Good Morning, it’s Friday time for This and That.  Since I’ve been making recipes using fresh tomatoes for the last few posts (and probably will for the next few posts as well), it only seems right to show you how to prepare them for cooking.  Now to be honest…in all my recipes I don’t bother to peel or seed tomatoes because the skin and seeds don’t bother me in the final products.   But, if you want to be really sophisticated, skinning a tomato really does improve the dish.  Seeding the tomato can change slightly the consistency, so unless the recipe writer suggests that tomatoes be seeded, assume that they should not.

I know of two ways to skin tomatoes.  The most popular is to place the tomatoes into boiling water for a minute or two and then immediately plunge them into an ice water bath.  I don’t love this method because the tomatoes feel cooked and mostly I don’t like to have to mess up pots and bowls when I don’t have to.  Here’s how I do it (but you need a gas range):

Peeling a Tomato

Pierce the blossom end of the tomato with a fork

 

Turn your burner onto high and hold the tomato in the flames, rotating it, until all the skin has blistered (it’s okay if it chars in places)

Using your fingers or a knife, pull the skin from the tomato until all the skin has been removed

 

   

 

Seeding Tomatoes

This can be done to tomatoes that have been skinned or unpeeled tomatoes

Cut the tomato in half, through the middle (not the blossom)

 

Put half into the palm of your hand and squeeze over a bowl or garbage can to catch the seeds you want discarded

The tomato is now ready for chopping, dicing or whatever the recipe calls for.