Tomato Days

Somehow we've made it to the latter part of the summer, even though the days have seemed to run together ever since March. The seasons march on, the grapes are ripening, and we have been inundated by the harvest of another favorite "fruit": fresh tomatoes.

While we don't garden ourselves (other than what Carl calls his one-perennial garden of grapes), we still have the pleasure of receiving a bounty of fresh vegetables from others. This meant that, this past week, our fruit bowl was overflowing with at least five different varieties of fresh tomatoes.

 This meant that it was time to get creative in the kitchen, not letting one single little tomato go to waste. We have to store up on fresh flavors, remembering the long months down the road when grocery store tomatoes don't hold even a fraction of this flavor.

Here are some of my favorite go-to fresh tomato recipes:

Caprese Salad Skewers: A great way to start a festive summer feast, easy to make ahead and customize.

​Wine suggestion: Pinot Grigio.

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Fresh Tomato Ricotta Lasagna: Making your own ricotta cheese means adding an extra hour and a half of time to make this entrée, but it's so easy and the payoff is so great that it really makes this dish sing.

​Wine suggestion: Cadenza Vineyards Chardonnay

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Garden Tomato Soup: Roasting large sections of fresh tomatoes is very satisfying and gives this soup a really nice depth of flavor.

​Wine suggestion: Sauvignon Blanc

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Roasted Tomato Pasta: Easy to make and serve.


Wine suggestion: Cabernet Franc

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Tangy Tomatoes: This fresh and simple tomato salad gets its zing from a healthy splash of fresh lemon juice and lemon zest, as well as fresh dill.


Wine suggestion: Gewürztraminer/Traminette

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