Tomato Tomato: Cooking Challenge #5

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Week number five, and I'm shifting them to start these on Mondays (since I seem to be constantly busy during the day on Sundays).

To reiterate the challenge:
Each week will have a different food posted, and the challenge is to prepare a dish highlighting (or at least utilizing) that food. You then take a picture, chow down, and then post it on the thread, with comments and (hopefully!) a recipe. Easy peasy! Each week will also have an "additional challenge" for the food that you can choose to acknowledge or ignore - just for fun.

Additionally, the food for the next week will be posted along with the current week, so anybody who doesn't have the ingredient on hand can put it on their shopping list.

Current Week's Food: Tomatoes!
Current Week Dates: Monday, 6/18 through Sunday, 6/24

Next Week's Food: Greens (Anything from collard to iceberg)!
Next Week's Dates: Monday, 6/25 through Saturday, 7/1

Need Inspiration? Tastespotting, Foodgawker, Nibbledish, or Photograzing may help you out!

I'm probably going to make pizzas later on this week, but on the theme, I made Ratatouille's ratatouille a couple days ago with my mother! It's got a tomato sauce base and a couple slices thrown in there, although most of the red is pepper.

Recipe from here, although the website seems to be having problems right now.

Can ketchup qualify as tomatoes? And if it does, I have a good recipe in mind...won't be super-Tomato-GO, but it has ketchup...

Originally Posted by nohika

Can ketchup qualify as tomatoes? And if it does, I have a good recipe in mind...won't be super-Tomato-GO, but it has ketchup...

Works for Reagan, works for me!

I'm just discovering these threads, and !
I will be posting here later this week, but thank you for organizing this!!

I'll post some pictures later, but I accidentally made something I can post here (didn't realize this week's ingredient was tomato)! I was having an urge for some pizza around lunchtime. Chicken and pineapple pizza to be exact. It was yummy and I used a tomato sauce recipe I found online months ago.

Oooh, I've got tomatoes that I canned last summer. We'll see if I have time to break them out for this week!

Gonna make sweet and sour chicken over rice. Sweet and sour sauce is from scratch and has ketchup in it, so there's the tomatoes. I have the sauce made but forgot to take pictures, but I'll try and make it Friday or so.

I actually posted this at a decent time this week! The past few weeks I've been posting on Saturday evening.

Here's the story: I wanted to make a BLT using toasted bread. Well, I forgot to buy bread, so I had to use the next best thing I had: flour tortillas. I was then proceeding to make a toasted wrap when I realized that everything wouldn't fit inside well enough to allow me to wrap it, so instead, I give you:

BLT Soft Tacos!!!

3 Strips Bacon
Tomato Slices
Lettuce
Mayo
Flour tortillas

Heat up the tortillas in a skillet (or microwave). Then, cook the bacon however you desire. Spread some mayo on the tortilla and top with lettuce. Place a few tomato slices and the bacon strips inside. Fold and enjoy!

The flour tortilla was a little weird for me, but it tasted great. Too bad I only had one left.

Originally Posted by TwistedRose

I actually posted this at a decent time this week! The past few weeks I've been posting on Saturday evening.

Here's the story: I wanted to make a BLT using toasted bread. Well, I forgot to buy bread, so I had to use the next best thing I had: flour tortillas. I was then proceeding to make a toasted wrap when I realized that everything wouldn't fit inside well enough to allow me to wrap it, so instead, I give you:

BLT Soft Tacos!!!

3 Strips Bacon
Tomato Slices
Lettuce
Mayo
Flour tortillas

Heat up the tortillas in a skillet (or microwave). Then, cook the bacon however you desire. Spread some mayo on the tortilla and top with lettuce. Place a few tomato slices and the bacon strips inside. Fold and enjoy!

The flour tortilla was a little weird for me, but it tasted great. Too bad I only had one left.

For some reason I woke up at 7am after going to bed at 3, I am hungry and that picture looks AMAZING right now.

It seems there's not much "interesting" to do with tomatoes.

Originally Posted by abbercadaver

It seems there's not much "interesting" to do with tomatoes.

Stuffed tomatoes! And lots of things: Ideas!

I know there are lots of "things," but I like to cook something new and challenging and different. Most of those things are quite 'normal' and I've already done things similar to them.

Though I did find this list: http://www.endlesssimmer.com/2010/08...-use-a-tomato/

Originally Posted by Emiloo4

HAH! Thank you for that, Emiloo.

I think the idea was to start with more ordinary ingredients and then move on to tougher things, right? Tomatoes are a good base to get people involved, I think.

Here's the pineapple chicken pizza I made earlier this week:


And here are the stuffed shells I made for a potluck tonight:

Originally Posted by scb44f

I think the idea was to start with more ordinary ingredients and then move on to tougher things, right? Tomatoes are a good base to get people involved, I think.

Here's the pineapple chicken pizza I made earlier this week:
And here are the stuffed shells I made for a potluck tonight:

Those shells definitely look AWESOME. And I do love me some pepperoni and pineapple pizza. I bought a whole pineapple the other day (just because it was calling for me), and I made the exact same thing!

Man i made beef manicotti last night and didn't take a picture!! Oh well....

And on that note, here is the pizza! . Now I don't feel like such a slacker. I just have to remember: any recipe is a good recipe!

ImageUploadedBySDN Mobile1340398922.915339.jpg

That looks good, abber! I used to not like pineapple at all, but then I tried it on pizza and have progressed to eating it fresh now. SO GOOD.

Also, do you have a recipe you like for crust? I usually buy crust from the store, but that's mainly because mine always come out tasting like crap.

Originally Posted by scb44f

That looks good, abber! I used to not like pineapple at all, but then I tried it on pizza and have progressed to eating it fresh now. SO GOOD.

Also, do you have a recipe you like for crust? I usually buy crust from the store, but that's mainly because mine always come out tasting like crap.

Here you go. http://allrecipes.com/recipe/quick-a...y-pizza-crust/

Or you could alway buy the canned dough. If I do that, then I roll it out EXTRA thin.

Originally Posted by scb44f

That looks good, abber! I used to not like pineapple at all, but then I tried it on pizza and have progressed to eating it fresh now. SO GOOD.

Also, do you have a recipe you like for crust? I usually buy crust from the store, but that's mainly because mine always come out tasting like crap.

My mom got the recipe for the best crust ever off a pizza pan packaging years ago. Seriously, whenever we make homemade pizza when people are over they ask for the recipe! I'll find it and post it later tonight.

Originally Posted by Ivorypolarbear

My mom got the recipe for the best crust ever off a pizza pan packaging years ago. Seriously, whenever we make homemade pizza when people are over they ask for the recipe! I'll find it and post it later tonight.

Very well, I will hold you to it. ALWAYS up for new ways to try things!

I'm up for trying both your recipes

Okay, so I had to go feed the cats (they were starving! Starving, I tell you! ) and grabbed the recipe on my way through the kitchen.

The recipe, as it appears on its folded and much-stained piece of paper:

Pizza Crust:
1 cup warm water
1 Tbs white sugar
2 1/4 tsp yeast
3 Tbs olive oil
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups flour

Rest for 10 min.
425 degrees F, 15-20 min.

Further directions, kept in my head and not on the recipe paper:
- Mix the water, yeast, and sugar together; let it sit while you preheat the oven, get out the pan and spray it, and measure the other ingredients. If it's not foamy/yeasty-smelling enough when you're done, let it sit a few more minutes.
- Add in the oil, salt, and flour. It'll probably be pretty sticky, but don't add more flour yet. Cover it and let it rise for at least 10 minutes. (Personally, I like my crust kinda fluffier, so I let it go longer.)
- When it's risen to your satisfaction, now is the time to get your hands dirty. Shape it into a nice smooth ball, adding extra flour a bit at a time as needed until it no longer clings to your hands like goo but gets nice and elastic.
- Roll and/or otherwise shape your crust as desired. (As kids, we always made individual pizzas in fun shapes. ) It does well from flat (Mom's preferred thickness) to thick (everyone else's).
- Place onto your pan and add toppings as desired, then bake. If you load up on a lot of juicy toppings or keep your crust kind of thick, it will almost always need more than 20 minutes, more like 25. Just keep checking it to see if it's done.

Edit: For 6 people in the family making their own pizzas, I think we always doubled the recipe. Some of us would eat our whole thing, some of us would have half left over for the next day.

Thanks IPB! Will try it out next pizza!

Originally Posted by abbercadaver

Thanks IPB! Will try it out next pizza!

Typing this up made me want to make pizza. But we don't have mozzerella or pizza sauce, and we just went grocery shopping this morning, and I don't want to go back....

I bring you Butter Chicken! (non-spicy thai food)

2 1/2 lbs boneless chicken thighs
1 red onion diced
3 tbsp coconut oil
6 oz can tomato paste
½ can coconut milk
½ tbsp crushed garlic
½ tsp cardamom powder
½ tsp coriander powder
1 tsp fenugreek powder
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp sea salt
4 tbsp butter

1. Cut the chicken thighs into bite size pieces and set aside.
2. In a large skillet or soup pot, heat the coconut oil over medium heat and add the diced onion and saute until translucent.
3. Turn your heat down to low and to the onion and oil mixture, add the crushed garlic, cardamom, coriander, fenugreek, and chili powder and stir well to make a paste. Add the tomato paste to the onions and spices and stir, this mixture will be very thick.
4. Turn your heat back up to medium and add the coconut milk and salt. Use a whisk to blend the tomato paste spice mixture and coconut milk together into a thick sauce. (Note: Let the can of coconut milk sit for a few days; then when you open it, use a spoon to get all of the "cream" off the top and into your sauce first. This makes the sauce taste better, and slightly thicker).
5. Bring the sauce to a simmer and add the chicken. Return the sauce and chicken to a simmer, turn down to medium low, cover and cook for approximately 15 minutes or until the chicken is done all the way through – make sure you stir occasionally during the cooking process.
6. After the chicken is cooked, add the butter and mix into the sauce until melted. Serve the chicken over veggies or rice.

The only down side to this recipe is that the spices can be kind of expensive. But once you have them, they last forever. I've been making this about once every 4-6 weeks for over a year and still haven't run out yet.

Originally Posted by katryn

I bring you Butter Chicken! (non-spicy thai food)

Katryn, that sounds (and looks) REALLLLLY spectacular. Mmm....I just ate lunch, and you're making me hungry again!

Gazpacho!

And just under the wire!

ImageUploadedBySDN Mobile1340579662.685801.jpg

Originally Posted by abbercadaver

Gazpacho!

And just under the wire!

Attachment 20157

Is that.....

BACON?!?!

Originally Posted by Emiloo4

Is that.....

BACON?!?!

Uh, yeah. Bacon goes on EVERYTHING.

However, it does make a very good addition to this cold soup. Just cut/break it and sprinkle on top....the flavors are AH-MAZING!