There are canned tomatoes and canned tomatoes. If you want the ones that taste spectacularly good and also happen to be organic, go with Muir Glen. You’ll be amazed at all the ways you can use them. And, while all you have to do is pour them out of the can, they make it seem as though you’ve been in the kitchen all day.
Here are a couple of very quick and simple recipes that also happen to be healthy and delicious.
Tomato Soup
Muir Glen crushed tomatoes with basil is the perfect no fuss tomato soup.
Just spill out of the can and heat.
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Gazpacho
Go cold for a great gazpacho:
2-28 oz cans Muir Glen crushed tomatoes with basil
1 cucumber (peeled and de-seeded)
1 green bell pepper
1 small piece jalapeno pepper (size of a nickel)
1 small red onion
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Pour canned tomatoes in a large bowl. Place all vegetables in a food processor and rough chop. Pour into bowl with tomatoes. Add vinegar, oil, salt and pepper and adjust to taste.
Tip from Snoety: They’re also great in an omelet with herbs. Or add cheese or vegetables.
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My mother had tomatoes growing in her lakeside garden when I was a young child. Although she was busy and had a Gardner who tenderly cared for her fruits and vegetables I was allowed to harvest the low growing vines. Those juicy red ripe tomatoes plucked warm off the vine in the late days of summer and carefully placed in my willow basket will always be sweet moments that I remember sharing with her. After she died ten years ago I discovered that 2000 miles away from the garden of my childhood she still had tomatoes growing in the soil behind her tiny home. Not so busy in her later years, it was a delicious moment when I sat alone inhaling the tomato fragrance and eating those warm fruits that she alone had grown. All the more wonderful for the 60 year old memories they brought back to me.
Just ask any Italian Chef, truly GREAT canned tomatoes are the San Marzano variety grown in Campania, in the fertile volcanic ash of the region. But read the label and don’t be fooled by domestic imitators using the San Marzano name.
I make pasta often as a weeknight staple and prefer the Muir Glen brand of canned tomatoes, which are recommended by many top chefs. For sauces and other dishes that require whole or chopped tomatoes, Muir Glen tomatoes taste even better than many fresh tomatoes, especially when they are not in season.