"The people who give you their food give you their heart" - Cesar Chavez


Friday, January 22, 2010

Stewed Tomatoes

While visiting my boyfriend's home I had the pleasure of trying one of his favorite dishes - stewed tomatoes. It's easy to understand why he likes this dish so much, it was delicious and definitely inspired me to bring this back to my tiny kitchen to replicate it for a comfort food dinner. Stewed tomatoes are essentially baked tomatoes and toasted bread, the amount and type of bread is completely up to personal preference so don't take this recipe as a strict one to follow. Feel free to use up whatever bread you have in the cupboard and as much or as little as you want! Since I don't have a toaster I made a mistake of thinking I could broil the bread for as long as I would toast it and it wasn't until my boyfriend exclaimed "Is something burning!?" that  I had a Cher in Clueless moment and took out a pan of charred black bread from the oven. So if you are planning to broil your bread then broil it on low for about 45 seconds per a side. I definitely attribute the deliciousness of this to his mother's home canned tomatoes from her garden. Below is a picture of one of the two jars we got to take back to NY.
                              
Here is a picture of her stewed tomatoes! The first I ever tried. Made with love and no strict recipe, stewed tomatoes are a dish you can definitely be flexible with.
                            
Stewed Tomatoes

Ingredients:
1 quart of canned tomatoes
8 thick slices of whole wheat Italian rustic bread
2 teaspoons sugar
butter

Directions:
1. Toast the bread until golden brown on both sides. Spread both sides of the toast with butter.
2. Pour the canned tomatoes into a glass baking dish. Break apart the toasted bread and mix it into the bowl of tomatoes using a fork to evenly incorporate the bread. Sprinkle the sugar on top.
3. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees; bake the dish until it is heated through and slightly bubbly on top, about 25-30 minutes. Enjoy!

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