Finally our amazing summer has come to an end.
If you're an avid gardener chances are you have some ripe end-ofseason tomatoes clinging to your yellowing plants.
If your tomatoes aren't quite ripe, place them in a brown paper bag with a ripening banana at room temperature (remove all leaves and stems from the tomatoes first). If you don't have tomatoes from your garden, the store-bought, vine-ripened variety will work just fine. Remember, tomatoes taste best when you don't refrigerate them. Refrigeration dulls their flavour and leads to a mealy texture, yuck! The following are some recipes to use the last of summer's bounty. You'll note that each of these recipes contains a tomato's very best friend: fresh, fragrant basil. With any luck you'll have a bit of that still kicking around the garden too.
Cream of Fresh Tomato Soup
3 Tbsp olive oil
1½ cups chopped onion
2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 large ripe tomatoes, seeded and coarsely chopped
1½ tsp sugar
1 Tbsp tomato paste
¼ cup chopped fresh basil 3 cups low-sodium chicken stock
2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
¾ cup whipping cream
Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onions and carrots and saute for about 10 minutes until very tender; add the garlic and cook for one minute more.
Add the tomatoes, sugar, tomato paste, basil, chicken stock, salt and pepper; stir well. Bring the soup to a boil, then lower heat and simmer, uncovered, for 30 to 40 minutes, until the tomatoes are very soft. Stir the cream into the soup; puree soup in a blender in batches, holding the lid of the blender down with a folded towel to prevent eruptions.
Strain each blended batch through a wire sieve back into the saucepan, pressing with a spoon to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard solids left in sieve. If soup is too thick add a little more chicken stock.
Reheat the soup over low heat; taste and adjust seasoning as desired (you may need to add more sugar, as some tomatoes are more acidic than others). Makes six servings.
Fresh Tomato & Mozzarella Tart
1 frozen pie crust, thawed
1½ cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided use
4 small tomatoes (the Roma variety works well)
¾ cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced (quantity depends on your taste)
¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
½ cup mayonnaise
Freshly ground black pepper
Preheat oven to 450 degrees; line a nine-inch tart pan with a removable bottom with the thawed pastry (or you can just use the frozen pie crust as is, don't thaw it). Press the pastry into the fluted edges of the tart pan and trim the excess from the top. Don't prick the pastry. Bake for five to seven minutes or until the pastry is slightly dry. Remove tart shell from oven and sprinkle onehalf cup of the mozzarella cheese evenly over the bottom; let cool in the pan on a wire rack. Reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees.
Meanwhile, cut the tomatoes into half-inch wedges; drain on paper towels, then arrange the wedges over the melted cheese in the tart shell. Chop the basil and mix it with the minced garlic; in a medium bowl combine the basil-garlic mixture with the remaining cup of mozzarella, the Parmesan, mayonnaise and black pepper to taste. Gently spread the mixture evenly over the tomatoes. Bake at 375 degrees for about 25 minutes or until the cheese is golden. Let stand for five minutes before cutting into wedges. Makes four servings.
Warm Tortellini & Tomato Salad
2 packages refrigerated cheese-stuffed tortellini
½ cup olive oil
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp Dijon mustard
½ tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 cups chopped, seeded fresh tomatoes (or halved cherry tomatoes)
1 cup fresh corn kernels (sliced off the cob), sauteed briefly in 2 tsp butter
1/3 cup thinly sliced green onions
1/3 cup coarsely chopped fresh basil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Prepare tortellini according to package directions. Place the olive oil, Parmesan, lemon juice, garlic, mustard and Worcestershire sauce in a blender and process until smooth. Toss this dressing with the hot, cooked tortellini and the corn, tomatoes, green onions and basil. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Makes six servings.
Angela Shellard is a self-described foodie. She has done informal catering for sports and business functions. Contact: ashellard@hotmail. ca.
