Tomato-Rama: Part 4: What the Hell do I do with all these TOMATOES?!

To begin with, we used up the leftover MAMMOTH zucchini by making zucchini bread (again, inspired in part by Dr. Stonielove, and partly from How it All Vegan). We fudged recipes and approximated (mostly because we ran out of both sugar and cinnamon and don't have any soft tofu or eggs in the house right now). The resulting loaves were excellent! I think we ended up using 4c. whole wheat flour, 1c. oat flour (which we just figured out how to make. god bless food processors!), applesauce, 4 c. shredded zucchini, cinnamon, nutmeg, raisins, walnuts, and other odds and ends.
Excellent with coffee for breakfast, and excellent for luring little black cats into photographs.
Okay, so the hundred-plus tomatoes from yesterday added to the forty-plus tomatoes from earlier in the week need to be dealt with. We started off blanching, peeling, and freezing some for the future (but our freezer is sadly running out of space!)

We also found out about making fresh tomato juice. After blanching (1-2 minutes each), and peeling them (and after a while we even quit peeling or coring them), throw your tomatoes into your food processor or blender and whiz up until pretty well liquified

Following some recipes, we threw in a small onion, a couple ribs and leaves of our garden celery, and a squirt of lemon. Then we poured the juice through a sieve. I saved the leftover tomato pulp. I'm convinced I can make something with it. The JUICE has been employed in two ways so far:

Makes a bloody marvelous Virgin Mary:

(I'm not sure, but I think I just made up that name. I don't fancy the Bloody Mary, but I do like the IDEA of Bloody Marys..)

Then, after whizzing up a TON of tomatoes, we ended up with about 2 quarts of juice which then made a rather gratifying Garden Vegetable Soup!!

The whole peeled tomatoes, tomato juice, onions, cabbage, carrots, green beans, corn, and potatoes are all either fresh from our garden, or from our CSA. We also added some frozen edamame (although we WILL have some fresh ones soon), and some frozen mixed veggies for good measure.

We've also frozen a large batch of salsa. The JUICE, though, will totally be done again to stock up for soup for the fall!!!

Aguas de Frutas y Amigos

Part I: Agua Fresca

New developments coming out of my kitchen this afternoon include Agua Fresca with the leftover cantaloupe and watermelon from a great weekend sale at the local supermarket-- Because our apartment is so hot right now, the cantaloupe got REAL ripe overnight, so I had to chop it up and refrigerate it, and promptly forgot about it. Blending the fruit pieces and then straining them does an amazing job of retaining the sweetness and bouquet of the fruit, while removing the gross texture of borderline overripe melon. It's totally delicious. Zips, who prefers watermelon to any other melon, and who is ambivalent about the delights cantaloupe has to offer, DOWNED the cantaloupe agua fresca in two gulps. The watermelon was excellent too. It was a wonderful GIGANTIC seeded melon. I added sugar as the recipe called for, so it ended up being a tad on the sweet side. Easily counteracted, though, with a couple ice cubes.

I got the idea for Agua Fresca earlier in the summer with a so-so not-quite-in-season watermelon. It made a horrid watermelon gazpacho, so the rest of it was an experiment. The remainder of the melon needed to be used, so I found this great site with recipes. Zips hated the first attempt at agua fresca. Probably because I cut the melon on the same board as the onion for the gazpacho-- not so tasty in juice.

Anyway, today, since I was only working with a portion of each kind of melon and only half a lime (other recipes call for as many as 2-3 limes), I fudged the measurements. Here's what I did:

Agua de Melon (Cantaloupe)

4 c. chopped cantaloupe
2 c. water
1/2 c. sugar

blend until smooth. strain. refrigerate.


Agua de Sandia (Watermelon)

4 c. chopped watermelon (remove seeds as you put it in the blender)
1 1/2 c. water
1/4 c. sugar
juice of 1/2 lime




blend. strain. refrigerate


Seriously, how can you resist? Have you no heart?


Part II: Arabic Salad

FINALLY, with the fruits of our labors! One of Zips ALL TIME favorites is arabic salad. I clipped some of our flatleaf parsley, some crazy abundant spearmint (about 1/4 c. of each, chopped), a green onion (chopped), two early girl tomatoes, and a cuke (each diced), the juice of a lemon (not from our garden, alas...I'll have to wait until we live in a different climate!), a drizzle of olive oil, and some salt and pepper. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes when you've mixed everything together to let the flavors meld. Then grab a couple of spoons and dig in! (Of course, you could eat it in a bowl or plate, alongside some lovely tabouleh or couscous...but Zips can't wait that long).

Part III: Sesame Ginger Dipping Sauce

In the continuing quest to replicate a Veggie Tempura dipping sauce (that I've never tasted) from a restaurant in Richmond, Virginia (that I've never been to), I tried out this recipe that's attempting to copy a Asiatic lettuce wrap served at Chili's (that I've also never tasted). I love it when home chefs try to figure out restaurant recipes (and of course share them). One total success I've had is the KFC cole slaw that's out there. Anyways, Zips says this sauce is very very close to what she ate:

1/4 c. water
1 Tb. cornstarch (I added even more when all the ingredients were incorporated to thicken it up)
1/3 c. sugar
1/4 c. soy sauce
1/3 c. rice vinegar
1 tsp. minced ginger (I am usually prone to add more ginger, but I stuck with this measurement. I might add a little more next time)
1 tsp. sesame oil
1/4-1/2 tsp. minced garlic (I used my microplane grater for both this and the ginger. I grated about half of one clove of garlic)

Heat the water and cornstarch to dissolve it. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer for about 2 minutes. (And if you're me, use those 2 minutes to dissolve more cornstarch in water and add to the sauce until you achieve the desired consistency.)

Thumbs up. I think I'm going to try tempura tonight, so I'll let you know how it goes!