I love to grow cherry tomatoes in my garden. I prefer a steady supply of sweet bite-sized fruit to the sometimes-agonizing wait for slicer tomatoes. Plus, cherry tomatoes are often indeterminate varities that will fruit from early summer up until first frost.
I plant cherry tomatoes in my keyhole garden, a 6′ X 6′ raised bed with a notch, or keyhole, that holds a compost basket. I put vegetable scraps in the basket to decompose and in turn, feed the tomato plants in the garden. The tomatoes in my keyhole garden are prolific growers. I attribute this to the rich soil that’s nourished by the active compost basket in the garden bed.
There’s a few weeks in August when I’m swimming in a sea of cherry tomatoes. This year I grew Yellow Pear, Sweet 100s and a no-name variety of grape tomatoes. I couldn’t find my favorite SunGold seedlings, but it didn’t matter, volunteer vines burst out of the soil and rained sun-kissed yellow fruit all summer long.
When the cherry tomatoes come in hot and heavy, I make this simple cherry tomato saute. It’s a no-recipe recipe that uses up whatever quantity of tomatoes you have on hand. A spoonful of sauteed cherry tomatoes is a true taste of summer.
Cherry Tomato and Basil Saute Recipe
This is a no-recipe recipe.
Take your beautiful cherry tomatoes. A variety is okay. I had yellow pear tomatoes and SunGolds and grape tomatoes in my version. Rinse the fruit in a colander and shake off the excess water. Use a sharp paring knife to slice tomatoes in half. Larger tomatoes can be quartered. The goal is to have pieces all about the same size.
Heat a skillet over medium high heat. I use my Emeril pan that’s 13 inches wide and 2 1/2 inches deep for about 4 cups of cherry tomatoes. If you have a lesser amount to cook, a smaller pan will be fine.
Pour a tablespoon or two of good olive oil in your heated pan. Toss in sliced cherry tomatoes and use a spatula to stir them about. Let them cook like this over medium heat for about 10 minutes, or until the tomatoes soften and collapse. You can add fresh minced garlic at this point, but it’s fine without. I like to add a generous amount of basil to finish. You can mince fresh basil, or do like me and just stir a fat stem loaded with leaves into the saute. I just fish it out after it flavors the vegetables.
That’s it. You can serve this over pasta or rice alongside a roasted chicken or lovely piece of fish. You can pack it into containers and stash in your freezer and pull out as the days grow shorter and the temperatures fall.
More Tomato Recipes from A Cook and Her Books
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