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.
My child, a big fan of hot dogs and pizza, asked me to cook something from this area for the New Year’s table. I decided to make a hot dog pie with pickles, cherries and sausages. The child ate and said that it tasted like a hot dog and pizza combined, and ate the most in one sitting.
The other day I got my hands on a booklet from a local grocery store to order. Looking at the photos, my gaze lingered on an unusual pizza, namely, I was attracted by the original side. As usual, there was a crazy idea to cook the most delicious pizza. I Googled, it turned out that there are no recipes, only photos on the menu from different establishments. I went to experiment in the kitchen, and what came out of it, go look at the recipe.
An easy-to-make delicious and satisfying pie. Canned tuna and tender vegetable filling with crispy corn create the perfect combination with tender potato dough and vegetables under egg-cheese filling. Treat yourself and your loved ones, I’m sure they will appreciate your efforts!
An original appetizer or even a main course, easy to prepare, you will certainly like it. A juicy filling of chicken, tomatoes, parsley and onions and boiled eggs will give strength and energy, and oat bran will make the dish even more useful. Another advantage is that you can take this terrine with you to work and to nature.
I want to offer an unconventional recipe for vegetable salad with the addition of boiled buckwheat, feta and olives. Very tasty, juicy, hearty salad. It is not recommended to leave it for a long period of time or to prepare it for the future, since vegetables will give juice and the salad will lose its attractiveness and taste.
Juicy and bright fresh vegetables fill the salad with vitamins, and fried eggplant and meat make it saturated. All the ingredients add an original touch to them, harmoniously combining with each other.
Terrine of chicken fillet with rice balls stuffed with olives and almonds. Delicious, simple and very beautiful. I often cook for the holidays, my family really likes it. Try and you cook this snack.
These are incredibly delicious cupcakes, take my word for it)) Very juicy, tender and so fabulous! Everyone is simply obliged to try this miracle at least once. They are prepared quite simply, from affordable and unpretentious products, and will become a wonderful decoration of the festive table.