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.
What a blessed time it is – autumn! I love her. In autumn I like everything: gold and copper plants, rain, bad weather… but most of all I like the abundance of all kinds of vegetables. And how many delicious and healthy things can be prepared from them without falling into excessive spending, as in winter or spring. And today we have soup… Hearty, super vegetable, flavorful… A real autumn soup!
An interesting idea for dinner or breakfast! In general, this is a very tasty full-fledged hot dish, not an appetizer. In my opinion, it is very well suited for children’s parties, and just for a delicious dinner. It remains only to cook it in order to truly understand all its taste!!!
If you don’t know what else to cook for dinner or how to surprise your loved one, then you can use this recipe. Delicious, juicy side dish of buckwheat porridge with vegetables. Moderately spicy, fresh and rich.
I do not dispute that the site presents a very large number of recipes with buckwheat. But even with an incomplete amount of ingredients, like mine, I did not get a result. Buckwheat is my weakness of all cereals. Vegetables are my love, and, fortunately, buckwheat is served to this option (as a side dish).
Unusual, very tasty. For lovers of buckwheat with vegetables is just right. Ordinary boiled porridge turns into a magically delicious dish. Also very satisfying. Try to cook this salad and enjoy it before eating.
I love this caviar cooking option. The main preparation does not require a large amount of oil, as some vegetables are pre-baked in a dry frying pan. Caviar turns out juicy and tender in consistency. Perhaps my version will also be useful to someone.
I suggest cooking the most popular summer-autumn vegetable dish – stew! An elegant vegetable snack for your table. Juicy vegetables: tomatoes, sweet peppers, carrots, onions and zucchini – go well with each other. Vegetables can be taken in arbitrary proportions, according to your taste preferences, and enjoy their taste and rich aroma.
There are several ways to submit. In Israel, hummus is considered a salad. As the advertisement of a well-known Israeli salad manufacturer says – “Hummus is prepared with love or not prepared at all” and “personal hummus – personal memories”. Well, I will tell you about love and memories below. In the meantime, if you’re interested, let’s go cook!
For me, there are many chili options, so the main thing is that it should be spicy and with beans. If you are closer to the “classics” and cook it with minced meat, you will get a very tasty fast food. And just as delicious. Cooking is quick and easy.