Friday, October 29, 2010

New Toy

When I said I'd write about the roasting tomatoes later I didn't really mean days later but, oh well. That's the way it's going.
Debbie brings me stuff from the farmers market all summer and there's usually a point when she brings way too many tomatoes. Every year I end up making some kind of tomato sauce and every year I fret the seeding and peeling. It's just messy and I never feel like I do a great job. I always wish I had a food mill.
Last week when Jane was in town we went to Sur Le Table and I found one. It's the perfect size for me.
Food mills are great for mashed potatoes. I like lumpy mashed potatoes. I'm usually cooking just enough for me so I smash them a bit and call
it good enough. But if you run potatoes through a food mill they get evenly mashed and stay fluffy. Add salt, pepper and butter and you get smooth, creamy, melt in your mouth clouds. I did this yesterday because I was making a shepherds pie for a neighbor.
So. I was roasting the tomatoes. I let them cool before I ran them through the mill. I used the blade with the largest holes because I wasn't sure what I wanted and tada! Lovely clear tomatoes on one side, seeds and skins on the other. All in about a minute. Less muss, no fuss.
I tossed the thing into the sink before scraping the bottom of the blade, which makes me so mad. There was so much good stuff there. It's been years since I used a mill and I've forgotten the basics. There are some seeds and I think I could run them through again with smaller holes but I don't really mind a few seeds.
I have a nice amount of sauce, some of which will end up on pasta. I'm thinking about making soup.
I love new toys.

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