WELCOME TOMATOES

New Zealand Listener, Volume 26, Issue 657, 8 February 1952, Page 20

WELCOME TOMATOES

| fe ¢ OMATOES (originally called love-apples) are always welcome when’ they make their appearance each year, and no wonder, for they provide so many different dishes — from cocktails, soups and savouries to preserves, chutneys and savoury spreads, to say nothing of the ever-popular and refreshing tomato sandwich. Don’t grudge the few minutes necessary to skin the tomatoes and remove the core-it is so much more pleasant to have a sandwich without these; and have you tried sprinkling a little very finely chopped mint over the tomato, and a. pinch ‘of sugar as well as salt? I’ve lately heard of sprinkling chopped ginger over, too, especially with brown bread. In recipes for stuffed tomatoes, which say "scoop out the pulp," always incorporate this in the filling, never waste it. Tomato Souffle Pour boiling water over 1 Ib. tomatoes and they will skin easily, Pour sufficient boiling milk over a fairly thick slice of bread for it to be absorbed. Add pepper, salt, chopped parsley and finely cut bacon or ham. Beat all the above ingredients, including. tomato, _ till smooth. Then add 2 beaten yolks of @igs, mixing well, and lastly the 2 whites beaten to a stiff froth. Fold these in, rather than beat. Place in buttered piedish, and bake about 20 minutes in hot oven. Serve immediately. Watch the centre of the souffle, and if that is well set, it is usually done. Tomato-Fish Cups Scoop out pulp from large firm tomatoes after cutting off a > me from the stalk end. Mix this pulp with cold cooked fish, flaked finely, and some soft breadcrumbs, a little chopped parsley, pepper and salt and bind with a beaten | egg or milk. Fill tomato shells with this mixture, piling it high, and press a dab of butter into middle of each. Cover each with a half rasher of bacon, arrange in buttered casserole, and bake in moderate oven till cooked and bacon nicely crisp. Eggs Baked in. Tomatoes Skin some large tomatoes and cut tops off. Scoop out pulp, and sprinkle inside with a. little salt and a suspicion of sugar. Put 1 dessertspoon grated cheese in each, and place in baking dish in hot oven for about 10 minutes. Then break 1 egg into each tomato, dot with butter, sprinkle the pulp over, and return to -oven till white has set. Serve on rounds ‘of well-buttered toast, and a little fish in white sauce, and slices of cucumber round each. Suitable as a luncheon or breakfast dish. Tomato Rarebit Half a cup soft breadcrumbs, ¥% Ib. grated cheese, 1 cup strained tomatoes, 14 teaspoon salt, ¥g teaspoon of pepper. toast or crackers. Place all in a saucepan, cook until smooth, stirring constantly and serve at once on the hot toast. Kentish Stuffed Tomatoes Six tomatoes, 1 hard-boiled egg, 1 or 2 tablespoons chopped cucumber, 2 cold boiled new potatoes, 2 tablespoons cooked péas, and about 1 tablespoon

mayonnaise. Wipe the tomatoes and cut slice off tops. Scoop out pulp. Cut potatoes into neat dice, mince egg, and mix these with the peas, pulp, cucumber and mayonnaise. Pile high in tomato-cups, and arrange in entree-dish, lined with a green salad, or sit each tomato in a lettuce leaf, and put a spoonful of minced ham or tongue on top of each. ; Tomato Savoury Butter well a casserole, sides as well as bottom, and cover with fresh breadcrumbs. Then put a layer of sliced’ tomatoes, cover with a layer of sliced apples, and then a good sprinkling of grated onion. Pepper and salt to taste. Repeat the 3 layers, until dish is full, finishing

with a layer of tomatoes. Cover all thickly with more breadcrumbs and dot all over with dabs of butter. Bake in moderate oven about an hour. Vary by putting a layer of thin slices of cheese in middle of dish; and layer of rashers of bacon over top instead of butter, Stuffed Tomatoes * % Cut a slice off top of tomato, and scoop out. most of pulp. Sprinkle inside with pepper and salt. Mix pulp with celery, chives, parsley, and mint, all finely chopped. If no chives, use a little spring onion. Add a little mayonnaise to bind all together, and pack the tomato cases with the mixture, piling high. Across: the top arrange crosswise four strips of cooked fish, or cheese.or meat, or a hardboiled egg cut into 4, longways. Arrange slices of cucumber around the tomato, the whole being placed on a fresh we tuce leaf. : Date and Tomato ‘Chutney . Six pounds ripe tomatoes, 3 Ib. stoned dates, 4 large onions, 4% Ib. preserved ginger, 42 oz, cayenne pepper, 2 oz. salt, 1. 1b. brown sugar, 42-02. garlic, 4 pints vinegar. Scald and peel tomatoes, cut up. ginger, dates, garlic. and -onions, ahd place all with vinegar in a pan: -and boil gently 4 hours, ;

INK STAINS Ink stains on a woollen cardigan can be successfully removed by rubbing with a cut tomato, or tomato juice, leaving on for a little while; and then washing in soft luke-warm suds.