Putting Up With: Tomatoes Two Ways

My "Putting Up With" series is a play on the phrase 'putting up' as a colloquialism for canning.  But in this case, it's particularly apt, because the only way I can put up with (tolerate) tomatoes is when they're canned, cooked or preserved in some way.  

I was a very picky eater when I was younger, but I've learned to tolerate, and even enjoy, some of the things that horrified me as a child.  I now cook with all types of peppers and mushrooms and even occasionally use mayonnaise and beans, all things I couldn't stand a few years ago.  But I've never grown to love raw tomatoes. Both the texture and taste are repulsive to me.  These recipes have helped me use up all the tomatoes I get every week from our garden and my CSA box.  

Cherry Tomato Pasta

For the past several years I've tried to grow San Marzano paste tomatoes in my garden.  Both Matt and I hate to eat raw tomatoes, but love cooked tomato sauce.  But the San Marzano tomatoes never thrived in our Canadian garden.  We had blossom end rot and very low yield.  We were lucky to end up with 3 or 4 tomatoes in a season, and we'd end up buying a bushel of tomatoes from the farmers market to can tomato sauce. 

So this year, we decided to grow a very high-yield cherry tomato plant called Sweet Million.  It has been fantastic!  We've had dozens of tomatoes each week since the end of July, with no end in sight.

Shrimp with Corn Fritters and Lime Crema

This is shockingly delicious and left me wondering why I haven't been making corn fritters every week since I got married.  Matt loves corn but I don't make it that often as a side since I don't really consider it a vegetable.  I always add it to soup and tacos, sometimes to chili, and I love to eat corn on the cob in the summer.  But this is a whole new way for us to enjoy corn.  

This recipe was inspired by April's Clean Eating magazine, but I used Martha Stewart's corn fritter recipe.  One warning about this: it does require a lot of last-minute futzing about.  You can make the fritters in advance and hold them in a 200 degree oven while you prepare the shrimp.  The fritters lose a little crispiness, but it's probably worth it to avoid running around to get it all plated like I did (taking pictures at the same time didn't help).

I'll tell you about the corn fritters first, and then the shrimp.

Corn cakes or corn fritters or corn cakes are essentially pancakes with corn in them.  Martha's recipe uses cornmeal and flour but you can also use masa.  I used quite a lot of corn kernels but you can reduce the amount for a smoother, cake-ier fritter.  Here's what you need:  

Short & Sweet Sunday - Cherry Tomato Pasta (again)

For me this is the recipe of the summer.  It was a revelation.  This is the third time I've written about it.

I normally make a ton of pesto every summer since we always have copious amounts of basil, but I'm a little off pesto and this "sauce" has got to be healthier since there's so much less oil and cheese.  

Plus, look how gorgeous:

Lovely!

Slicing the cherry tomatoes in half helps make it more saucy.  Sprinkle with salt and add minced garlic, diced onion and peppers. 

This time I roasted the zucchini separately so it was a little more firm once cooked.

Then tossed all the veggies with pasta water and cooked linguini.

And then some fresh basil, oregano and parsley.  Top with some parmesan cheese and serve!  Delish in spring, summer and fall!