The Table

Annika planted her first tomatoes this year, and they're doing remarkably well for toddler horticulture.  We've got a few dozen cherry toms, and a small collection of slicers that are full sized and green.  Unfortunately, we're going out of town later this week and will miss them completley.

Had anyone every pickled green tomatoes?  I fell in love with them a few years back, and it seems like the only way to make something out of her first harvest that is still recognizable.  I've made some small scale cucumber/carrot/radish pickles before, but not full deli-style.  Anyone have general or specific pickling advice, or some crazy specific All Pickles blog?

I'm also open to other suggestions on what to do with them.  Frying cherry tomatoes seemed problematic on a number of levels, not the least is getting the toddler to try them.

--andrew

A little olive oil, salt and pepper, and a few minutes under the broiler or in a foil pack on the grill with the cherry tomato crop = tasty goodness.  our toddler likes hers raw, but has also eaten the broiled/grilled variety.

I've never pickled them because that would mean not frying them.

Can you give me some reference point about wether frying is suitable for 1-2 cu in. cherry tomatoes?

--andrew

It is not.  Or, rather, it will be difficult because so much of it is water/jelly.  I was referring to the green tomatoes.  But now that you mention it, I think it would be a fine idea to make a small incision in the grape tomatoes, and replace the jelly with a soft cheese, and then egg bread and fry those.  A truly fine idea.

O, I had a party a few years ago where I sliced grape tomatoes in half, removed the pulp from one side and replaced with goat cheese, and then wrapped the two halves in a strip of fried salami before fixing closed with a toothpick.  They were heavenly.

The other thing I have done with grape tomatoes which is wonderful is to halve them, toss in olive oil, sprinkle with coarse sea salt, and roast on 450 for 10 minutes or till they start smelling nice.  Then I took them out and tossed with chopped fresh basil.  Yum.

Holy cow, I know what I'm doing for dinner tonight. Suddenly ravenous.

OM NOM NOM NOM NOM

Roasted cherry tomatoes are one of my absolutely favourite things in the world. If I'm having a barbecue, I like to roast and pulp some cherry tomatoes in preference to ketchup. They're also amazing on a bacon and Brie sandwich. I'd actually have thought that cherry tomatoes have a lower water content than other tomatoes, because they're so dense.

I have thought the same; it makes them less well-suited for some things, because they're not tomato-mushy enough.

Still, I was referring to green tomatoes.  Regular tomatoes are not going to fry any better.