Recipes that appear in Idea Alley have not been tested by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Depending on when you got your plants out and the variety, you may be dining on fresh, red ripe backyard tomatoes. But if you were like me, and got a late start, perhaps you're staring at plants heavy with green fruits.
To enjoy those beauties now, consider making this cake shared by Sandi Black. The recipe is by Kitty Hooper of Crescent City Farmers Market (New Orleans).
Green Tomato Cake
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups chopped green tomatoes
1 cup chopped walnuts
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 15-cup Bundt cake pan with nonstick baking spray or grease and flour. Set aside.
In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, eggs, oil, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well. Stir in tomatoes and walnuts. Mixture will be very thick. Spoon batter into the prepared pan.
Bake until top is browned, springs back when lightly touched and cake is pulling away from sides of pan, about 1 hour. Cool cake completely in pan before removing. Dust cooled cake with confectioners' sugar just before serving.
If your tomatoes are ripe for the picking, you may enjoy this pasta dish from Sheila Strack.
"It's good hot or cold and it freezes well," writes Strack.
Tomato Basil Pasta
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large onion, chopped
12 ounce package mushrooms, sliced
Olive oil
3 fresh tomatoes (though I have used canned chopped tomatoes if I didn't have fresh ones), chopped
Fresh basil leaves, chopped
Desired protein such as shrimp, cooked Italian sausage or cooked chicken
1 (8-ounce) bottle of zesty Italian dressing
8 ounces hot cooked linguine
Freshly grated parmesan, for serving
Saute garlic, onion and mushrooms in olive oil. Add tomatoes and basil. Cook 2 minutes. At this point, you can add cooked hot Italian sausage or cooked chicken (I usually marinate the chicken in some more Zesty Italian dressing, cook them on the grill, chop and add to dish) or if you want to use shrimp, add them now and saute one to two minutes. Add hot cooked linguine and the bottle of Italian dressing. Cover and let the pasta soak up the dressing (usually just a minute or two). Serve with fresh grated parmesan cheese.
Jalapenos are also coming into season now.
"I try to do meatless meals at least once a week and have been building a list of meatless dishes we like," writes Joyce Williams.
"Sometimes we will just have soup and sandwiches like grilled cheese and chips or coleslaw for a meatless meal. I found the best spicy grilled cheese in an e-Meals recipes newsletter my sister shared with me several years ago. You could always add sliced ham or cooked bacon if you don't want to go meatless."
Jalapeno Popper Grilled Cheese
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
4 to 6 slices bread
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
Heat oven to 450 degrees.
Beat cream cheese, cheddar cheese, mayonnaise and chopped jalapeno at medium speed with mixer until creamy. Spread mixture over half the bread slices. Top each with one slice bread. Spread softened butter over outsides of sandwiches, place on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until bread is toasted and cheese is melted.
Makes 2 to 3 sandwiches.
Send recipe contributions, requests and culinary questions to Kelly Brant, Idea Alley, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, P.O. Box 2221, Little Rock, Ark. 72203; email:
kbrant@arkansasonline.com
Please include a daytime phone number.
Food on 06/20/2018