Tomatoville® Gardening Forums


Notices

Post your favorite tomato-based recipes here.

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old June 21, 2015   #1
AlittleSalt
BANNED FOR LIFE
 
AlittleSalt's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 13,333
Default Banana Legs ?

I have some Banana Legs tomatoes that need to be eaten, and some Penne Rigate needing some sauce.

I've grown tomatoes for 5 years now and have never made a sauce, but that's what I would like to do with these Banana Legs. I thought I would ask you all what you would do with them before/or instead of looking it up online.

Ingredients I have for adding to a sauce:

Onion powder
Onions fresh from the garden
Garlic powder
Garlic fresh from the garden
Sweet Basil - growing in garden
Oregano Leaves
Parsley flakes
Italian seasoning
Sage
Peppers - growing in garden
Mint - growing in garden

Peppers to choose from:

Thai Chili
Aji Amarillo
Big Jim Lumbre
Cherry Bomb
Sweet Red Cherry
Jalapeno
Shi-shi-to
Padron
Jimmy Nordello
Chervena Chuska
Attached Images
File Type: jpg HNI_0095.JPG (51.3 KB, 102 views)

Last edited by AlittleSalt; June 21, 2015 at 11:42 AM.
AlittleSalt is offline   Reply With Quote
Old June 21, 2015   #2
NarnianGarden
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Finland, EU
Posts: 2,550
Default

Curious about this, as I have a BL plant growing on my balcony..
All those spices and other ingredients sound like they'd make a delicious sauce.
NarnianGarden is offline   Reply With Quote
Old June 21, 2015   #3
AlittleSalt
BANNED FOR LIFE
 
AlittleSalt's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 13,333
Default

I made a sauce with Banana Legs and one huge Mayo's Delight Heart. Cooked it slow a steady for 90 minutes. I cooked it with vegetable oil (Cannot afford olive oil). onions, several chopped peppers, garlic, sweet basil, oregano, garlic and onion powders, sea salt.

It tastes good. The seasoning is right, but what was missing was the acidic tomato flavor. I guess we have eaten too many American pizzas and canned tomato sauces in our lifetime? I think what we grew up with is now the standard for us. Our first ever made tomato sauce will feed the compost pile in style. It won't go to waste.

But that means...I'll have to grow so many other tomatoes to try in sauces... Oh the horrors

Sounds like an excuse to grow EVEN MORE tomatoes to me
AlittleSalt is offline   Reply With Quote
Old June 21, 2015   #4
pauldavid
Tomatovillian™
 
pauldavid's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: NE Louisiana, Zone 8A
Posts: 1,179
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by AlittleSalt View Post
I made a sauce with Banana Legs and one huge Mayo's Delight Heart. Cooked it slow a steady for 90 minutes. I cooked it with vegetable oil (Cannot afford olive oil). onions, several chopped peppers, garlic, sweet basil, oregano, garlic and onion powders, sea salt.

It tastes good. The seasoning is right, but what was missing was the acidic tomato flavor. I guess we have eaten too many American pizzas and canned tomato sauces in our lifetime? I think what we grew up with is now the standard for us. Our first ever made tomato sauce will feed the compost pile in style. It won't go to waste.

But that means...I'll have to grow so many other tomatoes to try in sauces... Oh the horrors

Sounds like an excuse to grow EVEN MORE tomatoes to me

I too favor the acidic flavor. This is the reason I planted Sioux this year. It is supposed to have a real acidic taste. One of my Sioux plants(of three) is heavily ribbed kind of like a Zapotec. Must have been a mix up or cross from the vendor. The other 2 are smooth but on the small side. However I planted them kind of late. Time will tell.
pauldavid is offline   Reply With Quote
Old June 22, 2015   #5
Zana
Tomatovillian™
 
Zana's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Southwestern Ontario, Canada
Posts: 4,521
Default

You can always add some lemon juice to the sauce to make it more "acidic"...in fact you'll find it will "brighten up" the sauce.

You can also experiment with slow roasting the tomatoes and peppers before cooking them into a sauce. I've also added slices of onions to the roasting process. You can chop /slice all the maters, peppers and onions and put them in a large bowl, add oil, seasonings and then spread them out on a large cookie sheet and slow /low roast them before cooking them further in a pot for sauce. At that point I've added a few "fresh" maters that have been pureed to the sauce to add more liquid volume, as I find it doesn't dilute it down like when you add just water. Then you can simmer down your sauce the consistency that you want.

Go easy on the seasonings in the sauce, if you're planning on canning it. That way you have a "base sauce" that you can add any seasoning to later.
__________________
Zana

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
There is a fine line between genius and crazy.
I like to use that line as a jump rope.

~Anonymous (but I totally agree with this! LOL)

Forgive and Forget? I'm neither Jesus or nor do I have Alzheimers.

~ Anonymous

Until he extends his circle of compassion to include all living things, man will not himself find peace.

-- Dr. Albert Schweitzer
Zana is offline   Reply With Quote
Old June 22, 2015   #6
Tracydr
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Laurinburg, North Carolina, zone 7
Posts: 3,207
Default

I add red wine or even red wine vinegar for acidity as needed.
Tracydr is offline   Reply With Quote
Old June 22, 2015   #7
AlittleSalt
BANNED FOR LIFE
 
AlittleSalt's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 13,333
Default

Yes, learning to make the basic sauce is where I'm at. I had full intensions of adding lemon juice. The lemons looked great through the crisper drawer...but we bought them back in April...more compost food.
AlittleSalt is offline   Reply With Quote
Old June 22, 2015   #8
Worth1
Tomatovillian™
 
Worth1's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Den of Drunken Fools
Posts: 38,539
Default

Citric acid.
Worth
Worth1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old June 22, 2015   #9
crmauch
Tomatovillian™
 
crmauch's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Honey Brook, PA Zone 6b
Posts: 399
Default

I was going to paste a link to a site that had a very easy sauce I used last year, but of course I can't find it. But I'm going to put down what I do. This allows you to use pretty much any of your tomatoes for sauce and it's easy as there's no peeling or seeding.

I line the largest lipped tray I have w/ aluminum foil. Spray foil w/ non-stick spray.

Heat oven to 400 degrees F.

Halve, quarter (or more) depending on the size of your tomatoes, putting them on the tray skin side down and cut side up. Fill the tray up.

Cut up a onion or two, making wedges out of it (remove top and bottom of onion, plus skin.

Cut up and slice into strips a bell pepper (or use something hotter if desired). do remove stem and seeds.

Use several cloves garlic, w/ skin removed and roughly chunked.

Place onions, peppers and garlic on tray (sometimes I fry them up seperately on the stovetop).

Sprinkle the tomatoes + w/ salt, basil, black pepper, and any other herbs you prefer (I like adding oregano and rosemary).

Drizzle oil over tray.

Place in oven for 1 hour (watch that tomatoes don't get too blackened) [you can also cook this longer at a lower temp (350) but you stilll might want to finish at 400 to caramelize.

Remove tray from oven. Scoop contents into blender (or food processor).
I blend until fairly smooth.

You basically have your sauce. I'd put it in a dutch oven at this point on the stovetop and add any herbs or lemon juice or sugar to bring it to the taste I want.

I even canned this sauce last year (adding lemon juice) and had homemade sauce for about 5 months.

Chris
crmauch is offline   Reply With Quote
Old June 22, 2015   #10
AlittleSalt
BANNED FOR LIFE
 
AlittleSalt's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 13,333
Default

The proverb is "If you first don't succeed, try try again."

Did all the same things today and used Bradley, Golden Jubilee, Valencia, and Sioux tomatoes instead of Banana Legs. I used a lemon and lemon zest - it turned out really nice.
AlittleSalt is offline   Reply With Quote
Old June 23, 2015   #11
pauldavid
Tomatovillian™
 
pauldavid's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: NE Louisiana, Zone 8A
Posts: 1,179
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by AlittleSalt View Post
The proverb is "If you first don't succeed, try try again."

Did all the same things today and used Bradley, Golden Jubilee, Valencia, and Sioux tomatoes instead of Banana Legs. I used a lemon and lemon zest - it turned out really nice.
Good to hear Salt! Bet it was delicious!
pauldavid is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 02:12 AM.


★ Tomatoville® is a registered trademark of Commerce Holdings, LLC ★ All Content ©2022 Commerce Holdings, LLC ★