All hail the noble tomato
There are fewer acres of tomatoes being grown in San Benito
County than there once were, and there’s one cannery scenting the
air with a tomato soup aroma each summer, rather than the two
bustling canneries many of us grew up with.
But tomatoes remain one of summer’s most celebrated fruits.
All hail the noble tomato
There are fewer acres of tomatoes being grown in San Benito County than there once were, and there’s one cannery scenting the air with a tomato soup aroma each summer, rather than the two bustling canneries many of us grew up with.
But tomatoes remain one of summer’s most celebrated fruits.
And that remaining cannery, San Benito Foods, remains a significant force in the local economy.
I once worked at the East Street cannery, checking the temperature of just-cooked cans and monitoring them for consistent quality through the dark hours of the graveyard shift. I never got over watching streams of shiny, steaming cans whiz along on overhead tracks. And I never grew tired of the aroma.
A year earlier, I’d worked for a garlic processor, and friends and family quickly grew tired of my own aroma then.
But back to tomatoes. Sliced fresh from the garden, they’re hard to beat. Tomatoes and their relatives in the nightshade family – eggplants and peppers – are the heart of a summer garden. Together, they’re some of the most versatile vegetables available to home gardeners.
If you’re lucky enough to have too many tomatoes, who better to look to for ideas about what to do with the ultimate summer crop than San Benito Foods? Actually, I prefer canned tomatoes to fresh for much cooking. Besides a stint at the cannery, I’ve been to enough tomato trial events to know that tomatoes grown for processing are robust in flavor and high in soluble solids – the tomatoey part between the cells of seeds and the peel that cooks down into a rich sauce.
San Benito Foods is one of several canneries owned by the Neil Jones Food Company, a family business. Recipes available on the company web site (www.sanbenitofoods.com) offer ample proof that these guys know their tomatoes. Here are two samples.
Cioppino
Fish stock:
12 lbs. fish bones (including crab shell)
3 medium onions, sliced
6 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
1 c. fresh parsley sprigs
3/4 tsp. fennel seed
1 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns
3 bay leaves
15 c. water
6 c. white wine
Cioppino:
2 No. 10 cans whole peeled tomatoes in juice
20 c. fish stock
3/4 c. fresh basil, chopped
1/3 c. fresh parsley, chopped
1 tbsp. fresh rosemary or 1 tsp. dry
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 c. vegetable oil
4 tbsp. garlic, minced
3 c. onions, chopped
3 peppers, red, yellow or green, diced
4 dozen live clams
3 lbs. sea bass, halibut or red snapper
3 lbs. medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
3 medium Dungeness crabs, cleaned and broken into leg pieces with knuckles attached
For fish stock:
Combine stock ingredients in a large stockpot. Bring to a boil. Skim foam from surface. Simmer partially covered 30 minutes. Strain through cheesecloth. Discard bones and vegetables.
For cioppino:
Return stock to pot. Add tomatoes, basil, parsley and rosemary. Season to taste. Saute garlic, onions and peppers in oil. Add to cioppino base. Add clams. Simmer 10 minutes. Add fish, shrimp and crab pieces. Simmer 5 minutes and serve.
Mexican-style lasagna
1 No. 10 can spaghetti sauce
1 No. 10 can diced tomatoes in juice
6 lbs. lean ground beef
¼ c. garlic, minced
6 c. onions, chopped
1 tbsp. salt
1 ½ tsp. pepper
2/3 c. chili powder
4 ½ tsp. ground cumin
¾ c. fresh cilantro
2 lbs. lasagna noodles, cooked, drained and chilled
4 lbs. ricotta cheese
2 pts. sour cream
1 26 oz. can diced green chilies
6 c. sliced black olives
3 lbs. Monterey jack cheese, shredded
1 ½ lbs. cheddar cheese, shredded
12 green onions, sliced
2 pts. sour cream
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brown ground beef in a large skillet. Drain excess drippings. Add garlic and onions. Stir until onion softens. Season with salt, pepper, chili powder and cumin. Add spaghetti sauce and tomatoes; stir. Cover and simmer 15 minutes. Add fresh cilantro.
Cook lasagna noodles; drain. Shock in ice water. Drain on towels.
In a small bowl, stir together ricotta cheese, sour cream, green chilies and black olives.
Oil two large lasagna pans. Arrange a layer of lasagna noodles over bottom of pan. Spread one-sixth of sauce mixture over noodles in each pan. Spoon one-sixth of ricotta cheese mixture over sauce. Sprinkle with one-sixth of the shredded cheeses. Repeat layering two more times ending with shredded cheeses. Bake 45 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before cutting. Garnish each serving with 1 tablespoon sour cream and ½ tablespoon sliced green onions.
