for all your extra tomatoes

found it in the San Francisco Chronicle.....We cut it way down............delish
A SOUP OF LOCAL TOMAHTOES & LITTLE ELSE

This is very good garnished with hearts of romaine or escarole that have been tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper and then grilled for about 5 minutes or so (on a barbecue or in a grill pan), then chopped.

Makes 3 quarts 8 to 10 people
INGREDIENTS
8 ounces butter

7 pounds tomatoes, either Romas or Early Girls or the like (save your heirlooms for a salad)

1 cup dry red wine

1 cup water, or more as needed

Salt and pepper to taste

Leaves from 1 bunch basil, roughly chopped

Mixed aromatic herbs to equal 1 bunch (such as mint, parsley, pennyroyal), roughly chopped


INSTRUCTIONS
Melt half of the butter in a large stainless-steel pot that will accommodate the tomatoes in a double layer. Place over high heat and add the tomatoes -- don't bother to core them. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes, until the skins start to split.
Add the wine. If the tomatoes seem dry, add the water. Cover and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring now and again. The tomatoes will start to look like stewed tomatoes. If they look too dry, add more water. Continue to cook until the tomatoes collapse. Season with a generous amount of salt and pepper.

Reduce heat and add the herbs. Cook for another 10 minutes. Put the soup through a food mill or push through a large mesh sieve fine enough to remove seeds and skins.

Return the soup to the pot and place over medium heat. Cut the remaining butter into tablespoon-size pieces, then stir into the hot soup.

Yields about 3 quarts; serves 8 to 10

PER SERVING: 245 calories, 3 g protein, 15 g carbohydrate, 19 g fat (12 g saturated), 50 mg cholesterol, 216 mg sodium, 3 g fiber.

Ah, Kell, the soup sounds wonderful. I am so envious! I have no hope of harvesting a pound of tomatoes from my greenhouse, much less 7 lbs here in Alaska, but I recall the wonderful flavor of fresh tomatoes, as well as the abundance of them back in the midwest. We used to can them for winter, as whole tomatoes or juice. Of all the things I have missed, the fresh tomatoes are on the top of the list.

well that is too sad a story Weezingreens........I start buying tomatoes at my farmer's market in March, green house grown that are to die for and then the next 2 months the heirloooms start coming in. Too die for twice as fast! I stopped growing them, so easy to buy fantastic ones. I converted my veggie garden to a brugmanisa garden..(the grug forum made me do it)...... I was paying $3.99 a pound green house grown and now they are down to $1.50 for the heirlooms and $1 for the red.

Did you read how cooked tomatoes are fantastic for your health..........much more so than fresh. Odd!

Well, I'm glad that cooked tomatoes are good for my health, because tomatoes are about $1.50 lb, $2.49 for hothouse. I usually buy the Romas and leave them at room temp to ripen up for salads. I'd never think of cooking with fresh tomatoes these days.

However, I can have fresh silver or king salmon when I want it, and halibut is always an option. It's never over 60 degrees at night, even in the summer, and I never have to lock my car. I guess it's always a trade-off, isn't it.

I just had wild king salmon for dinnner along with this soup. Do you like asian flavors and differet herbs? I will email you some great sauces for salmon.

Yes, Kell, I'm up for some new recipes, and I'm interested in Asian herbs... if I can buy them or grow them here! Please send me some recipes!

This sounds very good! I'm going to keep the recipe in case frost holds off long enough for the 'maters to ripen at a faster rate.

Hi, Joan. I have about 12 green tomatoes in my greenhouse, & I'm beginning to think they'll never ripen. They're all cherry tomatoes, so maybe I'll just have fried green "silver dollar" tomatoes... like the pancake houses do!

Carol, I'm not faring much better here. I have some tomatoes set on, but they aren't very big. They need some heat, and they aren't getting it. Today it never got over 60 degrees, and now it's only 48. I'm not holding my breath here. I have gotten a few of the smaller early tomatoes here and there, but not many. We've never tried fried green tomatoes, but if the weather doesn't warm up I think we'll give them a try.

Yesterday I had a mini fit in the garden and yanked up about 6 tomato plants that didn't have many tomatoes set on and flung them across the garden. LOL! I felt better after that, so I yanked out the lettuce and spinach that was going to seed, the spent peas and what was left of the collards after the great bug attack. About all I've got left in the garden is a few beets, corn, onions, peppers, and the tomato plants I allowed to survive the rampage.

I know what you mean, Joan. I have begun cutting my losses, as well. I've had to admit to myself that it is all downhill from here, so I might as well feed the compost pile. I might be able to extend the life of my plants in the greenhouse if we re-installed the stove in there for awhile, but it just isn't cost effective, and there just isn't that much to extend.

Our summer has been strange, to say the least. We've had dry weather, but not necessarily warm. We've had nights that dip down into the forties and most of our days are in the 50's and 60's. I never even moved my zucchini outdoors. They are still in the greenhouse, and I'll be lucky to get any fruit at all. However, the cabbage is happy... those cool weather plants just love our Alaskan summers!

Oh you poor girl Joan! That sounds bleak for August! So you are not getting the horrid heat like the rest of the country?

It is bleak for August Kell, usually we still have hot weather in August, then in September it starts to cool down and our first frost is sometime mid to late Sept. If this weather doesn't straighten out, it's gonna freeze any day. I started bringing my potted brugs in the house at night.

I'm gonna hang on to that soup recipe just in case though. Sounds so good, and now that it's so cold, it sounds even better. Definitely soup weather.

I wish I could send both of you some of california's bounty! we live on farm fresh veggies all summer!