Tomato Fever: Ideas to Help Avoid Drowning in Red Succulence

When I got home from vacation, my vegetable garden was bursting with its first bounty of ripe tomatoes. I should have thought, "Oh yay, the first tomatoes of the season! What exciting dish can I use them in?!" Instead, my reaction was: "Oh crap, what am I going to do with these tomatoes?"

I love growing tomatoes. There is a huge difference between homegrown tomatoes and what you can get at the market. There's a certain zing the homegrown ones have that just can't be duplicated (or described very well, for that matter). Not to mention the fact that grocery store tomatoes are most often bred to be blemish-free and hold together longer as opposed to being bred for optimum taste or texture. The best-tasting tomatoes aren't always the most beautiful but, dang, are they good.

With tomatoes as one of the most popular vegetables (fruit, whatever) to grow in home gardens and prices at the local farmers market likely dropping because more and more are now coming into season, it makes sense to have an arsenal of tomato dishes at your disposal. My first batch of tomatoes went into a dish that surprised me, one introduced to me by my father-in-law just last week. Tomato Pudding is a dish his mother used to make him for dinner—one that, to me, recalls generations of yore. His mother's recipe only contained four ingredients, but I added a few more when modernizing it, while still making sure it retained its original charm and simplicity.

First, start with the bread. You'll want a crusty white bread with a dense interior. I picked up a nice artisan bread from Eden Gourmet to use. Cube four and a half to five cups of bread (with crust) and throw it in the food processor in batches. You don't want the bread to be too fine, just pulse it a couple times to get the pieces to a size that would have been too much of a pain to cut yourself. The bread will expand, so you don't want the pieces to be too big, but you don't want bread crumbs either. Rub a 8x8 square glass casserole dish with butter and dump in the bread. Set it aside.

Next, you'll need six cups of cut tomatoes. Stick them in the food processor and puree the heck out of them. Dump that into a saute pan over medium heat and add a half to two-thirds cup brown sugar (to taste), and half teaspoons of salt, cumin, Chinese ginger, smoked paprika and ground thyme. Heat the mixture almost to the boiling point. Pour four tablespoons melted butter over the bread, followed by the tomato mixture. Cover the dish with foil and bake for 30 minutes at 375 degrees. Remove the foil during the last few minutes of cooking. Spoon out and serve as a different and delicious side dish with dinner.

Other Ideas for Tomato Usage:

1. Make a large batch of tomato sauce and freeze what you don't use. Fill 1-quart freezer bags about halfway for portions of about two cups of sauce (lay flat for freezing). Or freeze in ice cube trays and store in a freezer bag once frozen. Take out exactly as many cubes as you need.

2. Tomato soup is dreamy when served with a grilled cheese sandwich. Or serve it chilled with a dollop of crème fraîche, perfect for the August weather! If you make a very basic tomato puree as your base sauce, you can also use it to start a soup with.

3. Gazpacho is a summer mainstay and a fantastic way to use fresh tomatoes and any other fresh produce you have around. It'll taste even better when you have leftovers the next day.

4. Mix up your standard chili recipe by using fresh tomatoes instead of canned ones. For those that really like the consistency you get with canned tomatoes, you can always supplement with fresh ones and reduce the amount of canned tomatoes you use.

5. There's not much that gets me more excited than an heirloom tomato salad. A great way to take advantage of an assorted crop of tomatoes, the salad is most attractive with different shapes, sizes and colors. Add some basil and top with mozzarella or gorgonzola if you please. Finish it off with a little sea salt and balsamic vinaigrette and you have yourself an easy, mouthwatering, beautiful salad.

6. Stuffed tomatoes work wonderfully as a side dish or main course. Stuff with rice or couscous and assorted chopped vegetables. Feel free to add sausage, ground beef or other meat to make it a bit heartier.

Most importantly, be sure to enjoy fresh tomato season. It doesn't get much better than the next couple months for this delicious ingredient. Stock up, because after enjoying tomatoes in these ways, you'll be more likely to start a tomato fast come winter like I tend to do.

Ben Salmon is a former literary agent and the owner of Kitchen a la Mode: Accessories for Cooking & Entertaining in the heart of downtown South Orange. Each week, his local food column at Patch explores the food and drink scene in the area.

Know any local foodies I should feature? Drop me a line.