Having just prepped 19 pounds of luscious, plump, juice-squirting tomatoes for my tub of tomato sauce, I was left feeling a little awed at the amount of skins I had collected. In the day-long process, as the mound grew, I was scratching my head, wondering if there might not be some clever clod online who could show me what to do with them—apart from tossing them in the bin.
No great surprise, as creativity in the food world simply froths over abundantly like a pot boiling on the stove, there were plenty to choose from.
My favorites?
Make tomato powder. (Right here or over here) Add to soups or sauces, or make a funky Joanne Weir appetizer (learn more about Joanne) by sprinkling it onto feta, drizzling with olive oil, adding some olives and serving with pita.
Oven dry your skins in a low oven (200°) for around 3 hours. Then place the skins in a bottle filled with olive oil and steep for two days. Viola! Scrumptious flavored oil.
Toss them in a freezer bag with all of your onion root ends, garlic stubs, peels from carrots and onions, herb stems and zucchini trimmings (and any other veggie bits you create) to use for making a vegetable broth when the bag is full.
rosa_di_pomodoro (Photo credit: VisualFood Design)
Make a rose garnish for one of your umpteen fancy shmancy dinner parties. (click for the rose and more garnish ideas)
Dehydrate for crisp little tomato crackers. (fab idea)
And my all-time favorite … tomato chips. (click mouse now) Sautéed with olive oil, salt and pepper, we could not stop eating them. Super easy, super delish, super clever folks.
Ingredients
Tomato skins
Olive oil
Salt & Pepper
Cookin’
Heat olive oil in a sauté pan over medium heat. Lay your tomato skins flat into the oil and separate from one another. Gently season the skins and cook for about 60 to 90 seconds. Watch them carefully—no browning is best. Flip them with kitchen tongs and cook another further 30 seconds until the skins just begin to show they are crisp.
Lay the skins on a paper towel to drain for one minute and serve. Try to eat just one. Big challenge. You’ll fail. It’s okay. No judging.
PS If you’re searching for seeds (from arugula to zucchini and everything in between), I’m recommending a company that not only has a worthy mission creed but a wonderful moral code. Give The Mauro Seed Company a looksee.
Their motto? Grow One, Give One. I’m impressed. Maybe you will be too.
Now don’t forget to head on over to the main post (here) to see what I’m bletherin’ on about this week. And check out what we’re talkin’ bout down at the pub (here) too!
Shelley Sackier 
wow absolutely amazing ideas! I never heard that you can actually use tomato skin for anything 🙂 but we learn something new everyday, don´t we?
It was a huge surprise to me too! I actually stumbled across these ideas as I traveled four or five years ago in the UK. Such clever cooks, and me fortunate enough to dine at their tables. I hope you’re able to enjoy them at home as much as I have. But I’m going to guess you’ll find new and adventuresome ways to use the skins next. Keep me posted. Cheers!
Well you are indeed a bundle of information. I just now got around to check out your recipes. I haven’t the foggiest idea why it took me so long. I enjoy your homage to the ‘mater. Tomato water and tomato powder are venerable “old school” applications I am glad to see alive and well. Oh, by the by I am sipping on a single malt I just purchased. GlenGrant 10 year old. Since I am at best a rookie in the single malt department I thought I would try a training wheel variety. So far it is very good. On the rocks the first taste made me want to man the barricades, eat some haggis and sing the praises of Robert Bruce. Pretty good stuff. Well I must go now and try to find Brave Heart on Net Flix.
Ah, shucks, Benson, what a pleasure to have a man of your talent and background post a few words of praise. I thank you.
And I’m thrilled to hear of your walk on the wild side of whisky. Welcome to my favorite part of the world. Beautiful barley water!
Have you had haggis? It takes a fair hand to make a worthy one, but once you’ve had a taste of it done properly–it’s a dish you’ll start hankerin on a regular basis.
Slainte!
I have only had an American version of haggis. Evidently the locals frown upon sheep pluck and stomach being used for human vittles. What I did have rocked. It went well with Tenant beer. After I become civilized I must go back and try it again with a taste of whisky.
For my guests of squeamish stomach, one year for a Burns’ Night, my brother and I made it with venison (and billion beautiful spices) and encased it within a hashbrown basket. We served it with a green peppercorn whisky cream sauce. Oh. My. Godfathers. Was that good.
Not at all traditional, but it was worthy all the same.
Land sakes girl that should be illegal. There is nothing more I can say, except Winner winner-chicken dinner. That won the inter- net for the week.
Oh I forgot something. See what Scotch does to you. Regarding tomato powder: make a hot infused basil/olive oil to drizzle on hummus and the top with tomato powder. Pretty good.
Yes, right, tomatoes.
The recipe sounds scrumptious. I’ll give it a whirl. 😉
Hi Shelley – just read your interview with JT (Jan) and thought I would say. My day job gets in the way of writing more but the sit your BUTT down and get er’ done is a good reminder for me. Have a great day and iin the next few weeks as my tomatoes ripen I will be trying your tomato skins….
– Charlie C.
I adore JT. She is such a hoot. And I had a wonderful time doing that interview with her. Thanks for taking the time to read it. Would photography be that day job by chance?
And I do hope you’ve got yourself a mess of tomatoes, as those skins are wholly addictive. Just a tiny heads up on that one. Hope the garden is bountiful.
Cheers, Charlie!