Every once in a while we want to include some basic cooking skills; just in case you don’t already know. Some recent recipe recently called for peeled tomatoes and I thought I would share the technique. Why bother? Well sometimes you don’t want to chomp on the skin; like in a delicate salad, a refined bruschetta or silky tomato sauce. The technique: bring a pot of water to a boil. I like to take the core out first using a strawberry huller. I think it makes it easier to peel. Drop the hulled tomatoes in the boiling water for 10-30 seconds, depending on how thick the skin is.
You will see the skin begin to split. Pull out with a slotted spoon and immediately put in ice water or under cold dripping faucet.
The skin should easily come off in your hands.
Then you need to decide if you need the seeds or don’t want them. If you don’t want them, cut the tomatoes in half and slip your fingers under the seed packet and pull it out. If there is a pale vein in the middle take that out too. So you should be left with a filet of tomato. Then chop coarsely or proceed with whatever your purpose is. Bruschetta with basil, garlic and olive oil is hard to beat! If you want to save your fresh tomatoes to enjoy all year, try canning them. These are also great on grilled pizza; look out for that later this week!!
Mary
