Monday, October 26, 2015

Tomato Products, Don't Waste Them!




I admit, I can be somewhat of a tight wad sometimes when it comes to cooking. I hate wasting ingredients if I can avoid it. I am not sure if it is a matter of years working in a restaurant and always searching for ways to reduce our food costs, or if I am simply anal retentive when it comes to cooking. My wife would probably vote for the later, she has informed me on several occasions sometimes I am not fun to cook with...[GRIN]. Yes, I know it is hard for me to give up control in the kitchen, and I want to tell her how to do things as if she was a novice cook and I her supervising chef. I am working on that, but back to the topic of this article.

Tomato paste is a great flavor enhancer for soups, stews, stocks and sauces, and a little goes along way. Unfortunately it comes in 6 ounce cans, and for the home cook most of the time we only need one or two tablespoons for our recipe. That leaves us with the dilemma of what to do with the rest of the tomato paste. Now I know some of you have a can of tomato paste sitting in the fridge right now that has some fuzzy green stuff growing on it because you just didn't need to rest of it. So here is a quick easy tip to keep that from happening again, and you will always have fresh tomato paste when you need just one or two tablespoons. As a side note, I have also included was to save leftover tomato sauce or juice, or any other liquid that you might have leftover by following the 'Tomato Sauce' trick.


The Tomato Paste Trick

Whenever I open a can of tomato paste, I take a small scoop (approximately 1 tablespoon) and scoop the remaining tomato paste from the jar and place it on a plate. I then put the plate in the freezer for a few hours until it is frozen. Once the tomato paste has set, remove it from the plate and place it in a zip lock bag and put it back in the freezer. Now whenever you just need a tablespoon of tomato paste, grab one from the bag and throw it in your soup, stew, or sauce. Quick, easy, painless and it actually saves you money.




The Tomato Sauce Trick

Tomato sauce or juice never seems to go to waste at my house, and I have never froze either in ice cube trays. I do on occasion cook down a stock until half the liquid has evaporated creating what is known as a demi-glace. I have frozen demi-galce many times in ice cube trays and then pop out the cubes and place them in zip lock bags. The demi-glace is used just like a tomato paste or sauce to add flavor to soups, stews or stocks. Just like my demi-glace, pour your extra tomato sauce or juice in extra ice cube trays and freeze to keep the extra from going to waste. Then when you have a recipe that calls for a tablespoon or two of tomato sauce or juice you got some on hand.




Conclusion

It only takes a few minutes to quickly prepare your extra tomato paste, sauce or juice in place it in the freezer to keep for a later date. Following this simple procedure helps to eliminate waste in your kitchen, and any food or food product that you can save for a later use is money you are putting right back in your pocket. As always, if you have enjoyed this article, please share it with your friends and don't forget to send us a friend request on Facebook and Google+ so that you will not miss out on any of our new articles.


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