Tomatoes are widely used in cooking. They are used as an ingredient in appetizers, first and second courses, salads – both raw and ready-made. Salads with fresh tomatoes, tomato soups, sauces, pizza and pasta with tomato dressing have become quite familiar to us.
How to Cook Tomatoes
Tomatoes are successfully used for cooking various types of canned food. Fruits contain a significant amount of acid, which makes it possible to limit the production of canned food to sterilizing them in boiling water. Depending on what taste the cook wants to achieve, tomatoes can be pickled, salted, boiled sweet sauce, juice or drink. As a rule, sugar, salt, vinegar, citric acid and all kinds of spices are used in any kind of canning. With proper preparation, the product can be stored in a dark, cool place for several years. These preserves are always an excellent addition to side dishes, meat, fish, salads and an independent snack. A well–known tomato product is ketchup, a sweet tomato sauce with seasonings.
Combination with Other Products
Tomato is not desirable to combine with starch-containing and cereal products. It is recommended to eat tomatoes with herbs and vegetables that do not contain starch. It is advised to take tomatoes with proteins and fats, thus improving their assimilation. A useful combination is tomato and avocado, as well as broccoli. The usual combination of tomatoes and cucumbers is not as useful as it seems – the components of these vegetables, according to recent studies, mutually interfere with the assimilation of various components of each other. Tomatoes with liver or olive oil are considered useful combinations.
The Use of Tomatoes in Drinks
The most famous tomato drink, as expected, is tomato juice. It is consumed both in its natural form and with the addition of salt, pepper, celery, Worcestershire sauce, lemon and lime juice. In addition, tomato juice is used as a component of several alcoholic cocktails. Tomatoes can be added to vegetable smoothies based on yogurt, as well as to prepare diluted drinks with spices from them.
Types of Tomatoes
There are hundreds of types of tomatoes – small cherry the size of a grape, huge tomatoes weighing 600-800 grams, juicy for salads and fleshy for pasta, campari and – these are just the most famous of the many varieties. The color of the fruit, in addition to red, can vary from white, orange, yellow, green to purple and chocolate.
How to Choose and Store Tomatoes?
Ripe tomatoes have a rather rich aroma. If there is no smell, most likely the tomatoes were picked unripe. The peduncle should be small. When choosing tomatoes, you need to pay attention to the smoothness of the skin, the absence of cracks, spots and traces of blows. A fully ripe tomato is soft and springy, but you can choose it only if it is consumed immediately. Overripe tomatoes are always good for sauces and soups. In healthy fruits, the skin is thin, and the flesh is monotonous. If white thin veins are visible in the pulp, there are white spots in the core, and it itself is “plastic” to the touch – it means that there are nitrates in the tomato.
The storage conditions of a tomato directly depends on how ripe it is. Room temperature will accelerate the ripening process. Therefore, if you want the tomato to ripen, feel free to leave it warm. Ripe tomatoes are best stored at a temperature of about 12 degrees Celsius. At this temperature, the tomato will cease to ripen, but it will not lose its taste and useful properties.
I suggest cooking wonderful, delicious sandwiches. It looks very beautiful, original, is prepared from simple, affordable products and is very easy and fast. And how delicious it is, mmm! A great option both for every day and for a festive table, for example, for the new year.
Thai soup with an exotic taste will help diversify your diet. This is a classic recipe for Tom Kha coconut soup with chicken. Like all dishes of the Kingdom of Thailand, the soup contains a palette of all tastes. what you can imagine: salty, sweet, creamy, spicy, sour, spicy. It is not recommended to replace the soup components with more affordable options. The exception applies only to tree mushrooms, they can be replaced with oyster mushrooms.
The Greek equivalent of the Italian bolognese sauce, Kim sauce, is very popular in Greek families. Its quick and easy cooking, affordable products and amazing taste are what a busy modern woman and a man who loves to cook need today. I will immediately make a reservation that my recipe does not claim to be a classic original and is made taking into account the taste and desire of my loved ones. During the step-by-step description, I will try to explain this in more detail.
I offer you a very tasty, hearty and almost low-fat soup. Despite the presence of a small amount of fried bacon, the dish is generally balanced in terms of fat and calories, because I have a negative attitude to fatty foods. Read the recipe and, if you want, try to cook it once.
Recipe from the series “fast, delicious, beautiful”. I offer you snack rolls made of ready-made puff pastry with mushrooms, tomatoes and parmesan. These rolls can be made from wild mushrooms that you have prepared this fall. You can replace the cheese and take another one, your favorite, just so that it is of good quality and melts well. Get ready!
This bright soup, not only in “appearance”, but also in taste, occupies the top lines of the “hit parade” of our family’s favorite dishes. I suggest you appreciate it…