Makins From Maters

Along with corn, most consider tomatoes, usually just called “maters” in traditional mountain vernacular, the quintessence of foodstuffs from mountain gardens.

Tomatoes are so wonderfully versatile, so tasty, and come in so many varieties they are irresistible. Or as my Grandpa Joe was fond of saying, “I can’t imagine making a garden or passing a summer without plenty of maters.” He might well have added that when it came to the vegetable side of the equation, nothing remotely rivaled tomatoes in the array of offerings which graced Grandma Minnie’s table. From freshly sliced ones in the peak of summer to stewed tomatoes in the dead of winter, from savory soups to fried ripe ones (a tasty variant on the more common approach using green tomatoes), the crown jewel of his garden held wonderful sway throughout the year.

Blissfully, when it comes to tomatoes, the “good old days” shared with my grandparents and parents are even better today. Thanks to a grand resurgence of heirloom varieties, local seed and feed stores offering abundant options in terms of types of plants, pages of seed catalogs filled with scores of options for starting and then transplanting your own seedlings, and local grocery stores and farmer’s markets featuring an abundance of tomatoes for those who don’t garden, no lover of luscious tomatoes need suffer so much as a hint of deprivation. From yellow pear-shaped gems of juiciness and bite-sized red “tommytoes” to scrumptious heirloom varieties such as Cherokee Purple, Black Krim, Mr. Stripey, and Brandywine; from paste tomatoes such as Roma to perennial favorites such as Rutgers, Big Boy, and Early Girl, there are tomatoes to feed every taste and culinary need.  Here’s a sampling of makin’s from maters, but when you factor in Mediterranean cuisine, Tex-Mex dishes, soups, and other preparations, the options are limited only by the scope of your imagination.

MINI TOMATO PIES

• Phyllo shells
• Sweet onions
• Virgin olive oil
• Fresh basil
• Large slicing tomatoes
• 2 cups sharp cheddar cheese (Cabot’s Seriously Sharp is a good choice)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• ¾ cup real mayonnaise

Pre-bake individual phyllo shells. The number can vary, as can the amounts given, depending on how many servings you want, but one pie per person is your guide. As the shells are baking, slice tomatoes fairly thin and lay them atop paper towels. Lightly salt the tops and let sit ten minutes before patting dry. Shred the cheese, adding salt and pepper to taste (remember that the tomatoes have been salted and even though patting will remove some of it a salty tang will remain). Sauté sliced onions in olive oil. Mix mayonnaise with the cheese. Begin with a layer of tomatoes, then one of the cheese mixture, then onions and basil. Continue layering until each phyllo shell is filled to the top. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes or until done.

TOMATO DILL SOUP

• 1 stick butter
• 1½ large sweet onions pureed in a food processor
• ¼ cup fresh garlic, minced
• 1½ teaspoons dried dill
• ¼ tablespoon kosher salt
• 1⁄8 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
• 9 cups tomatoes (crushed or diced—that equates to two 28-ounce cans plus one 14½–ounce can—tomatoes you have grown, frozen, and thawed out are ideal for this recipe)
• 3 cups water
• 2 cups heavy cream (a pint of half-and-half with some whole milk added will work)

Place butter, onions, garlic, dill, salt and black pepper in a large covered pot. Sauté on low heat until onions are translucent. Add tomatoes and water. Simmer for one to two hours. Remove from heat and blend in cream.

PARMESAN CHEESE TOMATOES

Slice away the bottom of tomatoes and then sprinkle liberally with a mixture of Parmesan cheese and bread crumbs. You can buy crumbs but heels from a loaf of bread, given a quick whirl in a food processor, are much cheaper and work just as well. Bake at 375 degrees until the cheese/bread topping begins to turn brown and eat hot from the oven. If you have them, try leftover biscuits or crumbled cornbread as your crumb base.

SUMMER SALSA

In the heat of summer, when tomatoes are abundant but thoughts of dealing with an oven or stove, cause dismay, here’s a grand way to use fresh tomatoes.

• 2 or 3 large tomatoes, diced (a ulu is ideal for this task)
• ¼ cup finely chopped chives
• ½ cup chopped pimento olives
• 1 minced garlic clove
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Combine the ingredients in a plastic or glass bowl, whisk gently,  and let stand in refrigerator for 30-45 minutes. NOTE: Fresh mozzarella makes a nice addition to the salsa and it is an ideal accompaniment to grilled burgers.

BAKED EGGS AND TOMATOES

Slice away the bottom quarter of a large tomato and carefully remove any core that remains in the large section along with enough flesh to leave a cavity that will hold an egg. Place the tomato “container” atop a greased baking sheet or pan and carefully break a small or medium egg into it. Bake at 350 degrees until the egg sets to a point just short of the consistency your desire. Remove from the oven, sprinkle liberally with sharp, shredded cheddar cheese, then place back in the oven until the cheese melts. Eat piping hot.

STEWED TOMATOES AND OKRA

Cut a small cross or plus sign at the bottom of several dead ripe tomatoes and then dip in hot water for 15 to 30 seconds. This will loosen the skin and allow you to peel it away with ease. Cut out the core and quarter the peeled tomatoes. Set aside briefly while you prepare okra pods by cutting away the stem area. Pods can be cut into one-inch slices or left whole. Combine with the previously prepared tomatoes in a large cooking pot, add salt to taste along with a couple of slices of fried streaked meat (if desired), and simmer slowly (do not overcook, because everything will turn to mush). This dish does not look particularly appealing, and for some folks the slick or slimy nature of stewed okra is a turn-off. Visual aesthetics aside, this as a grand vegetable dish. Leftovers can be used as the starting point for a big pot of vegetable or vegetable-beef soup.

TOMATO AND ONION PIE

Years ago a cousin, Joyce Casada Bryant, brought this dish to a family reunion. It drew rave reviews in a setting where a whole bunch of splendid cooks annually vied to outdo one another.

• 1 refrigerated pie crust
• 8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
• 2 tablespoons chopped basil
• 4 large tomatoes, cored, peeled and sliced ½ inch thick
• 1 large Vidalia onion, sliced
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• 1⁄8 cup extra virgin olive oil

Fit the crust in a pan and spread the cheese over the crust. Sprinkle with basil and then top with slices of onions and tomatoes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and then drizzle with the olive oil. Bake for 30 (or a bit longer if the pie is “shaky”) minutes in a 400-degree oven. Slice and serve.

Tomato Tips for the Home Gardener

If you grow your own, and it is possible to produce an abundance of tomatoes in a very small piece of ground or even container gardens, here are a few tips from my half-century plus of gardening, supplemented by knowledge passed on to me by my father and grandfather, which might help when it comes to having plenty of tomatoes to use in these and other recipes.

Rotate where you plant tomatoes from year to year. That helps keep various problems with blight at bay.

Leave ample room between plants. That lets the plants breathe and works against too much moisture build-up and the progression of various tomato diseases.

Stake and prune plants religiously. I leave the sucker below the first bloom cluster and thus have two main stems. All other suckers are removed. Exceptions are Roma-type tomatoes and tommytoes. I don’t prune them at all and in the case of the latter keeping them supported is a real problem. They’ll run out the top of an eight-foot stake in no time at all.

I don’t use any Sevin or other chemical treatments but I do plant marigolds between the tomato plants and vigilantly patrol for tomato horn worms. When I see the tell-tale signs of their depredations the search is on (fresh droppings help in locating these masters of camouflage) and when I locate the hornworm there’s a good squishing, with green juice a-flying, sending the pest to insect paradise.

Perhaps the best tip I can offer involves removing leaf stems as soon as they show any sign of yellowing, black spots, or disease. They will usually break away from the main vine fairly easy. By mid-summer this will leave the lower reaches of the plant looking naked, but I’m convinced it works not only in keeping the spread of disease at bay but in letting the plant put all its energy into producing more tomatoes as the season advances. Don’t throw the diseased vegetation on the ground. I carry a five-gallon bucket and put the leaves in it as I move down the row. They then go straight to a burn pile well away from the garden.

Keep the ground beneath the plants clean and free of weeds. I think mulch is a mistake. It makes a perfect home for disease. If it gets really dry and you need to water the plants, do so early in the day so that moisture on the plant will dry before nightfall.

The varieties you plant are largely a matter of personal choice, but I would suggest experimenting with at least one new variety, along with old favorites, every year.