Tomatoes
1737 recipes found
Sabich Bowls
The traditional Israeli sandwich known as sabich features fried eggplant that’s tucked into pitas and topped with sliced hard-boiled eggs, chopped tomato-cucumber salad, pickles, tahini sauce and sometimes shredded cabbage. This weeknight recipe turns the popular sandwich into a one-bowl meal that is prepared on a sheet pan. Eggplant and chickpeas are roasted side by side; the eggplant becomes tender and creamy while the chickpeas turn golden and crispy. Canned chickpeas do double duty: Some are a part of the roast, while the remaining beans transform into a luscious, garlicky tahini sauce. The eggplant mixture is served on top of rice in this recipe, but all sorts of grains would work, including bulgur, farro and quinoa.
Eggplant Baked With Tomatoes and Ricotta Salata
I have always loved eggplant parmigiana, but the first time I tried preparing it at home, I found the standard recipe daunting: too much frying and too much cheese. I've been simplifying it ever since. This recipe is more pared-down than most. I baked the eggplants with a simple tomato, eggplant and garlic topping bolstered with fragrant herbs. I used ricotta salata, but other cheeses, including shavings of Parmigiano-Reggiano, fontina or mild pecorino, would be fine. Though the dish can be served hot from the oven, I prefer to let it cool somewhat, to let the flavors bloom. If made well in advance but not refrigerated, it can be reheated in a 300-degree oven for 20 minutes. And it makes for a handsome and delicious buffet dish.
Pasta al Pomodoro
Pomodoro, the Italian word for tomato, comes from pomo d’oro (“golden apple”), and also refers to this sauce. A good pomodoro leans into the inherently savory, umami-rich flavor of the tomatoes, so use the best ones you can find. Any combination of low-water, high-flavor tomatoes like plum, grape, cherry and Campari, cooked down to their purest essence, makes for the most vibrant result. Thin spaghetti works best here, as its airy bounciness catches the pulpy tomato sauce beautifully, but regular spaghetti would taste great, too. Add basil at the end, if you’d like, or a dusting of cheese, but a stalwart pasta al pomodoro made with peak-season tomatoes needs neither.
Country Panzanella With Watermelon Dressing
Consumed plainly or with a salt sprinkle, fresh watermelon conjures warm-weather memories. In the U.S. (primarily in the American South), master gardeners are growing heirloom (seedful) varieties: sugar baby, jubilee and Georgia rattlesnake. In Apex, N.C., Gabrielle E.W. Carter is the new steward of the property once owned by her maternal great-grandfather, where she grows herbs, tomatoes and watermelon. As a multimedia artist, she is documenting the food ways of Black families in Eastern North Carolina and preserving cooking traditions using fruits and vegetables straight from the garden. Crimson-flesh watermelon transforms the classic panzanella with a balanced sweetness. Using a coarse grater is essential in achieving a vibrant, textured dressing. Bocconcini can be substituted for feta cheese in this salad, which pairs well with festive mains like dry-rub mushrooms and spicy tamarind pork ribs.
Pasta With Fresh Tomato Sauce and Ricotta
This wonderful pasta is made with nothing more than fresh tomato sauce and good ricotta, plus a little pecorino. It’s most delicious if you keep the pasta quite al dente; use just enough sauce, no more; give it a good pinch of crushed red pepper; and season it with enough salt of course.
Lamb Chops With Green Tomatoes
Lamb chops cooked with tomatoes is traditional, but less so when the tomatoes are green. Here, unripe, green tomatoes add acidity, which works nicely with the rich gaminess of the shoulder chops. If you can’t get green tomatoes, you can make this with the half-green, half-red tomatoes, the kind that haven’t fully ripened on the vine before they need to be picked in advance of a frost. In a pinch you can even use tomatillos or bland, out-of-season supermarket tomatoes, which will add the necessary juiciness and vegetable matter to the pan if not the same complexity of flavor (a squeeze of lemon would help). In any case, make sure to taste before stirring in the honey, since the acid content of tomatoes varies widely. And if you aren’t a lamb lover but are wondering what to do with a plethora of green tomatoes, you can make this recipe with pork chops; just add a few minutes to the cooking time.
Spicy Tomato-Coconut Bisque With Shrimp and Mushrooms
A full-bodied, mildly spiced tomato soup with sweetness and depth from roasted red peppers, this is a tasty base for lightly poached shrimp or pieces of any firm white fish. The gingery, herbed mushroom gets with a citrusy lift from makrut lime leaves, ensuring this dish is packed with flavor. As a substitute, lime zest will work in a pinch. Serve over steamed rice or dig in with torn pieces from a crusty loaf of bread.
Tsaramaso Malagasy (White Bean Tomato Stew)
Jeanne Razanamaria, a cook from Madagascar, transforms three ingredients with some oil and salt into a rich dish that tastes like it has secret seasonings hidden in its depths. Her simple technique of collapsing tomatoes with sautéed red onion then simmering both with beans and their cooking liquid concentrates them into a tangy, earthy stew. She shared this recipe with Hawa Hassan for the book “In Bibi’s Kitchen,” written with Julia Turshen. It works with any dried white bean, large or small, and tastes great on its own or with steamed rice.
Fast Tomato Sauce With Anchovies
Despite their reputation, anchovies are not overpowering, at least once cooked. Used with garlic as the start of a fast pasta sauce, they dissolve almost instantly and add a mysteriously meaty complexity that makes the sauce seem as if it had simmered for hours. Tossed with linguine and arugula, they make a simple dish sophisticated. If you're feeding a crowd, it doubles or triples beautifully.
Salad-e Shirazi (Persian Cucumber, Tomato and Onion Salad)
Named for the city in southwestern Iran, salad-e Shirazi is found on practically every Iranian table at practically every meal. Think of it as an herbier, juicier, more acidic version of Greek salad, Israeli salad or Indian kachumber. It should be bright, crunchy and tart, a nice counterpoint to rich, buttery rice and unctuous stews. Toss the cucumbers, onion, herbs and tomatoes with the lime vinaigrette just before serving to preserve their crunch. In Iran, dining companions usually fight over the leftover juice at the end of a meal.
Easy Spaghetti With Meat Sauce
The secret ingredient in this ultrafast sauce based on long-cooking Bolognese is Worcestershire sauce. The vinegar, molasses and anchovies in the condiment season the ground beef mixture with salt, acid, sweetness and funk in one shot. Once the sauce has simmered, use tongs to transfer the pasta directly from the pot to the skillet, then toss in some of the starchy pasta cooking liquid for a glossy, saucy finish.
Tomato Alphabet Soup
A taste of nostalgia can be comforting. Inspired by the childhood favorite, canned tomato soup, this homemade version yields a lush and satisfying meal culled from kitchen staples. The process of separating your canned tomatoes from their juices, cooking them until caramelized and enhancing their strength with concentrated tomato paste helps develop deep roasted tomato flavor. If you can’t find alphabet pasta, any other small pasta will be delicious.
Grape Tomato ‘Quick Kimchi’
This is not a traditional kimchi, but it approximates the flavor profile, bypassing a lengthier fermentation and instead relying on vinegar. In Korea, this dish would be considered a muchim, which can refer to any number of “seasoned” or “dressed” salads or other preparations. Here, thick-skinned grape tomatoes maintain their snappy crunch, even draped in a fire-bright tangle of gochugaru, sesame oil and fish sauce. Though tomato’s natural umami flavor multiplies the longer it sits, this dish is best eaten within 24 hours. When you’re done, don’t throw out the leftover dressing at the bottom of the bowl: Tossed in that tomatoey brine, bouncy rice noodles are a dream. For a vegetarian option, swap out the fish sauce for soy sauce.
Crispy Tofu With Balsamic Tomatoes
You don’t need to fry tofu to get it crisp-edged and golden brown. Drizzling it with a mix of cornstarch and oil, then roasting it will deliver a closely crunchy approximation that won’t splatter oil across your countertop. Here, the tofu is roasted alongside balsamic-glazed cherry tomatoes, sliced garlic and red onions, all of which caramelize as they cook. Top everything with a handful of fresh herbs, then serve it over rice, quinoa or another grain for an easy, plant-based meal. Note that the recipe serves only two to three. To double it, use two sheet pans and add a few extra minutes to the cook time.
Fried Green Tomatoes With Bacon Rémoulade
Tart unripe tomatoes are the star of this dish: Tossed in a cornmeal batter, then fried in bacon fat for just a couple of minutes per side. The crisp outside yields to a soft middle, finished with a relish of pickled tomatoes and smoky-sweet bacon. Or, skip the relish, and do as our commenters suggested: Pair it with a creamy mayonnaise sauce, infused with red peppers or even sriracha.
Green Tomato Salad
Green tomatoes are either nearly impossible to find or in such abundance that farmers at the greenmarket almost give them away. This recipe was inspired by Rachael Ray, who gets green tomatoes from a wholesaler when they’re scarce or has a favorite farmer at the Union Square Greenmarket in Manhattan set some aside during the late spring and early summer when they’re abundant. You can adjust the amount of peppers to control the heat. And red tomatoes work fine if you can’t find green ones.
Simple Tomato Sauce
This simple, savory sauce is rich with tomato flavor. A few basil stems — or whatever herbs you’ve got on hand — add a welcome aromatic note, and a little zip with a blender or food mill leave it with a smooth, silky texture. Use in lasagna, pasta, pizza, or anywhere else you’d use a jar of store-bought marinara.
Quick Tomato Soup With Grilled Cheese
When done well, this age-old combination can be exactly what you want. Here, the cooking is as easy as the eating: While you get the soup started in a pot with a can of tomatoes and little more than onion and butter (in the style of Marcella Hazan’s famous tomato sauce), you assemble and pan-fry the sandwiches. The particular joy of these lies in their soft, quiet flavors: A thin layer of mayonnaise spread on the inside of the bread heats with the mozzarella, a mild cheese that lets you taste the bread and butter as they are. With a filling this rich and gooey, you want a delicate sweet enriched loaf like brioche or milk bread.
Cherry Tomato Caesar Salad
Whether the tomatoes deserve it or not, I make some version of a tomato Caesar salad every summer. Here, I inverted the usual proportions of lettuce to tomatoes, favoring the tomatoes. It was the juiciest of Caesars, and pretty, too, dotted with anchovies and curls of Parmesan.
Green Tomato Frittata
This is an adaptation of a recipe I came across in “The Savory Way,” by Deborah Madison. The acidic green tomatoes are nicely balanced by the neutral flavor of the eggs.
Green Tomato Chowchow
Here is a chunky relish of cabbage and bell pepper commonly served in the South with salty cold cuts and meats. It couldn’t be simpler: simmer chopped vegetables for 15 minutes in a spiced brine — we use judicious amounts of clove, allspice, cinnamon and toasted coriander — and pack into jars. We tip the balance more toward green tomato than cabbage when green tomatoes are available because we love the tomatillo-like flavor of a green tomato — a near-apple flavor, but without the sweetness. It’s a delicious substitute for any relish you would spread over a hot dog or a burger, but we take it in other directions, too. Mixed one-to-one with good mayonnaise, green tomato chowchow makes the perfect dressing for coleslaw. Sometimes we’ll strain out the brine before we add the mayonnaise to make a killer tartar sauce. Or if we’re feeling indulgent, we’ll drain the chowchow, toss it with squid or small bay scallops and flood it with a fruity extra virgin olive oil for easy mock-ceviche.
Tomato and White Bean Soup With Lots of Garlic
This recipe makes the most out of just a handful of pantry ingredients, like canned white beans, a can of tomatoes and a full head of garlic. The soup owes its surprisingly rich and complex flavor to how the garlic is cooked: By smashing the cloves, you end up with different sizes and pieces of garlic. These cook irregularly, which means you’ll taste the full range of garlic’s flavors, from sweet and nutty to almost a little spicy. Simmer the lightly browned garlic with white beans and tomatoes, then blend, and you have a creamy, cozy soup that’s endlessly adaptable: Add aromatics to the simmering pot, or make it spicy with harissa, smoked paprika or chipotle. Top with pesto, croutons, cheese, cooked grains, greens or a fried egg.
Mediterranean Lentil Salad
Here’s a summery lentil salad topped with tomatoes, roasted peppers and feta, garnished with hard-cooked eggs, anchovy fillets and good canned tuna. Studded with olives and sprinkled with oregano, it’s a sort-of niçoise salad by way of Greece, an easy main course suitable for a picnic or a no-fuss make-ahead supper.
Pasta and Lentils (Pasta e Lenticchie)
This classic Neapolitan dish’s heartiness comes from cooking pasta with lentils so that the starches thicken the liquid into something creamier and richer than a basic lentil soup. There are many versions of this peasant food, including ones with pancetta, carrots, parsley or Parmesan rinds; some also use a hodgepodge of pasta shapes from half-empty boxes — it’s a true pantry meal. Brown lentils will fall apart more quickly than green, but they’ll create a luscious sauce either way. Stir the pasta often, especially towards the end of cooking, and add more water if the pot is dry (the sauce will thicken as it cools). Leftovers will keep for up to 3 days refrigerated; warm over low heat and add water to loosen.