Red Tomato Harvest.

September 22, 2020; the first day of autumn, the beginning of Mabon and celebration of the fall season.  Mabon is the Second Harvest; a reflection of the past, gratitude for the present, blessings for the future.  A week-long celebration in which the bounties of fruits, vegetables and grains are harvested for the final time.  Pickling, jamming, jellies, bread making, dehydrating, roasting, and food preservation are the major goals.  Winter, depending upon where one lives, can be knocking at the door at any moment.

In my previous article, we visited the taste treat of Fried Green Tomatoes.  I bet many of the home cooks tried it, but I bet many others pickled those green tomatoes for future use.  Since this is time for Second Harvest, consider this a second article to figure out what to do with all those extra red tomatoes.  While they can be canned or frozen whole, homemade pasta sauce and salsa are very much delicious options.   However, two other options are dehydrating and roasting. 

Dehydration is extracting all moisture from a thinly sliced food item, then sealing it in air tight packaging.  It can be seasoned before processing, but be careful as anything added will be greatly intensified in flavor.  Jerky?  Yes, this is made through the dehydration process, as is “fruit leather”.  Owning a dehydrator makes the process easier, less messy, more hygienic, but still time consuming.  Cutting the ripe, red tomatoes into one quarter inch slices, space them out on the dehydrator disks.  Cover, turn on the device and my three trays still took eight hours to completion.  If all five trays had been used, the time would have been ten to twelve hours.  Once completely dried, carefully lift the slices which have shrunk to 1/8^th of an inch thin.  I placed mine in a resealable plastic bag, making sure to, carefully, squeeze out the air, before sealing.  Yes, a container can be used, but it is air that will destroy all your hard work by creating mold on the tomato slices.  Keep them in a cool, dry, dark environment; heat and light are not friends to dried foods.  In a cabinet, they will keep for six months; stored in a freezer is a one year bounty!

Freshly sliced tomatoes in dehydrator.

Dried tomato slices.

Dehydrated Tomatoes

The other method for drying out tomatoes is to Sun Dry.  The tomatoes are sliced, placed on parchment lined trays and exposed to the sun until completely dried out.  This method takes days, leaves the tomatoes open to the air, and anything air borne.  While, in Utah, the red dust of our magnificent sandstone formations is nicknamed “seasoning”, do we really want it on our drying tomatoes?  Then there are insects, falling leaves, pet hair, and who knows what other non-tasty and unhealthy yuck that might get added in.  So, as you can guess, I am partial to a dehydrator.

What can dehydrated tomatoes be used for?  First, they can easily be rehydrated by soaking in hot water for thirty minutes.  Chop them up to add to salads, slices onto sandwiches, or anything else tomatoes are called for.  They can, also, simply be crushed or ground up to be added to soups, stews, dressings, and basically any dish calling for seasoning.  Dried tomatoes have intensified tomato flavor, so add a sweet/tart/tangy balance to a recipe.

Roasted tomatoes will not keep as long as dried.  Up to five days in the refrigerator, only six months if frozen.  Reason being is the cooked olive oil which can eventually turn rancid, even if frozen.  However, these little tidbits are so exquisitely delicious, they will not last long anyway!

Preheating the oven to 450F, slice the tomatoes, again, to one quarter inch thickness.  If using cherry tomatoes, simply cut in half.  In a large bowl, mix the tomatoes with a half cup of olive oil  (this is for 6-8 large Roma tomatoes), one quarter cup of Italian herbal mix, one tablespoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon ground black pepper, one half teaspoon of fine sea salt. 

 

Place the tomato slices, or halves, in rows, onto jelly roll pans (the sides will keep the oil from leaking onto the oven floor).  Roast for 20-25 minutes in the oven; any longer and they will begin to turn too mushy.  Let cool for 15 minutes before placing in air tight containers or bags.

Roasted Tomatoes

You will be tasting them, I know you cannot resist!  Have any frozen pizza in the freezer?  Unwrap, place a few slices of the roasted tomatoes on it, and then rewrap.  Wait until you finally bake that pizza, the taste will make your eyes pop out!

How about some Bruschetta?  While the tomatoes are roasting, brush thick slices of Italian or French bread (even sub rolls will work) lightly with olive oil.  Once the tomatoes are done, space them out on the bread, top with shredded mozzarella and pop back into that 450F oven for 15-18 minutes.  One bite, and you will be totally in love!

Bruschetta and Roasted Tomatoes

Joyous Mabon, Welcome Autumn, Second Harvest is here, Celebrate and eat some tomatoes!

Mary Cokenour

A Published Bon Appetit Recipe aka Tooting My Own Horn.

I have been entering recipe contests since 1994, and my first win was February 1995 for "Better Homes and Gardens" magazine.  I've won many times with them; had recipes featured in "Taste of Home" magazine, and its recipe books.  Heck, I've even been on television several times cooking up one of my recipes (local station, WGAL, in Lancaster, PA).  Then there was Bon "Appetit" magazine, now that's a coup, since this is a high end food magazine; but I had a few published.

After awhile, I started to enter less and less; Food Network Channel was teaching everyone and their mother how to be a celebrity chef.  Contest entries were looking for more unusual, and five star restaurant quality, recipes; home cooks, like myself, were falling to the wayside.  Good news though, I have been writing a food column for the local paper, San Juan Record, for a year now.  Besides being read throughout the entire San Juan County of Southeastern Utah; subscribed readers reside throughout the United States as well.  Besides my own recipes, I've been able to write about foods from the various cultures in the area (Native American and Mexican), as well as delve into recipes brought to the region by Pioneers, Cowboys, and travelers along the Old Spanish Trail.


So, for the start of the New Year, I'm going to share with you one of those published recipes from "Bon Appetit"; Shrimp in Fontina Cheese and Dried Tomato Sauce.  Fontina cheese originated in Italy; cows fed a type of rich grass gives the cheese a mild, nutty flavor with a strong, distinctive aroma.  Danish Fontina is pale yellow, semi-soft with a mild slightly sweet flavor and less of an aroma; it is also much cheaper in price and more easily found in US supermarkets.  Either variety melts smoothly and easily, so perfect when making a cheese sauce.  Sun-dried tomatoes are just that; plum (Roma) tomatoes sliced thin and air dried in the sun (4-10 day process) which are then packaged, as is, in cellophane packets, or in jars of olive oil.  The tomatoes in the packets can be reconstituted in water, or crumbed up before adding to a recipe; the ones in olive oil can be used as is, but will add a little oil to your dish.  Which to use is distinctly up to the cook.

Shrimp in Fontina Cheese and Dried Tomato Sauce

“Bon Appétit” magazine published my recipe in their January 1997 issue, in the section called “Too Busy to Cook”.

 Ingredients:

2 Tbsp. butter

½ cup white onion, diced
1 Tbsp. flour
3 cups half n’ half
½ lb. Fontina cheese, crumbled
½ cup sundried tomatoes in olive oil, diced (or dried tomatoes – rehydrated)
½ tsp. ground black pepper
1 lb. large shrimp, shelled and deveined
1 lb. hot, cooked linguine or angel hair pasta
¼ cup freshly chopped parsley

Preparation:

On medium heat, melt butter in a large skillet; sauté the onion until translucent; add the flour and mix thoroughly.

Add the half n’ half, Fontina cheese, sundried tomato and black pepper.  Bring to a boil; reduce heat to low.  Add the shrimp; simmer for 5-7 minutes; stirring occasionally.  Add in the pasta and parsley; toss to coat.

Makes 4 servings.

Substitutions:

2 large shallots for the white onion.

Provolone cheese for the Fontina cheese.
Oysters, clams or scallops for the shrimp.

Mary Cokenour           

Sun-dried Tomatoes Take Alfredo Sauce to a New Height in Flavor.

Sun-dried tomatoes are just as the name sounds; Roma tomatoes (the best for this process) are cut 1/4 inch thin, laid out in the sun and dried to remove all moisture content.  The flavor of the tomato itself is now highly concentrated; they can be stored in an air tight plastic bag, or preserved in oil.  Now preserving in oil causes the dried tomatoes to absorb that oil of course, so use them only if you intend on adding oil to your recipe.  The dried tomatoes stored in a bag can be reconstituted by pouring hot water till they are covered; let sit for a half hour.  Don't throw away that water!  It's now full of flavor and can be used, for example, an addition to your pasta water; flavoring your dough when making focaccia, rolls or bread.

Since the Alfredo sauce will not be strictly a cream sauce (addition of diced sun-dried tomatoes), throw in a couple of tablespoons of diced green or red bell peppers for added color and texture.  Alfredo sauce begins with a basic recipe for Béchamel (white sauce); it's the addition of Parmesan cheese that creates Alfredo.

Basic Béchamel Recipe

Ingredients:

5 tablespoons butter
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 cups hot milk
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Preparation:

In a medium saucepan, heat the butter over medium heat until melted; gradually add the flour, stirring until smooth. Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture turns a golden brown color, about 6 to 7 minutes.

Add the hot milk to the butter mixture 1 cup at a time; whisk continuously to avoid burning or clumping. When mixture is completely smooth, remove from heat. Season with salt and nutmeg; set aside until ready to use.

Makes 3 cups.

For the Alfredo sauce, once the mixture is smooth, add one cup of grated Parmesan cheese and continue to whisk until smooth; add the salt and nutmeg as directed.

For the Sun-dried Alfredo sauce, after the butter has melted, add 1/4 cup of diced, reconstituted sun-dried tomatoes plus a teaspoon of minced garlic.  Once they begin to sizzle in the butter, then continue the rest of the sauce making process.  Add in two tablespoons of diced green or red bell peppers, if desired, after the sauce is finished.

Sun-dried Afredo Sauce with diced green bell peppers added.

Cheese Tortelloni; garnished with parsley.

Italian Sausage added.

Mary Cokenour