Tomatoes all year round

We didn't go quite as crazy with our canning extravaganza as last year, though I did buy a 20-pound box of early girl tomatoes. Ben's company, Good Eggs, sells delicious, local produce, and one of their producers was selling a box of tomatoes that "didn't quite meet their standards of perfection." At $1.15 per pound, it sounded perfect for canning. I used half for tomato sauce and half for gazpacho.

Tomato sauce
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

10 pounds of early girl tomatoes
1 cup of olive oil
20 cloves of garlic, minced
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 cups white wine
2.5 tablespoons sugar
3.75 tablespoons salt

For the gazpacho, I couldn't fit everything in one blender batch, which gave me a perfect excuse to experiment. Each batch featured slightly different ingredients.

Gazpacho #1
2 pounds of early girl tomatoes
1 clove of garlic
1 small cucumber, peeled and diced
2 T sherry vinegar
1 T lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
Chopped basil
Salt

Gazpacho #2
2 pounds of early girl tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic
1 small cucumber, peeled and diced
1/4 white onion
2 T sherry vinegar
1 T lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon tarragon
Dash of cumin
Salt

Gazpacho #3
2 pounds of early girl tomatoes
1 clove of garlic
1 small cucumber, peeled and diced
1 thick slice of stale white bread, cubed
2 T sherry vinegar
2 T lemon juice
1 T lime juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon honey
1/4 teaspoon dried parsley
Chopped basil
Dash of cumin
Pepper
Salt

- Steph