Wednesday, February 11, 2015

How We Use Our Tomato Condiments

Last summer was officially known as the Tomato Condiment Summer around here.  I went on the search for the perfect ketchup recipe and ended up with a mash-up I was pretty pleased with.  I also made tomato chutney and tomato jam.  The chutney and jam were inspired by seeing a pin on Pinterest for a fried egg on a black-pepper biscuit with cheddar and tomato jam.  Really, I had to eat that.

So, after eating these condiments for a few months, I can tell you that the tomato jam is our favorite, followed closely by the tomato chutney.



I served the tomato chutney with a breakfast egg casserole, and it was amazingly perfect.  I am currently hoarding the rest of it (maybe because it's so delicious and I doubt I will have time and energy to can this summer, the Summer of the Baby? or maybe I just hoard home-canned things).

We've been eating tomato jam on egg sandwiches and cheese sandwiches with sprouts, but also, memorably, spread on savory scones (this is my scone recipe - subtract the rosemary, raisins, and sugar for savory purposes).

In the photo is a basil and manchego scone; that's actual fresh basil leaves that one of the market farmers gave me as he was bundling up a crate of basil.  I was initially stumped about what to do with the fresh basil because my taste buds and ingredients are in winter mode.


Here's also a breakfast favorite:  avocado on toast with either red pepper marmalade or tomato jam.  So simple and so delicious!



The homemade ketchup is only so-so.  My theory is that it's not sweet enough or that it needs a name change so that when we're not expecting Heinz.  I don't know: red sauce, or savory sauce, or retro something?  I really wish I had made more tomato jam than ketchup.  Now I know!
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4 comments:

  1. TammyFebruary 11, 2015 at 1:24 PM

    Mmm, sounds good! I make my ketchup every year, so we don't have to resort to Heinz. I actually prefer it to commercial ketchup. Here's my recipe: http://lovetocrochetandknit.blogspot.com/2007/08/ketchup.html

    This year I didn't thicken it enough, but otherwise I have no complaints. :)

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  2. BLD in MTFebruary 11, 2015 at 2:01 PM

    Tomato jam is in my father-in-law's top three favorite spreads. I'd never heard of it before last year when he gave me a jar. We always turn all of our tomatoes into sauce and juice. Of course, I don't eat ketchup myself. Thanks for reporting back. What an interesting canning perspective.

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  3. JanFebruary 11, 2015 at 3:11 PM

    I love anything with Tomato in the title so I'll definitely be looking at some tomato jam recipes later in the year. Jx

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  4. jenny_oFebruary 12, 2015 at 11:55 PM

    I cannot wrap my head around the idea of tomato as a jam product!

    But then, I eat a fairly monotonous diet, by most peoples' standards. As much as I wish I were an adventurous eater, I am not. Strangely, I think that's why I enjoy your food posts so much. :)

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