Tiny organic tomatoes hitch a ride safely home from La Diva's South Beach garden in a fallen coconut husk.
Darlings! I just adore tiny tomatoes! And there is so much choice now, they come as grape tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, yellow pear tomatoes, and in vibrant colors including green, purple and PINK!
La Diva never liked any tomatoes at all but eating them freshly cut, salted and then liberally doused with divine, green fruity olive oil after buying them from a roadside farmstand in Michigan, changed all of that.
Don't get me wrong, darlings, La Diva DOES love her full size tomatoes. But I've bought organic tomatoes that are imported and out of season in Florida that look perfectly red and ripe on the outside only to find them white and mealy on the inside.
So very disappointing.
Unlike the larger varieties, especially the heirlooms, mini tomatoes tend to not get bruised and mushy, retain their shape, flavor and juiciness and will pop pleasantly in your mouth even a week after purchase.
For that reason, I tend to buy a lot of baby tomatoes. Check out how versatile they are!
Grape tomatoes are a key component with these Mediterranean salad skewers. Salad on a skewer is picnic perfect!
Another benefit to buying baby tomatoes, is that if they start to shrivel, you can always cook them and they will be just fine! Pop 'em in a pan to roast, saute them on the stove or put 'em in pasta!
I love roasted baby tomatoes! Sweet and plump, they are a savory and tasty topping to this fennel gratin with thyme. More roasted tomato recipes HERE.
Sauteing tomatoes can make for a quick, flavor enhancing addition to a variety of dinners! Lemony asparagus sits atop a seared mahi mahi filet and wild rice from Wisconsin.
Click HERE for a smoky flank steak and roasted tomato salad with buttermilk dressing recipe!
Don't like the seeds or skin of a gushy little tomato? Easy peasy, just make a quick tomato and garlic sauce and strain for a silky tomato coulis!
Click HERE for the recipe and method!
Of course, the obvious way to enjoy baby tomatoes is to simply have them in a salad! Here's my refreshing green papaya salad, the recipe is HERE.
Why just have tomatoes on the salad when you can have them as dressing for the salad? Here La Diva has sauteed cherry tomatoes and simply processed them into a puree. I then emulsified it with extra virgin olive oil, a dash of white Italian vinegar and seasoned simply with salt and pepper.
This dressing is the perfect sauce for grilled chicken, red peppers and zucchini with goat cheese and pine nuts over baby arugula. The dressing adds piquant flavors with a nod to Italy.
Darlings, do you love little tomatoes? DO tell me how you like to enjoy them! Ciao for now!
Oh wow. You make teeny tiny tomatoes so much fun!
ReplyDeleteAnd such great recipe ideas. I hadn't thought about salad skewers, but that's such a great idea with mozzarella pearls!
Mwah darling!
I wish I could love these little beauties, but I've never really been able to enjoy them. Why? I have no idea. In general, all tomatoes kind of do nothing for me, but I have to say YOU always have a way of making things look fabulous. Like the first photo. Wow. Those skewers look G O O D. But you know how I am with most vegetables.....
ReplyDeleteNice to see a post from you!
"pop pleasantly in your mouth", mmmmmm....I am going to drift off into day dreaming for the rest of the work day. XO
ReplyDeleteCome see me love.
I'm wild for them, especially since they're the only kinds that do well here in San Francisco. It's too chilly for the big boys.
ReplyDeleteI like fresh boiled corn scraped off the cob, coarsely chopped basil and tomatoes tossed with a sweet vinagrette.
Mmmm....
ReplyDeleteJust sayin'.
Love those tiny tomatoes. I have a garden full of them, amazing.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite way of eating them is tossing them in a good olive oil with sea salt, and ground pepper, and pop them into he oven to roast. Delicious.
Velva
Thanks so much for all the "little tomato" tips and recipes, La Diva! We're once again home-growing organic grape tomatoes for the first time in many years.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, other than in cold salads, I had absolutely no idea what we were going to do with what is already becoming a very very abundant harvest. We stopped growing grape and cherry tomatoes (only growing regular size tomatoes) for about ten years now. We'd get such a huge quantity (in the hundreds) off just a few plants. The point is always reached in late summer where we look at each other and say "O.K., now what are we going to do with all these little guys?"
Problem solved by La Diva, of course!
Now, we have plenty of recipes and ideas and will most likely try each and every one!
Hmm....I think we'll start with that skewer, or maybe the flank steak, or....
Thanks again!