Ice Fish and Tomatoes

Chef Andrew

Andrew was making "fish," which is funny since he doesn't usually want to eat fish. He was "catching the ice fish" in my cold-water bath I had used to skin the tomatoes. This kept him busy for quite a while, until he decided he need to add salt and added the whole shaker. Then our cooking fun had to come to an end.

I was given a bounty of ripe tomatoes and having been trying to find new ways to preserve them this week. On Monday, I peeled and diced a bunch to freeze. I found the recipe online. Just boil the whole tomatoes for a minute and then drop them in a cold-water bath to peel them. (I was skeptical, but it really worked.) Chop and freeze. I'm hoping they stay fresh-tasting for some yummy soups this winter!

I also have a no-cook pasta sauce that is delish! And so I decided to make up a large batch of that to freeze. The sauce doesn't require peeling the tomatoes, but since I was freezing it, I decided to peel them to make sure the sauce froze well. I'll post the recipe below.

And I canned some tomato juice. Andrew is worried I'm going to make him drink the tomato juice and I assured him I wouldn't waste it on him! I'm hoping all my hard work pays off and all of this still has that fresh-from-the-vine taste in the dead of winter!

No-Cook Pasta Sauce

4 ripe raw tomatoes, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 c. olive oil

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. basil

1 tsp. oregano

couple dashes of pepper

In a food processor or blender, puree all the ingredients. Add 1 hand-chopped tomato for texture, if desired. Pour the (room temperature) sauce over a pound of hot cooked pasta and enjoy!