How To Peel Tomatoes

Just a ‘quickie’ on ‘how to peel tomatoes’. I often google how to do ‘this n that’ rather than an actual recipe, ie; ‘How to make avocado flowers?’ or ‘Can you freeze Lemons whole? e.t.c…..I really don’t know what I did before the internet!

Maybe the bits of skin floating around don’t even bother you but if they do this is an easy method to peel them for when you prefer not to have the texture of the skins in your dish or sauce. Many do it when making sauce or relish and also find that using skinned tomatoes will give you silky smooth tomato paste, puree or soup. You can also peel them before adding them to chillies, stews or any other dishes requiring diced tomatoes. I’ve used the method so far on my blog for Ratatoiulle and my Pizza Sauce recipe when you are using fresh tomatoes rather than from a can.

 

METHOD

First if they are still on, pull off the stems.

Then if you haven’t any ice on hand fill a medium-sized bowl with water (enough to cover the tomatoes) and place it in the freezer.

Next using a sharp knife cut a shallow cross into the bottom of each tomato.

Now it’s best to cook only one layer of toms in the bottom of the saucepan at a time so if you only want to cook, say, four, a small or medium saucepan will do. If you are doing a whole heap you will have to do a few lots or use a much larger saucepan.

So find the saucepan you want to use and fill it with water, enough to cover the tomatoes (but don’t put them in just yet). Place the saucepan over a high heat and bring the water to the boil.

When it’s boiling, leave it boiling for just a minute while you fill a medium-sized bowl with enough water in it to cover the tomatoes, with a handful of ice thrown into it (or get the cold bowl of water from the freezer ready on the bench).

Then using tongs carefully place the tomatoes into the boiling water with the cross-cut facing upwards.

Leave them in for 30 seconds or until the cross you cut starts to split open, whichever of these comes first (if you cook them too long the flesh will start cooking).

Remove them with the tongs and place them in the bowl of iced/very cold water for a few minutes or until they have cooled down (this stops them from cooking further).

If you are doing more than can fit into the saucepan, bring the water back to the boil and repeat the process.

• You may need to place the bowl of water back into the freezer for a bit or add more ice if your chilled water warms up.

The cooled tomatoes can be skinned now. So remove them from the bowl of water and starting at the cross-cut use your fingers or a little sharp knife and gently peel the skin back.

• If flesh is coming away with the skin they may have been left in the boiling water too long. Alternately if the skin is not easily coming away the water wasn’t hot enough or they weren’t left in long enough. If it’s not easily peeling away return them to the boiling water for another minute.

That’s it! Slice them in half, remove the core from each half and chop them up according to your recipe.

Very tasty Pizza Sauce…..

So tell me, do the skins bother you? Do you avoid the hassle and leave them on or do you think the tomatoes make a better soup or sauce when you peel them?