There is almost nothing better than nurturing plants and watching them grow. It is exciting to see a burst of growth mid-summer or a plant covered in blossoms. However, the thrill of eating what you have planted is perhaps, to me, the greatest satisfaction.
Our vegetable garden fence is covered in lovely purple and pink morning glories. The fence posts rise above the pickets with burgeoning vines buzzing with bees in the early morning.
A vegetable garden is often seen as purely utilitarian. Our vegetable garden is also beautiful as a result of the morning glories.
We have had an unpredictable summer. Periods of drought and then a deluge of water from storms. In between times we watered with the garden hose. Our tomatoes were struck by early blight – something we fought with a homemade remedy of water and baking soda. Despite the inconsistent moisture and blight we have had good success with our vegetables.
We have enjoyed delicious zucchini bread, caprese with fresh basil, pizza with green peppers and eggplant, cucumber salad, mojitos with mint, and succulent watermelon – all fresh from our garden. Thai chili was a special addition this year. Andrew likes to add these small chili to whatever he was eating. They aren’t to my taste. They are so hot you would swear whatever you are eating could be used to remove paint from furniture – it would burn right off. Of course, I grew up in a household where the only standard spices were bland salt and pepper. Imagine my tastebuds the first time I ever tasted something with garlic!
We have had a bumper crop of tomatoes. I have given many tomatoes to the neighbors, so many that my neighbor today sent me a text claiming I gave her so many she could share them with everyone in China! She does have a sense of humor. I have made many different dishes with tomatoes it would take to long to write about them. Our freezer is full of gallons of roasted tomato sauce. Andrew and I have recently enjoyed making homemade pizza. We have used store bought sauce. A key ingredient to making pizza sauce is tomato paste. My challenge today was to make homemade tomato paste.
Following is how I made the tomato paste. I would welcome your suggestions if you have improvements to my process.
The first step was to cut up the tomatoes. I used small, medium and large tomatoes.
The tomatoes were boiled on the stove for a few minutes to break them down. The heat releases seeds and separates the skins from the flesh (that sounds ghoulish – ugh reminding me of the movie Red Sorghum).
The cooked tomatoes were then put into food processor to break them down further. I then put them into a food mill to separate the seeds and skin.
Our delightful neighbors in Kew Gardens, Maria and Sergio gave us these pans. Sergio’s father owned a bakery. When he retired he gave these pans to them and they passed them along to us – we have 4. I believe they are aluminum. They are so much nicer than anything I have ever used. They were made in the U.S.A.
I added some sea salt and olive oil to the tomato sauce and poured it into the pans. The pans were then put into the oven for 2 hours. After the 2 hours I turned the oven off and let the pans of paste cool down along with the oven.
I put the tomato paste into small containers and froze them. Our next pizza is going to be extra delicious!
What do you do with surplus tomatoes?
“Three tomatoes are walking down the street – a papa tomato, a mama tomato and a little baby tomato. Baby tomato starts lagging behind. Papa tomato gets angry, goes over to Baby tomato and squishes him…..and says ‘Ketchup!’”
Uma Thurman in ‘Pulp Fiction’ (1994)