Vinegartart

 

Tomatoes should be stored at room temperature.  If you need to hurry up the ripening process in your fast paced world, then you can put the tomato in a paper bag.  This simple act traps the ethylene gases needed for further ripening.

 

I spent Sunday making more Tomato Marmalade (see previous post on how to make Tomato Marmalade) working under the theory that you can never have too much of a good thing.  This time I used only orange Opalka tomatoes.  Originally from Poland, the Opalka is one of the best heirloom paste tomatoes.  The fruit is very meaty and has less water than most tomatoes.

I made more Tomato Salsa and canned a few jars of multicoloured tomatoes.  I still have about 60 pounds of tomatoes left.  They are in good shape and still very enjoyable for fresh eating.  Today I  feel like making a salad for lunch so I am going to dress it with a tomato vinaigrette.

Tomato Vinaigrette

(Makes 1/2 cup)

Method

If you are canning tomatoes,  making salsa or marmalade save some of the juice to make this easy vinaigrette.  If  not, simply peel and seed tomatoes and squeeze over a bowl to catch the juices.  Strain out the seeds leaving only the tomato juice.  For every 1/4 cup of juice, add 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar, 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard, salt and pepper to taste.  Whisk in 1/4 cup olive oil to emulsify.

 

To this basic vinaigrette you can add fresh parsley, basil or your favourite combination of herbs.  You can add the finely chopped remains of the tomato you used to make the juice.

Next time, I am going to try to do something with all those tomatoes that will never ripen.  Unripened tomatoes rarely develop any real sweetness and can be a bit disappointing for fresh eating.  I prefer to use these tomatoes green.