It’s high season for tomatoes! For the past few weeks, we’ve received over 10 pounds of tomatoes in our CSA share, and this week was no exception. On top of that, we’ve also picked paste tomatoes and cherry tomatoes, too.
I love tomatoes, but when they all come at once, it’s a lot to manage. But over the years, I’ve figured out ways to use the tomatoes and freeze them for us to enjoy over the winter. It’s so nice to pull out a jar of homemade tomato sauce to enjoy in the dark days of winter. Here are some of my favorite recipes to enjoy today or to freeze for later.
First up is the Barefoot Contessa’s Cream of Tomato Soup. This soup is one of my favorites. Pair it with a grilled cheese or salad and it’s the perfect meal for a busy night when you’re back to school. A few tips:
- Omit the sugar. It’s just not necessary.
- If you plan to freeze the soup, omit the cream. It makes the texture of the soup weird when you defrost it. Instead, add the cream when you’re reheating it.
Last week, we picked four quarts of cherry tomatoes. That’s right. Four. Quarts. Thankfully, we also received onions and garlic so I roasted up a double batch of The Endless Meal’s Roasted Cherry Tomato Sauce. It was super easy and the house smelled amazing while the tomatoes were roasting. We prefer a smoother sauce, so I pureed it and put three jars in the freezer to eat later.
Another cherry tomato meal that was a favorite in recent weeks was Half Baked Harvest’s Cherry Tomato Pasta Alla Vodka. It was SO good! I omitted the cheese because my husband doesn’t eat it, but my daughter and I added some on our portions at the end.
I found this recipe a few years ago and it is one of my family’s favorites: Pumpkin Chili by The Real Food Dietitians. This recipe is Whole30-compliant and easy to double if you’re feeding a crowd. I’ve played around with this recipe a bit, too. Sometimes I add dark red kidney beans. Other times I’ll swap the pumpkin puree for sweet potato puree, use a blend of chili powder and chipotle chili powder, and add black beans. This time, I added black beans and a sprinkle of chipotle chili powder for a bit of smokiness. I also used fresh tomatoes instead of canned. This chili is great for game day, but it also works great in a lunchbox. In fact, it’s my daughter’s most-requested lunch!
Finally, my go-to, especially when you need to use up a lot of tomatoes quickly, is pasta arrabbiata. This spicy sauce is great fresh but equally good when you defrost, heat, and serve with your favorite pasta (we like angel hair). Here’s the recipe:
4 pounds fresh tomatoes, diced (you can use a mix of regular and cherry tomatoes if you have both on hand)
1 onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, crushed (or more to taste)
1 can tomato paste
1-2 tsp. red chili flakes (or more if you prefer your sauce a bit spicier)
extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
- Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat
- Add the onions. Saute until softened.
- Add the garlic. Saute 2 more minutes.
- Add the tomato paste, salt, pepper, and red chili flakes. Cook for 2 more minutes.
- Add the diced tomatoes and their juice. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until the tomatoes break down.
- Remove from heat and cool slightly.
- Using an immersion blender, puree the sauce until smooth. If you don’t have an immersion blender, just add to a blender or food processor and process until smooth.
Here they are! Cooling and ready for the freezer. Each jar makes about 4 servings of pasta.
I hope this post offered you some inspiration if you are receiving an abundance of tomatoes in your CSA share or if you have a bumper crop of your own. Enjoy!