Tomatoes From the Pantry

While hunkering down, you may be a bit stretched on how to use all those tomatoes you preserved or the cans from the store.  One of the most simple is soup.  

Soup has long been a comfort food, a way of stretching ingredients for a big family, a way to use preserved vegetables during the winter, a source of warmth and one-pot cooking.  Put a pot of soup on in the morning and it's ready when the work day has ended.

Heidi's pasta e fagioli soup

Tomatoes are often an ingredient for many soup recipes.  My niece, Heidi, just posted this picture of her pasta e fagioli soup.  Among the ingredients are tomatoes, beans and pasta.  Stick to the ribs peasant food.   

An obvious favorite American comfort food is tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches.  

Except for "blond" chili, traditional chili recipes' main ingredient is tomatoes.

Tomatoes nutritional values:

Amount Per 1 slice, thin/small (15 g)1 cherry (17 g)1 slice, medium (1/4" thick) (20 g)1 slice, thick/large (1/2" thick) (27 g)1 wedge (1/4 of medium tomato) (31 g)1 Italian tomato (62 g)1 plum tomato (62 g)1 small whole (2-2/5" dia) (91 g)100 grams1 medium whole (2-3/5" dia) (123 g)1 NLEA serving (148 g)1 cup cherry tomatoes (149 g)1 cup, chopped or sliced (180 g)1 large whole (3" dia) (182 g)1 medium whole (2-3/5" dia) (123 g)

Calories 22

% Daily Value*
Total Fat 0.2 g	0%
Saturated fat 0 g	0%
Polyunsaturated fat 0.1 g
Monounsaturated fat 0 g
Cholesterol 0 mg	0%
Sodium 6 mg	0%
Potassium 292 mg	8%
Total Carbohydrate 4.8 g	1%
Dietary fiber 1.5 g	6%
Sugar 3.2 g
Protein 1.1 g	2%

Vitamin A	20%	Vitamin C	28%
Calcium	1%	Iron	1%
Vitamin D	0%	Vitamin B-6	5%
Cobalamin	0%	Magnesium	3%

No fat!  No cholesterol!  And look at the good!

Another excellent thing about tomato based dishes, they provide a base for showcasing other flavors.  Onions, garlic, meat, basil, rosemary, bay, hot peppers are a few of the flavors enhanced through tomatoes.

A few hints, if tomatoes are not seasoned in any way they will taste acidic.  A bit of sugar will add balance.  Salt will help add depth of flavor to tomatoes.  I, also, recommend  tasting your tomato based sauces and soups as you season so it will be perfect for that batch of tomatoes.  Different kinds of tomatoes have different properties and tastes.    

Aside from soups, there's a multitude of tomato sauce based recipes from pasta dishes, stews, casseroles and even pie.  Most require long cook times to really blend the flavors.  Although not always preferred by an authentic Italian cook, crock pots/slow cookers are a help for the working family.  Hint:  If you plan to cook tomato based food in a slow cooker, don't use high heat.  High heat will eventually take away the subtle blend of flavors.  

If the recipe requires cooking the tomatoes down to a more paste condition (or cooking the water out) it's best done on the stove top with constant watching and stirring.  The rich reduced sauce has a wonderful flavor but is easily scorched.  

• Tomato sauces are also used to tenderize beef through the acidic properties.  
• Tomato products freeze well.  
• Tomatoes give flavor to plain tasting foods such as beans, pasta and rice. 
• Cooking pasta in tomato juice instead of water gives it additional flavor.  Don't rinse the pasta when done - simply add it all to the dish.
• If you are making pasta and rice dishes to freeze, don't add the pasta or rice until you have thawed the sauce while reheating.  Neither will freeze well; becoming mushy and ruining the recipe.

And now down tomato memory lane from Indiana farm folk:  

• No one would serve soup to company - it was a family dish.
• IF someone dropped by and there was a pot of soup on the stove, the cook would add water to "stretch" the soup.  
• Tomatoes were often grown as a farm cash crop.  A farm kitchen pantry held MANY jars of canned tomato juice, whole, sauced, or a version of tomatoes and vegetables together.
• At the end of the season, near the first frost, all green tomatoes were gathered, wrapped in newspaper and stored in the root cellar.  As they slowly ripened, they were used.  It took daily checking to make sure none spoiled.   

For those who froze or preserved tomatoes, for those who have store bought canned tomatoes in quantity - this is a time that proved you knew what you were doing.  Tomatoes are a staple of the stay-at-home-order kitchen.  And we all look forward to another summer of growing and eating fresh tomatoes.  As we plant in hope, let us extend that hope for a healthy tomorrow.