Thursday, June 05, 2014

BEEFING UP TOMATOES.

We ate raw Beefsteak tomatoes tonight.  I think it might be the first time I have eaten a whole one, a whole one the size this one was. The other one I bought was a bit larger, I gave that one to hubby.

I 'cored' both of the tomatoes with my apple corer. It was a much smoother operation than easing out the centre of an apple. I chopped up the firm centres and mixed the bits of tomato into half a pot - about 80gms of Mascarpone, (a creamy Italian spreading cheese) then added a generous shake of sweet chili to the filling for those red firm fleshed globes. Each tomato was placed in the centre of a plate laid with air cured meat.  A few pieces of multi-coloured sweet peppers provided a decorative garnish.




 It seemed to me, having tested in the time honoured way,  my two Avocado Pears,  they would soon be well past their best and should be used. I didn't fancy preparing over-ripe, mushy, Avocados; they need to be done over a sink with sleeves rolled up above the elbows, if, they prove worth saving! 


 The coarsely prepared home-made Guacamole satisfyingly plopped  into a rustic serving bowl and sat tantalisingly in the centre of the table waiting to be dipped into with fresh pretzels. It's much more interesting to break dipper bits off a pretzel, than use bread sticks, or tortilla chips.



Tonight, we both discovered what the 'Beef' meant in Beef steak Tomatoes.  Hubby decided on putting some of the air cured meat into the nearest thing to a doggy bag, he got a portion of mine as well. We also have much of the Guacamole dip saved in an airtight container in the fridge. We felt as stuffed as the tomato had been.

Lesson: I reckon a raw beefsteak tomato can hold its own with a bit of vinaigrette and sprinkled fresh chopped herbs.  It might be easier to cook a very large one, perhaps stuffed with  some type of grain.  In both instances, we can in future, share a generously proportioned Beefsteak Tomato between the two of us.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like the punning title!

I've never tried eating a whole beefsteak tom but am willing to take your word for it - an important addition to the information bank of this tomatophile.

Anonymous said...

I'm not keen on big tomatoes like these so I grow and eat small ones.
Flighty xx

Snowbird said...

Oh....you have me pining for a beefsteak tomato now, they are so versatile aren't they, I'm trying to grow some this year....fingers crossed!xxx

ZACL said...

Hi Gillyj,
Such a tomato lends itself to all sorts of introductions , it was absolutely a gift to use.

I like toms too, including beef ones. I hadn't realised just how much of it there is.

ZACL said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
ZACL said...

I agree Mr F, that the smaller varieties of tomato offer different sensations and flavour, depending on which varieties you go for, the environment in which they have been grown, etc. Xx

ZACL said...

Let us know Snowbird, how your beef tomato growing enterprise pans out. I think they are an interesting variety.
Xx

Anonymous said...

I don't know about the tomatoes, but I love avocados, and agree with you about the way to serve them. Hope you are getting some good ones these days. They are a little 'out of season' now, but I've seen some good ones in the market too.

ZACL said...

Hi Shimon,

I must check where the avocados come from, they are likely to be EEC I think, although, there are other possibilities.

I recently bought two rosy Pomegranates(! in June)but, they were from S.Africa. They reminded me of the Middle Eastern Ones we used to see, but they were much larger.