Tomatoes coming out your ears? Running out of tomato recipes? Us too. This savory, slightly sweet, completely addictive Tomato Jam is a first for us. Alan looked at me sideways when I told him what I was making. I think I said jam and he heard aspic…..? Fast forward 24 hours and he is so bonkers over the stuff, I now have to learn to can so we can enjoy it long after our tomato plants go to sleep for the winter. (Anyone want to come over and teach me how to can?) I can pay in produce.
We can’t get enough of it. Spread on crostinis (or whole wheat pita triangles) 🙂 with goat cheese and chiffonade basil for an app, turn burger night into gourmet dining, make meatloaf something your family is actually excited about, I could go on and on. But let’s get back to these maters. Aren’t they pretty? My German farmer husband is pretty talented at this business of growing things in the dirt.
Step one- send your minions to gather your key ingredient.
Step two, core and roughly chop your tomatoes. Until someone (ahem, my aforementioned darling husband, who is forgiven because he grows me beautiful produce) broke it, I used this lovely gadget to effortlessly core my tomatoes (and also hull strawberries). It’s replacement is currently in transit, but if you, like me, find yourself without one today, just make four vertical slices around the core. You can order one of these handy dandy gadgets here.
TOMATO’S BFF
All the good stuff
I found a version of this Tomato Jam recipe when on the hunt for new ways to use our bumper tomato crop here on Healthy Delicious. It’s a sweet little food blog that I am enjoying. However, I took her recipe and basically turned it on it’s head. I reduced the sugar content from 1 and 1/2 cups to 1/4 cup. If diabetes isn’t an issue at your table and you like a sweeter version, feel free to play around and increase the sugar. My preferences generally lean more to savory than sweet, so I personally think this has plenty of sugar, but feel free to add more. I also swapped her ginger for the shallots and garlic and added thyme sprigs because that flavor profile is MY jam. 😉
Pulse your mixture in the blender just 5-6 times. Don’t puree it – you want your jam to have some texture. Once you pour it into the skillet and toss in a few thyme sprigs, your work is pretty much done. Just let it simmer for about an hour until it reduces by half, has a jammy consistency and your kitchen smells like a tomato-ey heaven.
While that simmers away, whip up the goat cheese cream. Because we’ve used so little sugar, this tomato jam is a little more acidic and the goat cheese cream really balances it out. Slice your baguette (or your whole wheat pita bread if you live here) brush with olive oil and run it quickly under the broiler. While you do this- do not start the dishes, do not pick up your phone, do not do anything but stand guard at the oven and watch those puppies. The difference between perfectly golden brown and charcoal death dust is somewhere around 15 seconds. I’m not speaking from experience or anything…..
Once your baguette slices are toasted, assemble this lovely little appetizer. Spread the goat cheese cream on the crostini, top with a little tomato jam and chiffonade basil. The jam should keep in the fridge for a week.
Okay, seriously, do I have any friends out there who can give me some canning tips? Please? I’m sort of terrified of the process. Enjoying these gorgeous little crostinis in November might just be worth it though. Thanks for being here! Please leave any canning tips or tomato recipe ideas in the comments. Happy Cooking!
Tomato Jam
Delightful on crostinis with the goat cheese cream and chiffonade basil, on burgers or a topping for meatloaf.
Yields: 1 cup
- 2 pounds ripe tomatoes, cored and roughly chopped
- 2 T shallot, thinly sliced
- 1 large clove garlic, thinly sliced
- 3 T fresh squeezed lemon juice
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 C light brown sugar
- 3 thyme sprigs
- Combine tomatoes, shallot, garlic, lemon juice, sugar, salt in a blender and pulse 5-6 times.
- Pour into a non stick 10" skillet
- Bring to boil
- Reduce heat to simmer
- Simmer for one hour or until the mixture reduces by half and has a jam-like consistency
- Preparation time: 15 minutes
- Cook time: 1 hour
- Total time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Goat Cheese Cream
Use this as a base for crostini appetizer. Top with Tomato Jam or Basil Pesto.
- 2 oz goat cheese, softened
- 2 oz creme fraiche (can substitute plain greek yogurt)
- pinch salt
- drizzle good quality olive oil
- Mix all ingredients together in small mixing bowl
I love what you and the good doctor are doing here…..keep it up!
Awe, thank you, Lon! That is so nice to hear!
A pressure canner may change the consistency so I would water bath this. Boil a large pot of water, sterilize your jars and pack them. Put your lids in the boiling water to soften the seal and seal your jars. Put your packed jars in the boiling water. Make sure they are completely covered with water. Let them stay at a slight rolling boil for 25 minutes then pull them out and let them completely cool. As they cool, you will hear the lids pop as they seal. Check each of them to make sure the lids seal. You may need to add a little lemon juice to the jam to help it preserve better. We can plain tomatoes every year (we have about 35 quarts put up so far this year!). I put a teaspoon of canning salt and a tablespoon of lemon juice in each quart jar. You can do without, but they won’t have as long of a shelf life. I love canning and am happy to share info anytime! We do salsa, squash chow chow, pickles, and as many tomatoes as we are able every year!
Hooray!!! Thank you, sweet Heather! This is awesome.
You’re welcome!