PRACTICAL SELF SUFFICIENCY
THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO SUSTAINABLE LIVING
BRUSCHETTA
PINCHING OUT
At this time of year, if you’re growing tomatoes, there is a constant battle to use up all of the ripe produce. If a tomato plant is left unchecked during its productive stage you can end up with hundreds of small ‘cherry-sized’ tomatoes and hardly any large ones. The trick is to pinch out the shoots that grow at an angle off the main stem and diagonally from the strong lateral shoots. These little suckers will otherwise proceed to grow and leave you with an array of tiny toms that require extra picking! Simply pinch them out using the fingernails of your thumb and index finger.
GLUTS
We use our red tomatoes for making our own passata, red tomato chutney, and in all sorts of pasta sauces or summer salads. But, our favourite meal, that will definitely reduce the size of your summer gluts, is Bruschetta. We first tried this recipe in Italy where depending on the pronunciation it can mean ‘tomato snack on bread’ or ‘bandit’!
STEP-BY-STEP
To make the delicious tomato snack:
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Roughly chop your ripe tomatoes -
Toast some stone baked ciabatta
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Peel a couple of garlic cloves and rub them into the warm toast
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Spread the tomatoes over the toast in generous portions and tear fresh basil over the top.
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Finish with a healthy drizzle of olive oil and eat while still warm!
All photographs and text copyright 2010 Jera Enterprises Ltd.
