I Confess! I was a Tomato Thief!

Of all the foods I have eaten in my life, the Tomato is to me the most endearing and favorite fruits/vegetables of all time (I call it a fruit). I eat heirloom, regular, cherry and grape tomatoes like candy! I am a sucker for homegrown heirloom Tomatoes of any variety and this story dates back to one of my earliest memories of one of my favorite foods of all my time. It’s a long post, but I promise an amazing recipe and hopefully a funny story will come out of it!

I think I was about 7 years old; the place was Newtown, Connecticut. My parents were still together and my sister was just someone I could bully, being the big sister that I was. We lived in a beautiful converted barn (yes it was painted red and the details white!) that stood on top of a U shape dip with what seemed to be a high hill at the bottom of the street where the best friends, at the time, of me and my sister lived.

There was a little creek (if looking at our street from the north) on the left bottom side of our U street in the back woods where my father would on rare occasions take us fishing for “so called trout” with stick poles and fishing string. All we ever caught were teeny minnows (I think) and the occasional frog and salamander.

On the upper right street, the house semi across from us, I remember always seeing Red Breasted Robins eating the worms and seeds from that front yard in the early morning. The house at the top of the street (between the inbound and outbound roadway and facing the main road) always had a great garden of Rhubarb every year. I think I remember the woman gave us some of her garden feast at some point. She must have, as I do remember Rhubarb Pie and other Rhubarb tastes like eating raw Rhubarb coated with sugar!

But on the far left middle side of our U shape street, there was a family/home that had a garden I was definitely more interested in. They had a garden of TOMATOES!!!! I think I remember the family that lived there, but not too sure. I want to remember it was the family who had this baby girl Megan (2 yrs old) who when us stupid kids asked her to say “Truck” she would say “F@#K”. Us kids at the time got a huge kick out of that (Hey, it was the late 70’s)!

No matter, this was MY GARDEN. My home had great stuff to pick from like peas, blackberries, pears, mulberries, crab apples and other stuff my father and mother planted. But not like this garden down the road. This garden was a plethora of tomatoes for me.

So, in early morning and late afternoon, I would sneak into this open garden and just pick the tomatoes from the vine and eat them trying to hide myself between the stalks/vines. I do remember being sneaky about being in the garden worried that someone would catch me. I remember going to the garden and just grabbing as many tomatoes as I could and running away and then devouring them before I went home. I did know I was doing something wrong, but I just loved those Tomatoes so much!

What I most remember aside from stealing the tomatoes is really about the fact that I just grabbed a tomato from the vine, and sunk my teeth into a most glorious fruit! As a child, I could not get enough of these Tomatoes; the taste to this day, when every bite into any tomato, it is hard for me to accept as I equate my taste bud memories to what I am eating presently.

When you taste that freshly picked fruit and just bite into it, there is no comparison to what’s out in the markets today. My buds tell me I must smell the vine on the fruit first, and then when you bite in like you would a peach its sweet…It’s so hard for me to explain, as it’s such a mind game for me. I am not sure I can give the tomato the justice I want to give it from my mind…there is no need for sugar or salt to bring out the taste as it’s all so natural to just eat it raw, just like a peach.

Well, that’s my story, I did try to keep it short, and hope you all enjoyed the read, but there is the real reason I started the discussion of Tomatoes. We are coming into spring and soon summer will be upon us. Yes, Tomatoes are best in July/August, but starting in May, you can start to purchase really great homegrown tomatoes. Please buy from your local farmer and not the supermarket!

As I mentioned on my other Page "What am I Cooking Next", I was going to cook for a special occasion and I did, just this past weekend. It was my Brother In-law’s B-Day. Technically, my sister and her bo are not married, but they have been together long enough for me to say he is definitely family. Because he is family and I have no money to really give him a proper gift, my gift is cooking. So I cooked a 3 course meal that included the Ravioli I posted a few days back, Soup and a Salad. The salad story will be posted soon.

My Brother in law mentioned to me that he was given last summer’s preserved tomatoes from his mother who resides in Indiana and that gave me the idea for a nice spring soup to prepare for him. So my sister is still on her vegan diet and I did try to search for a Tomato recipe that wasn’t salad based and I really did want to make a soup. I scoured the web and my cookbooks for a chilled tomato soup that was not dairy or bread based and wasn’t gazpacho.

I will tell you all, unless you really know where to look, real unique Tomato vegan recipes are hard to find. I am sure any vegan reading this will tell me otherwise. But I wasn’t just looking vegan, but a recipe any one would enjoy overall.

So I did ultimately come across a Chilled Tomato and Avocado Soup recipe, but it did require a dairy product. So, what I ended up doing is omitting the dairy and changing things up in the recipe. This resulted in a No Cook, No Bake, No Dairy, No Bread Recipe. I will link you to the original recipe I modified greatly from…In case you want the Dairy version. But I’ve got to say, my version is so much better and healthier for you overall.

NOTE: For the Tomatoes…I had the privilege of using preserved homegrown Tomatoes, but canned will work. For canned, be sure to remove the tomatoes to a glass bowl and chill for 24 hours to remove the tininess.

Original Recipe Link (BTW-There are many links of the same recipe out there, this is just one of them.)

My Chilled Tomato and Avocado Soup-Revised and more Original.

Makes approx 8 Servings

Special Equipment: Either a large Blender or Food Processor. If you have a Medium Blender, you may have to do this in batches. Using a Handheld Stick Blender doesn't work so well, but if that's all you have, then go for it!

• 32 Ounces Whole Canned or Preserved Tomatoes with Juice
• 1 Large ripe Tomato (Beefsteak or Ugly Heirloom) or 2 Medium Hydroponic Vine Ripened Tomatoes-Roughly quartered
• 4 Ripe Avocados (2 should be quartered/sliced for the soup base)
• 1 Medium Onion-Roughly quartered
• 1 Large Red Pepper or 2 Med Red Peppers-Roughly quartered
• ½ Cup Lemon Juice (Real Lemons-No Lemon Substitutes)
• ½ Tsp Cayenne Pepper
• 1 Bunch Chives
• S & P to Taste
• Optional: Fruity or Spicy Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Preparation:

1. Add ¾ of the Canned/Preserved tomatoes (Reserve ¼ of tomatoes), Fresh Tomato, Avocado, Onion, Red Bell Pepper, and lemon juice to Blender/Processor
2. Puree until smooth.
3. Transfer Tomato and Avocado mixture to large bowl.
4. Take canned/preserved tomatoes and roughly chop keeping the pieces bites size, but not too small. Whisk in remaining canned/preserved tomatoes to Tomato and Avocado Mixture.
5. Season with cayenne, salt and pepper to taste and chill for 2 to 24 hours.
6. Garnish individual servings with remaining Avocado (Sliced), chopped chives, and optionally a drizzle of Extra Virgin Olive Oil.