Stromboli

"The stromboli -- homemade pizza dough spread with last year's basil pesto and soft-dried tomatoes from the freezer, topped with thin slices of prociutto and provolone, as well as grated Asiago -- was rolled up and baked brown. Molten cheeses escaped from its fragrant interior as Elizabeth served out the portions."

(from Signs in the Blood)

I usually make stromboli with some combination of cheese, pesto, roasted tomatoes, and prosciutto. I've also used fresh tomatoes (de-seeded) and plain old sliced ham.

This one had capacolla on it but, to tell the truth, the taste of the pesto and the roasted tomatoes pretty much drowns out the flavor of the meat. Another time, I'll omit it.

Roll 'em up and bake them or freeze them to bake another time.

Stromboli is a nice dinner entree with a salad on the side or it can work as an appetizer too.

If you'd like the complete recipe, go to my website , click on RECIPES, and scroll down.

A Wealth of Tomatoes

The tomato vines are sagging with fruit and I picked quite a few this morning. The Cherokee Purples can wait a few days but there are ripe plum tomatoes to deal with Now.

We haven't used any spray so a quick rinse to wash away the dust is all that's needed.

This is a lazy woman's way of preserving plum tomatoes. Remove the stem; cut tomatoes in half; cover with olive oil and a good bit of Konriko Creole seasoning ( or some other seasoned salt.) Bake at 350 till an enchanting aroma fills the house and makes your mouth water. (If you want to gild the lily, you can slice some onions and add then before baking.)

The result --about three hours later -- is great on pasta or pizza or in salads. The roasted tomatoes can be cooled and frozen in plastic freezer bags. Don't discard the oil -- it has a wonderful flavor.

Not only is this the easiest way I know of preserving tomatoes, it's the most delicious, filling your freezer with the distillation of summer.



UPDATE & CLARIFICATION

Liz emailed, in justifiable confusion, pointing out that this post says to roast at 350 for 3 hours while on my website it says 200 degrees. Oops. The thing is that 200 degrees takes forever -- that's more for making dried or semi-dried tomatoes. I got impatient and recently upped the temp. The tomatoes in this post aren't dried -- just concentrated.