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.
Why almost? Because I made the base from zucchini. The set of products is simple. For this “pizza” you can take a set of any products for filling. Easy, flavorful, delicious and simple!
Incredibly delicious, juicy and flavorful eggplant boats stuffed with sauce. This dish can be prepared in nature in a cauldron on an open fire or at home in the oven.
On the site there are already recipes for homemade ketchup, but as I looked, they all differ from each other in the composition and method of preparation. So I decided to share my recipe, which I’ve been using for years. This September, this is the second visit to the preparation of this ketchup, since several cans have already been eaten from the first one, we begin to use it immediately. This ketchup is also for the child, he loves it very much, so it is not sharp, without pepper, with a delicate spicy taste and a soft consistency without seeds and fruit cake, more tender and tastier than the purchased one. You can store it simply in a dark place, it is perfectly worth it all winter.
Chicken baked with vegetables in a fragrant sauce. There are more than a dozen similar recipes on the site. The recipe is universal, it can be prepared both for a family lunch, dinner, and for a festive table. Designed, of course, not for cooking gurus, but for ordinary Housewives, even more, for beginners. I hope it will be useful. Delicious, beautiful, appetizing, from simple products and without any problems.
Delicious, spicy and low-calorie dish. This fruit and vegetable stew with the addition of 1 tbsp. vinegar and without flour, you can close for the winter. This is an excellent preparation for borscht or appetizer, as well as a side dish for meat.
I suggest you prepare another interesting and delicious recipe – salad with chicken, tomatoes and peas – one of the simplest, but very tasty salads. The presence of fresh tomatoes in the salad gives the salad freshness and juiciness.
Chickpeas with stewed vegetables and minced chicken. A hearty, nutritious, bright, juicy, rich dish. It is prepared simply and quickly. Try. It’s delicious!
An incredibly flavorful, easy-to-prepare dish of eggplant, peppers and tomatoes is prepared in a frying pan. With minimal costs, you will get a result that will exceed your expectations – The dish is very appetizing and delicious.
I offer you a recipe for portioned pies. The dough turns out very tasty, and inside a juicy filling of Turkey meat and fresh vegetables. These pies can be prepared and taken with you on a picnic.