STEWED CORN and TOMATOES

Stewed Corn and Tomatoes

3/4 cup chicken stock
1 large bell pepper, chopped
2 green onions, chopped with tops
1 tsp. Salt
hot sauce to taste
3 ½ to 4 cups fresh corn
16 oz. Can whole tomatoes, drained and chopped, reserve the liquid.
1/4 cup bacon drippings

Saute green onions, onions and garlic in bacon drippings. When onions are soft (but not brown) add corn, green pepper, tomatoes, tomato liquid, stock and hot sauce. Cook over medium heat. Add salt and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer for about 15 minutes or until corn is tender. 
Serves 6.

PEELING CHERRY TOMATOES

How to Peel Cherry Tomatoes in 20 Seconds

Chill your cherry tomatoes in the fridge overnight.

Add boiling water from a kettle leave to cover 20 seconds. Take out the hot water and add cold tap water

The skin is split and ready to slip off.

If the skins are not open, just give them a slight pierce with a tip of a knife and the skin is ready to go out. Refrigerate until ready to use.

FRIED TOMATOES-GREEN OR RED

Fried Tomatoes-Red or Green

The only thing that takes practice is having confidence that seasoned cornmeal is enough to do the job.

2 pounds tomatoes. Green or Red (just make sure the red ones aren’t very soft or they’ll fall apart when you fry them)
1 ½ cups cornmeal
Oil for frying, you may also use shortening or the traditional bacon grease.
Salt and pepper to taste

Season your cornmeal with salt and pepper.
Slice the tomatoes about 3/8 inch thick,
Dredge both sides of the tomatoes in the seasoned cornmeal, pressing each side firmly into the meal so it will make a good coating. Do not try to do anything more than coat them, you don’t want to mound the cornmeal up it will fall off anyway, just make sure it’s all covered. Tomatoes are pretty wet things so the cornmeal will stick quite well. Respect your ingredients.

Place the coated tomato slices on a plate, any excess cornmeal should fall off as you move them to the plate.

Put enough oil or whatever in an iron skillet to a depth of about 3/8 inch, and place the skillet over medium heat. Add the tomatoes to the hot oil a few at a time, without crowding, and fry until golden brown, about 1 minute. Turn, and when both sides are golden brown, drain on paper towels and serve piping hot. They will be soft all the way through except where a bit of the core may be in the slice.

ROASTED TOMATOES

Roasted Tomatoes

8 ripe but very firm perfect tomatoes (of equal size)-Romas are perfect
salt to taste
1 clove garlic, minced
½ cup chopped fresh basil leaves or 2 tsp. Dried
½ cup oil, preferably olive
1/4 cup chopped flat leaved parsley, optional

Preheat the oven to 425

Cut your tomatoes in half lengthwise and lay the halves, cut side up, on a lightly oiled baking pan. Season with salt. Blend the garlic and basil with the olive oil and sprinkle the mixture over the tomatoes. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove the tomatoes from the oven and lightly press them with a spoon. If they feel soft they are almost done. Sprinkle with parsley if desired. Return to the oven for about 5 minutes. (The time will vary with their size, but 20 minutes total cooking time is usually perfect.). The tomatoes must stay firm enough for the skin to remain unbroken. Garnish for pork or meat loaf.
Serves 8

A notable variation: Sprinkle a mixture of buttered and toasted bread crumbs and toasted pine nuts over the tomatoes.

The Real Deal from Australia: 
Prepare the tomatoes for roasting as in the above recipe but preheat the oven to 350 degrees. When your tomatoes are ready (and it’s a temptation to eat them raw rather than cook them). Put them cut side up o n a baking sheet and pop them in the oven. Plan on about 45 minutes cooking time. They don’t need to be dry but they will getin to shrink a bit and that’s what you want. The flavor will be intensifying all the time. When they’re done by your instinct take them out and cool them. Use for salads, appetizers or as a soup ingredient. This is hard to beat and hands down the only way to enjoy winter tomatoes.

CREOLE TOMATO SALAD

Creole Tomato Salad

Leave the skins on and slice the tomatoes about 3/8 of an inch thick.  Arrange them in concentric circles on a plate and drizzle them with olive oil and sprinkle them with salt and pepper. That’s all.

Sometimes if I’ve got a really good onion I slice some of it paper thin and scatter the slices over the tomatoes. If it’s for company I might alternate slices of fresh mozzarella cheese with the slices of tomato and scatter torn fresh basil leaves over the salad as well. Never more elaborate than that.

I cringe when I see ladies have to take a knife to a salad.

TOMATO DUMPLINGS

Tomato Dumplings

1/4 cup butter
½ cup diced onion
1/4 cup diced green bell pepper
1/4 cup diced celery
1 bay leaf
1 (28-ounce) can whole tomatoes, and their juice, coarsely chopped
2 tsp. Brown sugar
½ tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Pepper
½ tsp dried or1 Tbsp chpped fresh basil (optional)
1 cup flour
1 ½ tsp. Baking powder
½ tsp. Salt
1 Tbsp butter, cut up
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup milk
1 Tbsp. Minced fresh parsley

Melt the 1/4 cup butter; add onion and next three ingredients. Saute 5 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Stir in tomatoes, next three ingredients, and , if desired, the basil. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer 3 minutes.

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut in the Tablespoon of butter with a pastry blender, or rub between your hands until the mixture is crumbly. Add egg, milk, and parsley, stirring until dry ingredients are moistened. Drop dough by Tablespoonfuls into simmering tomato mixture.
Cover and cook over mediumlow heat 20 minutes. Remove and discard bay leaf. Serve immediately.

Yes, the vegetarian version is great but this version exceeds expectations:

Sausage Variation: 

Start off by cooking one pound of country sausage (any roll of breakfast sausage will do) shaped into meatballs. Drain off the grease and set the sausage balls aside and proceed with sauteeing vegetables. Add the sausage with the tomatoes and proceed
.
CAVEAT: This version converted one stalwart vegetarian.