Post by murrayc on Jul 12, 2017 7:08:05 GMT
The following is from an email from the wonderful Franchi's Seeds of Italy. I can certainly recommend the quality of the seeds and of the other merchandise they sell, but I copy it here as an example of the great enthusiasm Paolo Arrigo, the owner and entrepreneur, brings to everything they do. If you ever have to query anything sent to you by Franchi's you can be sure of getting a personal reply from Paolo, just as warm and direct as this.
The first thing to remember is choose the right varieties. Forget 'standard' varieties for cooking with - moneymaker, sungold, gardeners delight, alicante, shirley, ok eating tomatoes, found globally, pants for cooking as they are wet, acidy, thick skin and have big gelatinous seed pouches.
Plum tomatoes (paste tomatoes in USA), real plum tomatoes from San Marzano near Naples have the perfect characteristics for cooking - dry, meaty, thin skin,few seeds.
So once you have your tomatoes, what can you do with them? First of all you can make.
Fried Green Tomatoes - Not just the name of a (great) movie, but a really great dish too and one that is just not appreciated much in the UK. Simply cut the unripe tomatoes into the largest slices possible about the thickness of a finger. Get the pan hot with a little olive oil and tomatoes in, good pinch of our Ariosto seasoning for tomatoes or our Borghini Basil Salt from Tuscany. Once coloured on the downside, flip and serve. They shouldn't be served mushy so don't over cook them, literally coloured on once side, tossed, sizzled and served with good bread.
Tinned tomatoes - What could be better for a good fry up (other than fried toms) than your own tinned tomatoes. Whilst the Americans do called it canning, obviously uinless you have the gear, you can bottle your tomatoes easily. My nonna would cut a cross in the base of each tomato first before pouring boiling water over the whole lot and leaving for two mins. Then wear the cross was, simply peel that skin off.
Pop the tomatoes in your sterilized jars, pour boiling water over them and remove the skins. Place into Bormioli Quattro Stagioni jars with a couple of tsp of salt, a tsp of sugar and a squirt of lemon juice, fresh lemon please.....! I would add a drizzle of olive oil often, basil sometimes. Pour some boiling water over some tomato puree', mix and pour some over your tomatoes.
How to hermetically seal a jar - Always sterlise your jar and don't forget to do the lid too. Bormioli Quattro Stagioni lids come already hermetically sealed and clean for use straight from the packet. Once filled to the start of the neck and not all the way to the top of the jar or bottle, simply put the lid on hand tight, place jars into a deep saucepan with cold water (always cold jars into cold water!), place a tea towel in between and bring to a rolling boil and simmer for 20 mins. Turn the gas off and then allow to cool before removing the jars from the water and store in the larder or a cool dark airy place.
Passata - Now we're talking. THIS is what growing San Marzano tomatoes is all about. Passata is NOT liquidized tomatoes nor passed through a mouli both of which will be cloudy and bitty. It should be velvet. You could do it the traditional way and dip the toms in boiling water, removing the skins and passing them (passata) through a seive, the seive blocking all the time. Or you could get one of our passta machines which will process about 50kg of tomatoes per hour. Simply fix it using the large sucker to a work top, put the tomatoes in the hopper, turn the handle, the passata comes out one side, the dry skin and pips the other. Order yours now in two sizes regular and large (the larger one has a larger hopper and can process more easily.
grow@italianingredients.com
www.seedsofitaly.com
How to preserve your tomatoes, Italian style
The first thing to remember is choose the right varieties. Forget 'standard' varieties for cooking with - moneymaker, sungold, gardeners delight, alicante, shirley, ok eating tomatoes, found globally, pants for cooking as they are wet, acidy, thick skin and have big gelatinous seed pouches.
Plum tomatoes (paste tomatoes in USA), real plum tomatoes from San Marzano near Naples have the perfect characteristics for cooking - dry, meaty, thin skin,few seeds.
So once you have your tomatoes, what can you do with them? First of all you can make.
Fried Green Tomatoes - Not just the name of a (great) movie, but a really great dish too and one that is just not appreciated much in the UK. Simply cut the unripe tomatoes into the largest slices possible about the thickness of a finger. Get the pan hot with a little olive oil and tomatoes in, good pinch of our Ariosto seasoning for tomatoes or our Borghini Basil Salt from Tuscany. Once coloured on the downside, flip and serve. They shouldn't be served mushy so don't over cook them, literally coloured on once side, tossed, sizzled and served with good bread.
Tinned tomatoes - What could be better for a good fry up (other than fried toms) than your own tinned tomatoes. Whilst the Americans do called it canning, obviously uinless you have the gear, you can bottle your tomatoes easily. My nonna would cut a cross in the base of each tomato first before pouring boiling water over the whole lot and leaving for two mins. Then wear the cross was, simply peel that skin off.
Pop the tomatoes in your sterilized jars, pour boiling water over them and remove the skins. Place into Bormioli Quattro Stagioni jars with a couple of tsp of salt, a tsp of sugar and a squirt of lemon juice, fresh lemon please.....! I would add a drizzle of olive oil often, basil sometimes. Pour some boiling water over some tomato puree', mix and pour some over your tomatoes.
How to hermetically seal a jar - Always sterlise your jar and don't forget to do the lid too. Bormioli Quattro Stagioni lids come already hermetically sealed and clean for use straight from the packet. Once filled to the start of the neck and not all the way to the top of the jar or bottle, simply put the lid on hand tight, place jars into a deep saucepan with cold water (always cold jars into cold water!), place a tea towel in between and bring to a rolling boil and simmer for 20 mins. Turn the gas off and then allow to cool before removing the jars from the water and store in the larder or a cool dark airy place.
Passata - Now we're talking. THIS is what growing San Marzano tomatoes is all about. Passata is NOT liquidized tomatoes nor passed through a mouli both of which will be cloudy and bitty. It should be velvet. You could do it the traditional way and dip the toms in boiling water, removing the skins and passing them (passata) through a seive, the seive blocking all the time. Or you could get one of our passta machines which will process about 50kg of tomatoes per hour. Simply fix it using the large sucker to a work top, put the tomatoes in the hopper, turn the handle, the passata comes out one side, the dry skin and pips the other. Order yours now in two sizes regular and large (the larger one has a larger hopper and can process more easily.
grow@italianingredients.com
www.seedsofitaly.com