Forgotten Skills with...Tomatoes!

Several years ago Dominique bought a book by an Irish cook and writer called Forgotten Skills.  As suggested by the title, it's about certain lost or at least wandering aimlessly cooking arts, like canning, bread making, and pickling.

We're a little bit intimidated by this book but a week or so ago I bought a bushel of tomatoes from the Amish farmer who supplies our herd share products.  Not knowing exactly what a bushel looked like, I almost left the farm with only one of these big boxes.  Fortunately (?), someone set me straight and I took them both home with me.

Now what?  Keep in mind, I don't even really like tomatoes that much, although a sliced heirloom with fresh mozzarella and basil is wonderfully cool, juicy and delicious for a summer lunch.  And we did serve up a few this way.

For the rest, I turned to Forgotten Skills and put them up in 2 ways.  First and easiest is halving or quartering them and slow-roasting them in the oven.  Her recipe calls for 100 degrees for 5-6 hours, but my oven felt only tepid at that temperature and I cranked it to 250.  We've been serving these roasted tomatoes as a side for breakfast and our guests seem to be loving them.

Another way to dispatch lots of tomatoes is to make tomato paste.  Tomato preparation is nearly identical to roasting:  clean, core, and quarter.  Before dumping them all into a big pot, you cut a few onions and give them a little warm up in some oil.  Then you let the whole thing cook for a very long time until it's as thick as you want it to be.  Forgotten Skills calls for a food mill to mush it up but we don't have one and I thought the immersion blender did a fine job.  Our paste isn't nearly as thick as that which you get in those tiny cans but it's so flavorful and has a wonderful texture.

I made a final batch of roasted tomatoes today and about halfway through the cooking I needed to bake a loaf of banana bread for an hour so I just turned up the heat and put it in with the tomatoes.  They look ever-so-slightly burnt around the edges and drier than the previous batch.  I have a feeling they're going to be even better and more flavorful.

Mini Zucchini Quiche Recipe

I was on my own for breakfast this morning with six people to feed (including Jessie and me) and a load of zucchini.  I decided to make zucchini mini quiches and they turned out so well I thought I'd better get the recipe down before I forgot it.

6 Mini Zucchini Quiches
Make one batch of double pie crust from the Joy of Cooking.  Roll out 6 pieces and cut a circle to fit into each mini quiche plate.  Prick each crust 3-4 times with a fork.  Bake 17 min. at 370 degrees.  (That's Dom's timing and temp; I suspect 20 min. at 350 degrees would work just as well.)  Let the crusts cool.

Grate one zucchini.  Beat 3 eggs and 1 cup of milk together.  Cut up some basil leaves.  Add zucchini and a couple tablespoons of basil, plus salt and pepper.  Fill each crust.  Bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 min. (maybe longer).  Once the middle is set, add a couple tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese and put back in the oven until it melts.  Remove from oven and add a little paprika to look pretty.

I should have taken a picture but I was working pretty fast since my guests ate at two different times.  Anyway, they were great.  Obviously this recipe will work for a lot of other vegetables as well.