Sopa de Tomate (yields about 8-10 C depending on your tomatoes)

• 4 lbs tomatoes

• Balsamic vinegar

• Salt

• Parsley

• 1 oz Walnuts

• Olive oil

• Grated idiazabal cheese (or some other sharp or sheep’s milk cheese, like pecorino)

Make an X in the bottom of each tomato with the tip of a knife.  Fill a pot with enough water to cover the tomatoes.  Bring the pot of water to a simmer.  Drop in two tomatoes.  Allow them to sit in the water for about 45-60 seconds. Remove from pot and set aside. Repeat with the rest of your tomatoes.

When the tomatoes have cooled enough for you to handle comfortably, peel the skins off.  They should come off pretty easily. If not dip the tomato back into the hot water for a few seconds.

Next core the tomatoes and puree in a food processor, or food mill, or with your stick blender.

Take the pureed tomatoes and strain with a fine wire strainer. Use a spoon or rubber spatula to press liquid through the mesh. You’ll be left with the seeds and some pulp.

Add a few Tbs of balsamic vinegar, mix, and taste. Keep adding balsamic vinegar until you reach the balance which suits you. Add some salt to taste. Chill the soup. When ready to serve pour into cups or bowls and garnish with the walnut-basil "pistou" and grated cheese.

Walnut Basil ‘pistou’ In a mortar and pestle add walnuts, basil, salt and grind together. Add some olive oil and combine to make a pesto-like paste. Stir in the cheese. Taste and adjust seasonings. 

Tomato Jam (makes 2-3 8oz jars)

• 1 1/2 pounds Roma tomatoes, coarsely chopped

• 1/2 C sugar

• 2 Tbs lemon juice or apple cider vinegar

• 1/2 tsp ground coriander

• 1 tsp quatre épices (my blend is 5:1:1:1 pepper, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, ex: 5tsp pepper + 1tsp each of the rest)

• 1 tsp salt

Combine all the ingredients in a large pot or saucepan. Cook on stovetop over medium-high heat until it starts to boil, then reduce heat to simmer.

Simmer simmer simmer, reduce reduce reduce, stir, stir, stir to keep from sticking, for about 45-60 mins. or until you have a thick jammy consistency. It may take a while depending on the tomatoes. Romas are best as they are very meaty with not a lot of juiciness. Ladle into jars and store in the fridge for a couple of weeks. For longer term storage can and process with the water bath method, 20 mins simmering, then turn off burner and leave for 10 mins sitting in the water before removing.

Tomato Couscous Salad

• 2 C pearled couscous

• 3 C vegetable broth

• 2 C diced zucchini

• 1 C diced red onion/shallot

• 2-3 C cherry tomatoes, halved

• 1 C feta, crumbled

• 1-2 Tbs herbes de Provence (or basil, or thyme, or oregano)

• 1/4 C fermented tomato water (or your favorite vinegar or lemon juice)

• 2/3 C Olive oil

Bring 3 cups of vegetable broth to a boil.  Add couscous, simmer for 5 minutes, remove from heat, and cover.  Allow to sit, covered, until water is soaked up and couscous is tender.

When couscous has cooled add zucchini, onion, tomatoes, feta, and stir in to combine. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Whisk the olive oil and tomato water together, stir in the herbs.

Before serving add the vinaigrette and stir in. Adjust seasoning and serve.

Lacto-fermented Tomatoes

• 500 gr tomatoes, chopped into large chunks and slices

• 10gr kosher salt (or 2% of the weight of the tomatoes)

Add the salt to the tomatoes and toss together in a bowl. Put the tomatoes into large canning jar and weight down the tomatoes with fermentation weights if available. You can also use a ziploc bag and squeeze out the air.

Seal up the bag/jar and let it sit on the counter for 5-7 days 'burping' the bag/jar occasionally but I've never experienced a build-up of gas large enough to necessitate this.

After 5-7 days, strain the tomatoes through some cheesecloth and collect the juice. Freeze the juice.

Puree the tomato pulp and store in a container. Makes a salty, rich, tomato paste you can use in place of tomato paste or add to sauces to punch up the flavor.

Liquid all frozen? Take out and put the block in some cheesecloth and place it on a small strainer over a bowl in the back of the fridge. It’ll melt over the course of a couple days leaving behind solids but giving you all the liquid. Liquid can be used as a base for vinaigrettes, pickling brine, or wherever you may want to stir in some tomato flavor, like sautéed veg, mushrooms, etc.