PREPARING TOMATOES

Always with a sharp knife
Easy to peel after dipping in boiling water
Dried, semi-dried, marinated, etc.

Fridge-cold tomato wedges in a salad are an abomination. If for some reason you have tomatoes in the fridge, take them out in good time.

Sharpen your knife

The prime test for whether as knife is sharp or not is how well it cuts through a juicy tomato. If you’ve sharpened it right, all you should need to do is pass the (heavy) blade across the tomato for it to slice through. All work with tomatoes is way more appealing with a really sharp knife. Practice your technique and watch out for your fingers.

Blanching and peeling tomatoes

This is a technique that is ideal when you want to remove the skin of fresh tomatoes, e.g. in a tomato sauce that you’re carefully cooking from scratch. Bring water to the boil in a saucepan – it needs to be several centimeters below the edge so you don’t risk a flood. Put the whole tomatoes in carefully with a draining spoon. Remove them when the skin splits into stretched “scars” – it will happen quickly once the water comes back to the boil. Leave to cool for a moment and remove the skin with your fingers or tweezers.

Drying tomatoes

The jar usually says “sundried tomatoes” but the truth is that the rays of the sun will burn off the flavor and nutrients in the tomatoes. They should be dried in a (dark) oven. Cut into wedges, put on a baking sheet and put in the oven at a low heat. The point, apart from an ingredient that will keep for months, is to concentrate the flavor of the tomato. Meaty, highly flavored plum tomatoes with slightly fewer seeds work best for this technique.

Semi-dried tomatoes

Joel Aronsson likes “semi-dried” tomatoes. Dry them in the oven, but not for too long. Make sure they still have a certain amount of juicy softness. Store them in oil.

One professional tip: Crush semi-dried tomatoes in a pestle and mortar to create a umami-filled paste packed with flavor. Like tomato purée but with even deeper flavor.

Marinate tomatoes