I don’t remember a year where our tomato season has lasted so long. It’s mid October, and we’re still getting tomatoes!
I stopped by our favorite local tomato supplier, a family that just has a great garden and sells their tomatoes out of their barn. There were tons of Roma tomatoes, so I loaded up a bag of them, along with some other tomatoes for sandwiches, etc. I’d been thinking of drying some tomatoes in the oven by roasting them, but realized that was just silly. I had to smoke them!
I just cleaned them and cut them in half, laying them out on a baking sheet on parchment paper. I drizzled olive oil on the tomato halves, and put the baking sheet on the Big Green Egg at about 225 degrees F.
I didn’t really want them dried out, so I smoked them for about 1 1/2 hours, just to soften them and get some good smokiness in them.
My wife and I both tried a tomato half, and we found that they’re too smoky on their own. However, they’ll make a great ingredient in other things. To try this out, I grilled some burgers and bacon on the BGE and sauteed some onion in balsamic vinegar.
I took some mayo and added a chopped up tomato half. Man o’ man, was this good stuff!
It’s going to be interesting finding how to use these tomatoes. I’m going to portion them out and vacuum pack them to put in the freezer, then I can use them whenever I want.
Any ideas on using smoked tomatoes?
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YUMMMMMMMMMM. This looks awesome.
Yet another note: I shipped the cookies yesterday, you should get them today or tomorrow. Long story short, I wasn’t allowed (Mr.T said NO) to send you cookies from the bakery (I think Mr.T just wanted to eat them) so he made me stop by our local Walgreens to purchase the individually wrapped cookies. So I did, and they are enroute (promise this time).
SO enjoy.
Meanwhile I will drool all over the tomato-mayo and the burger (if I imagine it’s a turkey burger) - and I’ll be thinking about smoky tomatoes in EVERYTHING … is there really a limit to what you could do with those?
Melissa, no worries at all; we just appreciate the thought. I actually prefer the ones from Walgreens. We’ll just have another place to stop by in Pittsburgh next time we’re there to get them right from the baker!
and with the tomatoes… I think the uses are going to be pretty extensive. The mayo itself is pretty incredible. While they’re a bit too much on their own, they’ll be like putting sweet tomato smoke bombs in other dishes!
i think they would be great for pizza…spinach, chicken, artichoke and diced smoked tomatoes would be great, no sauce just a little olive oil on the dough and a lite sprinkle of some good mozzarella
Steve, pizza would be one of the ways to use these best, I agree. A really nice, smoky pizza.
Nice twist to the ‘ordinary’ semidried tomatoes. How about a tomatosoup made from them? Also they might be really good on some fresh homemade pasta, with some basil.
Lars, I’m thinking of trying this with less smoke and leaving the tomatoes on longer, to really dry them.
The soup might be really good, though I think I’d use these for only maybe 1/4 of the total, so the soup wouldn’t be over-smoked.
I would definately go for a smokey, warm salsa. These would be perfect for it!
Katie, that would be a good salsa… With chipotles!
I don’t know if you make hummus but they would be great added into traditional hummus. I made some with sun-dried tomatoes and it was out of this world. Our tomatoes are finished here but I can’t wait till next year to try this.
DiElla, hummus is a great use of this; I should have thought of that already!
One of the nice things about Romas is that you can sometimes get decent ones at the grocery, too.
Oh, putting them mayo is such a good idea! As is freezing them to be enjoyed all year long.
The tomatoes worked well in pasta sauce, too, but I think the mayo has been my favorite so far.