Tomatoes Archives - Zest Blog

Every once in a while we come across a product worthy of sharing with you. These are things that we love to use, if you know about them, we would love to hear what you think!! San Marzano tomatoes are some of the most famous in the world. This brand is something we came across in a lovely shop in our area. Try them out for yourself!

Kelly

La Valle Tomatoes

Years ago I saw these La Valle San Marzano tomatoes on “Follow That Food”. Only thing …it was impossible to get in my area, without paying twice the cost in shipping. I finally saw these recently and bought a couple cans to see if they were really any better.

Usually I get a restaurant sized can of tomatoes at Costco (Hunt’s, I think?). I crush them by hand and remove the flower end of the tomato core. It’s good and I get a large pot of marinara out of one can.

Initial Impression:

Opened the can of La Valle tomatoes and I did notice a difference. The sauce was a rich, silky tomato puree. The broth in the other version was very watery so I’d set it aside and not add it all, so I didn’t get the sauce too watery.

The Work:

Proceeded to remove the cores and that was the second difference. The unusable part was small. When removing the cores in the Costco version, almost 25% of the can was filled with cores. In the la Valle version, there was just a little. They didn’t even fill the bottom of the can.

Cooking: I made a sort of chicken cacciatore, but no mushrooms, more of a chicken and peppers dish. (To be shared with you soon, stay posted!)

It was simple so you could taste the tomatoes. Just sautéed chicken, onions and mixed peppers and herbs. It came out fantastic. The tomatoes were sweet, silky and had a kind of earthy background flavor.

Overall, I thought they were great. Worth the money if you can afford it. If not use the Costco version and perhaps add a little tomato paste.

Mary

0 Comments/by Zest Blog

Food

Summer Shrimp

Vacationing in Aspen, we came across some beautiful Olathe sweet corn. Our Colorado corn can be really good at the end of summer. Lazy day rummaging through my hosts’ cookbook collection I found a side dish to try. Only thing was that we wanted a main dish. The recipe (from Gourmet) admonished the reader not to try to improve it . Hmmph. A challenge. What we ended up with was nothing like the original. I decided to use our favorite way to spice up something bland; marinate it in hot sauce. We didn’t have Franks Wing Sauce that day and we used an exotic Hawaiian hot sauce, though I can’t remember the name. Franks always works though. I tried it again when I got home and it was still great.
Summer Shrimp

1lb shrimp.
4 ears corn
Basil and or mint
Scallions
1-2 Large Tomatoes
Franks Wing Sauce (regular)
Butter
Salt
Pepper

Peel the shrimp if necessary. Pour ¼ c. Franks Wing Sauce in a bowl. Add shrimp. Set aside to let marinate while preparing the rest.

Remove the corn from the ears. A bundt pan helps here putting the corn in the circle and scrape down so the kernals fall into the pan.

Melt 1T butter in a frying pan, add 1T olive oil.

Drain the shrimp, leaving the residual sauce on. Saute shrimp until pink and curled, about 2 minutes. Sometimes the shrimp will exude liquid. If that happens reduce the sauce or drain again.

Remove shrimp to a plate and set aside. Melt one more Tablespoon of butter to the shrimp pan, now empty. Add corn and sauté for 2 minutes, or till warm. Add the reserved shrimp and chopped tomatoes. Pepper generously and salt with celtic salt.