FOOD FRIDAY: TOO MANY TOMATOES?

Tomato season in the NW is September/October. People forget (every year it seems) that our summers are pretty much the months of July/August/September... Our Fall can be really lovely too. That said, my garden was pathetic this year. I built a bunch of raised beds with high hopes on the S. facing side of my house a few years back, but year after year, my yield gets worse and worse with more aphids and moth eggs and slugs. I vowed NOT to do any more gardening until I get some professional advice so 5 of my 7 raised beds were sadly empty this year... with a smattering of garlic flowers and some strays from the year before... In the other 2 beds I planted tomatoes and greens (kale and chard mostly). The greens are still tiny and I'm hoping they'll take off as it gets colder, but the tomatoes, for my lack of care, did pretty ok! Below are some of my favorite things to make with "too many tomatoes". Enjoy.

Below:
Egg cooked over easy in tomato-garlic sauce with fresh basil and parmesan on toast

Recipe for one Tomato/Egg/Garlic on Toast

-slice one tomato for each egg to be cooked
-chop one or two clove of garlic per egg/tomato
-heat olive oil in a small skillet.
-add the sliced tomato and garlic.
-add S+P
-saute until the tomato breaks down and turns into a sauce - let it reduce a bit
-when the garlic is soft, make a well in the center of the tomato sauce and break an egg into the center.
-Cover and cook "sunnyside up" or flip it over-easy style
-meanwhile, toast the bread, grate some parmesan, and chop some fresh basil.
-serve on toast with parm and basil.
BEST BREAKFAST EVER (almost)

Roasted Tomato Chipotle Salsa:

Loose Recipe for Roasted Tomato Chipotle Salsa:

-thickly slice or quarter tomatoes - enough to fill a 9x13" pan (or you can do 2 pans at a time, just double this recipe)
-roughly chop one onion and peel one whole head of garlic.
-mix toms, garlic cloves and onion with generous amt of olive oil in a bowl to coat thoroughly. add S + P.
-spread on a glass dish or cookie sheet with edge. drizzle with more olive oil if necessary.
-broil in the oven, stirring every 10 minutes until there are some nice charred spots and the tomatoes break down and get saucy, about 1/2 hour to 45 min?

-MEANWHILE-

-boil a cup of water. remove from heat.
-take the stems off of 3 dried chipotle peppers and 3 dried cascabel peppers (or you can use all chipotle if you want)
-heat up a cast iron skillet and dry toast them on both sides until they smell fragrant, about a minute total.
-submerge the peppers in the hot water by putting a bowl on top or else they will float.
-after they have sit in the water for 15 minutes, pour out most of the water and blend the peppers in a blender or food processor.
-When the roasted tomato/garlic/onion is done, add this to the chile peppers and pulse/blend into a salsa.
I like to add about a tbsp of toasted and ground cumin seeds. Salt to taste. Top with freshly chopped cilantro.
Eat what you can and freeze the rest!

p.s. I'm happy to report that the lovely Clea Partridge is going to take over my garden beds for her urban CSA project! I am super excited to help, watch, and learn how to whip my garden into shape. Yay!