baked red tomatoes

[flummoxicated]

I went a little nuts with the tomato plants this year. Well, I only planted three, but considering my spouse doesn't often eat tomatoes and tomatoes grow with amazing ease in my front yard, three was perhaps a bit excessive. And really, there's only so many BLT sandwiches I can eat. So with the first batch from the plants I made a simple salsa when we had a few friends over for Labor Day - just tomato bits, onion, cilantro, salt and pepper. I was happy with the results. But then tomato production went off the scale. What to do? I don't think you can freeze them. The solution that ultimately came to me? Tomato sauce, specifically Alton Brown's recipe. Wow, so good I ate a small bowl with no pasta! Baking the tomatoes really brought out the sweetness. And Jeff even had high praise for the results, which made me feel extra good because, as I said, he's not really a fan of the fruit - tomatoes are fruits, right? I never took botany.

(Hey, can you pretend that the pot is all clean up in that second picture? Those fancy cooking magazines make everything look perfect, as if cooking wasn't a somewhat messy process.)

Home grown and cooked. I'm ready for survival in the event of complete socio-economic collapse! :)