The summer season is a waste of fruits and vegetables unparalleled that must be used while it lasts, although we can find many of them the rest of the year. Its flavor intensifies and more of the same happens to its juiciness and texture. You want to feed on them at all hours and, especially, tomato.
We would eat this wonderful fruit in bites (in fact we do, ahem) As is well. Although we usually use it mainly as an ingredient in salads or gazpachos and cold soups. However, today we honor tomato as the protagonist of other less popular recipes, but we are sure that you will love it for its originality and simplicity. The time to prepare them is now. Don’t stop trying them!
Tomatoes stuffed with roasted vegetables and pine nuts
Ingredients for four people:
4 tomatoes, 100 g of varied cherry tomato, 120 g of red pepper, 120 g of yellow pepper, 100 g of zucchini, 25 g of pine nuts, 100 g of mushrooms, 45 ml of extra virgin olive oil , salt, Provencal herbs and ground black pepper to taste.
Preparation:
We will start by cutting the top of the tomatoes. We reserve with a teaspoon we empty its interior. We cut the cherry tomatoes in quarters. Then we chop the two-colored peppers and zucchini into thin pieces.
We clean and split the mushrooms, and cut them into quarters. Later we preheat the oven to 185 degrees. We arrange the empty tomatoes in a refractory dish spread with a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil.
Salted tomato and three cheese cake
Ingredients for four people:
For the base: 115 g of wheat flour, a pinch of salt, 25 g of lard, 25 g of butter and 15 ml of very cold water. For the filling: 100 g of varied tomatoes, 5 g of wheat flour, 100 g of cream cheese, 25 g of Parmesan cheese, 50 g of Emmental cheese, 2 eggs, 50 g of natural yogurt, 5 g of Dijon mustard and dried oregano to decorate.
Preparation:
We start with the broken dough, to give you the rest time you need without haste. To make it, we simply mix, in a large bowl, the flour and a pinch of salt along with the butter and butter cut into small dice. We use the fingertips to mix, avoiding heat. This is very important. You have to touch the dough just right, without going over.
When the mixture resembles a set of crumbs, we add a tablespoon of cold water. With the help of a knife edge, we add the water to the rest of the ingredients initially, and we end up working it with our hands. At the moment when the dough gets a homogeneous appearance and texture, we stop working it. We wrap it in plastic wrap and let it rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
After the rest time has elapsed, we spread the dough with a roller on a sheet of sulfurized paper. Flour the roller to prevent the dough from sticking and breaking. We transfer the dough to a 14 cm diameter baking sheet and cover its base and sides. Nothing happens if it breaks, we take small portions of the dough and place them on the cracks as a patch. Remove the excess dough from the sides, cover with sulfurized paper and legumes (or baking stones) and cook at 180ºC for 20 minutes.
After this time, we remove the mold and remove the legumes and the sulfurized paper. We put it back in the oven and cook in white for 5 more minutes, with the temperature a little higher. We transfer the dough to a 14 cm diameter baking sheet and cover its base and sides. Nothing happens if it breaks, we take small portions of the dough and place them on the cracks as a patch.
Baked confit tomatoes
Ingredients for four people:
4 tomatoes, 50 ml of extra virgin olive oil, 45 g of brown sugar, salt flakes to taste, ground pink pepper to taste, dried thyme to taste and dried oregano to taste.
Preparation:
We will start by preheating the oven to 120 degrees with heat up and down. We will wash the tomatoes and cut them in half or in three thick slices. We cover a refractory tray with sulfurized paper and place the tomato slices.
We water with the extra virgin olive oil on top, sprinkle the brown sugar and distribute it over the tomatoes. Add some maldon salt flakes on top of each slice and sprinkle with oregano and thyme. We bake at low temperature for two hours.
Clafoutis with cherry tomatoes and feta cheese
Ingredients for three people:
18 cherry tomatoes, 150 g of feta cheese, 3 eggs, 200 ml of liquid cooking cream, 10 g of refined cornmeal, grated Parmesan cheese (to cover the molds), sunflower oil (to cover the molds), salt and ground black pepper.
Preparation:
In a deep bowl, mix the eggs with the cream, salt and pepper to taste. Beat well until homogenized. We prepare three baking molds, greasing the base and sides and sprinkling with grated Parmesan cheese (we can also use breadcrumbs). Place six cherry tomatoes in each mold and distribute the feta cheese cut into small dice.
We can add some goat cheese or mozzarella and add other nuances. We divide the egg mixture between the molds and cook in a preheated oven at 180ºC for 25 minutes or until the surface begins to brown. We serve immediately.
Tomato Carpaccio
Ingredients for four people:
2 large and firm tomatoes, 1 can of anchovies, 6 pickled cucumbers, half a small onion, extra virgin olive oil, ground black pepper and dried thyme.
Preparation:
We start washing the tomatoes and cut them into very thin slices (we can use a slicer or a mandolin and make sure that they are all the same without effort). Drain the oil anchovies and cut the fillets diagonally to obtain small rhombuses. Drain the pickles and cut them into thin slices.
Chop the onion very small. We spread the tomato slices on a tray, covering the entire surface. We distribute the anchovies, the pickle and the vinegar, sprinkle with the thyme and dress with the oil and the black pepper.
Tomato and Basil Jam
Ingredients for four people:
1.6 kg of ripe tomato, 800 g of sugar, 15 leaves of fresh basil, salt to taste and 5 g of agar agar.
Preparation:
We will start by peeling the tomatoes and chopping them into small dice. We add them to a pot, and add 750 g of sugar, reserving the remaining 50 g in a small bowl to mix with the agar agar powder. We add to the mixture of tomatoes and sugar the basil leaves cut in chiffonade or very small, as well as the pinch of salt.
We cook everything together and we control the temperature with a cooking thermometer until the mixture reaches 104 degrees Celsius. If you do not have a thermometer it will be a cooking time of approximately half an hour.
When the jam is cooked or it has reached this temperature, we add the sugar mixed with the agar agar and let it boil again for a minute. We fill sterilized glass jars with hot jam, turn them over with the base up and let them cool.
Tomato and Basil Mousse
Ingredients:
4-6 tomatoes, 100 ml of mayonnaise, 200 ml of fresh cream for cooking (or Greek yogurt failing), 1 clove of garlic, some basil leaves, salt and ground black pepper.
Preparation:
We start washing the tomatoes, breaking them in half and removing the seeds. We salted them well and put them face down on absorbent paper, so that they release all the agüilla. With half an hour, it will be enough.
After that time, we crush the tomatoes with the blender together with the chopped garlic clove and basil leaves. Then we add the cream and mayonnaise (100ml are about three full tablespoons), mix gently with a spoon, adjust salt and pepper and refrigerate for at least two hours before serving.
