Mid July is about the time of year when tomatoes start coming full steam into season. I have 5 tomato plants in my garden that are now producing more tomatoes than we can think up ways of using them. (Gazpacho anyone?)
One quick and easy recipe that I played around with this week is to simply grill the tomatoes, cut side down, and season with olive oil, salt, pepper, and sliced basil. It’s so good!
When you are working with garden fresh tomatoes, sometimes doing less is more, because the produce is so good to begin with.
Do you have a garden that is full of tomatoes?
What are your ways of using up the bounty? Please let us know in the comments.
Grilled Tomatoes Recipe
PrintIngredients
- 2 firm, ripe tomatoes (not overly ripe or they will fall apart when you grill them), cut in half around the middle
- Olive oil
- Kosher salt (or fleur de sel if you can get it)
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 4 basil leaves, thinly sliced (roll them up like a cigar and then slice them to make nice thin slices)
Method
1 Remove watery pulp and seeds from tomatoes: Standing over a sink, use your fingers to gently dislodge and remove the watery pulp and seeds. (Although the seeds and pulp contain a lot of flavor, when you grill the tomatoes they are going to be lost anyway.)
2 Grill cut-side down: Preheat your grill on high heat for direct grilling. Use a grill basket
Season the tomatoes with salt and pepper. Brush the cut side of the tomatoes with olive oil. Brush the grill grate or grill pan with olive oil.
Place the tomatoes, cut side down on the grill surface. Cover the grill and let cook for about 4 minutes. (Check after 2 minutes.)
Use a metal spatula to lift tomatoes off of the grill for serving.
3 Serve: Place on a serving dish, cut side up. Drizzle a little more olive oil on the tomatoes. Sprinkle with just a little more salt and pepper. Sprinkle with thinly sliced basil.
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Elise Bauer is the founder of Simply Recipes. Elise launched Simply Recipes in 2003 as a way to keep track of her family's recipes, and along the way grew it into one of the most popular cooking websites in the world. Elise is dedicated to helping home cooks be successful in the kitchen. Elise is a graduate of Stanford University, and lives in Sacramento, California.
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I have been doing this for years, but what I do is I take the basil and ut in in a pestel and mortar.. then add the olive oil to it let is steep for a little bit then I se that oild to cook and finish with a fresh drizzle then add fresh basil!!
Italians make tomato sauce – passata, and store it in sterilized glass bottles (like recycled beer bottles) to eat all year long with their pasta. When you open a bottle, you cook the passata at least 30 mins to give the tomatoes a better flavor!
Looks divine!!! Thanks for this!
Oh cool! I had been looking for a tomato pie recipe on your site, so I wouldn’t duplicate anything, but I guess I was looking for it in vegetables section. Thanks for the link to yours. Honestly I’m such a nerd I’ll probably go to yours instead of thumbing through my index cards. :)
So here is where everyone is sharing their tomato recipes!
We were tending a neighbor’s garden last week while they were out of town, and their tomato plants were so full, so I finally got to use this recipe for Tomato Pie. It was so good that my husband and I ate the whole thing in less than 24 hours! Really easy, too!
* 1 9″ pie crust
* 3-4 large ripe tomatoes, peeled
* a bunch of fresh basil, thinly sliced (can also add fresh rosemary, finely chopped)
* salt & pepper
* 1/2 cup mayo
* 3/4 lb (12 oz) grated cheese
Preheat oven to 400′ F.
Slice tomatoes 1/2″ thick and arrange in crust until full. (I used some quartered cherry or grape tomatoes, too.)
Sprinkle with salt & pepper & most of the fresh basil.
Combine cheese & mayo and spread over the top.
Sprinkle again with remaining basil.
Bake 30 minutes.
Let set 10 minutes before slicing.
I didn’t peel the tomatoes, but I did cut off parts of the skin, so you didn’t have to fight with any long pieces of skin.
It gets a beautiful golden crust on top when you bake it, and it is delicious hot or cold, and actually even tastes better the next day.
Hi Cindy, we have a terrific tomato pie on the site too. Love tomato pie! ~Elise