I enjoy eating tomatoes that way too.

Elizabeth Nokes
Nothing wrong with tomatoes and sugar - it is an old way of eating them: my grandfather used to have them this way: you immerse them in boiling water, take the skins off and sprinkle with sugar. They are a fruit after all - 'love-apples.'

Marian Van Til
My father used to eat them like that. Too blatantly sweet a taste to suit me. Putting salt, not sugar, on them brings out the tomatoes' own natural sweetness in a more subtle way. As putting salt on watermelon and cantaloupe does for those fruits.

Karen Swaine
A home grown tomato without salt is... incomplete! And sugar? Horreur! Never in life!
It has to be good salt - maybe sea salt, or those big crystals of kosher salt. Not the fine stuff that has sugar and other additives. If one is one a salt restricted diet, that's truly unfortunate since salt makes the tomato taste even sweeter. In this household, we've been harvesting our tomatoes and eating them (mostly with fresh mozzarella, extra virgin olive oil and freshly picked basil) for the past month. Heaven!
Simenon's Maigret books (easy and enjoyable distractions) are filled with mentions of food. Maigret's wife was always pampering him with her cooking. When he got home, when he wasn't feeling well... there seemed always to be a meal!
When I saw the cookbook "Madame Maigret's Recipes" I pounced. The book is wittily laid out, with quotes from various Maigret books and recipes (by Robert Courtine) following.
"They ate rilletes du pays, coq au vin blanc, and after the goat cheese, babas au rhum." -- includes recipes for all three dishes. (from "Maigret and the Killer")