Is there arsenic in your tomatoes? New tests reveal that tomatoes contain high levels of…
…JUST KIDDING. I hardly know anything about that stuff. But here’s what I DO KNOW: I’m tired of using just one tablespoon of tomato paste and eventually throwing the rest away. Seriously, can you think of a time when a recipe called for more than one tablespoon of tomato paste? I cannot.
It happened again today, as I was brewing up a batch of Beef Bourguignon (aka fancified French beef stew). I looked at that 1 tablespoon tomato paste on the recipe and had that inner dialogue again: Tomato paste. Doh. I don’t have any. I guess I could buy some. But do I really need it? For that ONE tablespoon? I won’t even use the rest. I guess I could cover it with plastic wrap and leave it in the fridge til the next time I need it. But that probably wouldn’t be for a long time, and then I’d end up throwing it out anyway. No. I don’t need it. But… I’m spending all this time doing everything else by the recipe, what if… bah it’s just one tablespoon. Who needs that…
Well, you get the idea. I mean, I was doing other things while I pondered this, but the tomato paste conundrum simmered away in the back of my mind, one of the 2,857 tabs I’d have to come back to.
I ended up buying it, since I was at the store anyway. After using it, I was about to press a piece of plastic wrap over it when I suddenly remembered a random idea I had seen in a mommy group: divide tablespoons of tomato paste into ice cube trays and freeze for future use! BRILLIANT. What, you already do that? Well, it was news to me.
I was too lazy to use (and later on, wash) ice cube trays. Too lazy to measure. So I covered a plate with saran wrap, eyeballed tablespoons of tomato paste into several mounds, and stuck it in the freezer.
A couple hours later, as I was putting away some cookie dough, I saw my bright red mounds, all frozen and ready to go! I plopped em into a ziplock bag, and now I’ll have ONE TABLESPOON of tomato paste ready to go the next six times I need it!
Woohoo!!
…It’s the little things, guys. Somebody tell me this was a cool tip, please.
And in case you, like me, were wondering…
What’s the point of tomato paste?
Well, lucky you, I searched, “why tomato paste” researched for you. According to Dirtywextraolives on Chowhound:
The paste is a concentrated form of […] tomatoes. Therefore, it does not add liquid to a dish, but it adds tomato flavor, to a degree. It mainly adds body and unctuousness to a dish. It also thickens a sauce. And can act as a binder. It definitely adds an umami quality.
Body. Unctuousness. Umami. Three words I need to work into my food vocabulary.
So there ya have it, folks. The one, the only, The Amazing Tomato Paste. Now available in your freezer section.
(I promise I will post on deeper things soon. Really, at least 10 of my mind-tabs have real, interesting posts started… but actually getting them typed and cleaned up for you might take a week or two :).)
20 responses to “What You Should Know About Tomato Paste”
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I have been doing this for years! It is very convenient and efficient, and your post is just in time for stew season. Amazingly, I made a recipe for braised beef short ribs over the weekend that called for 1.5 cups of tomato paste.
WHAT 1.5 cups?! Unheard of! So how did the short ribs turn out? If you loved em, I’d love to see the recipe! =D I have never met a braised short rib I did not like!
Great idea. I do that with plain yogurt as well. I save it for smoothies which is a great place to slip in extra vegetables.
My mom also introduced me to tomato paste in the tube. It lasts quite a bit longer.
Ooh that is a good idea about yogurt! Noted! By the way, do you have a favorite plain yogurt brand? Most of the ones I’ve tried are super tart.
You know, I have always thought tomato paste in a tube would be a really good idea. I have never seen it at the store though… among the ridiculously huge wall of canned tomato products. I will look harder the next time I need it! Thanks!
Like Auntie, like niece! I had the same encounter with tomato paste two weeks ago. I was trying a new recipe for beef stew, it asked for 1-2 tbsp of TP, grrrr, I only needed 2tbsp, I couldn’t use it all, what do I do? I contemplating in using the whole can but that might ruin the taste so I did the Saran Wrap and popped into the frig with the intent of using for another recipe. Fast forward to two weeks, it is now going into the garbage, it has grown a dry crust around the can and doesn’t look appetizing to reuse.
I love your idea of freezing it but most of time I forget that I have it in the freezer, but that’s another topic, hehe. I learn something new everyday, thanks for sharing!
tomato paste can successfully be stored in the frig by transferring the tomato paste to a glass jar then gently tap the jar to get the tomato paste level then cover the top of the tomato paste with olive oil – this keeps the air off the tomato paste stopping it from molding
Wow, that is one of those comments where I felt like I got some learning-wrinkles in my brain: 1) Keep air off food, 2) do so by tapping out air bubbles, and 3) olive oil barrier. THANKS!
Hahaha yeah I have discovered weeks-old, saran-wrap covered cans of tomato paste that needed the boot too many times. Apparently there is tomato paste in tubes (see comment below), so maybe that will work better for you? 🙂
It’s a bit more expensive, but look for tomato paste in a tube (like toothpaste). It’s perfect for these situations!
Noted! Thanks for the tip!
LOL. We are thinking alike, apparently…. because my recipe post for tomorrow uses… (wait for it)… Tomato Paste! And I actually resized the recipe when I was testing it so that it used a good portion of paste instead of leaving a huge amount behind. (The 1 tsp from a can thing always annoys me. And the tubes seem so expensive!)
I usually try to plan out using it all up… like, I’ll make stew and a tomato-based soup within the same week. (Or this one I’m putting up tomorrow. 🙂 )
(I really like the olive oil tip above, though… it’s like guacamole… I put smooth it out and put lime juice on it, and that keeps it from going brown for a few days!)
I must confess I read the first few lines and then I was thinking “freeze it,” which of course you say. 😉 Tomatoes, Parmesan cheese, mushrooms… all of them have glutamates for that umami flavor and I’ve been trying to work them in much more. 🙂
Yeah I usually try to plan for more recipes that also call for tomato paste to use it up… but now that’s one less thing to think about? Haha. Ooh I just got a Costco-size tub of finely shredded Parmesan cheese 🙂 UMAMI!!