The Annual Tomato Recipe Collection (Volume 2)
As I considered the topic for this week’s newsletter, I kept obsessing over my new favorite recipes for the fall tomato harvest, and then repetitively kicking myself with a classy Homer Simpson, d’oh, I already did that post! I need new material!
But this afternoon, as I scooped tomato labneh dip onto a piece of sourdough bread, the stars aligned over my fruit-fly-friendly kitchen counter. I realized: people can never have too many tomato harvest recipes, right? Why not make it an annual tradition?
So here we are — the second edition of tomato recipes, 2025 version. This is our chance to follow the trends (hello TikTok viral pasta!) and celebrate how flavor can be incredibly simple. Just like last year, I’m focusing on ease: recipes that let you process or freeze quickly, and dishes that make the most of the bounty. We all know that feeling of the great countertop tomato takeover, so here are some delicious ways to put the harvest to work. (Oh, and here is last year’s collection, if you want to start with Season One.)
Let’s dive in.
The Dip
Ok, it’s not actually called that, yet. But if Allison Roman has “the cookie” and “the stew,” I think this tomato labneh dip should be “the dip.” I’ve made it three times this month, and with the amount of cherry tomato ziplocks I now have in the freezer, I predict a few more winter renditions. All you gotta do is bake your tomatoes with a cup of olive oil, whole garlic cloves, and several sprigs of herbs. Then you pull cold labneh out of the fridge and create a plated masterpiece with dip and tomatoes and some flaky salt. The taste is phenomenal, and chances are you’re introducing your audience to labneh, which is a yogurt based dip we should all be inhaling like hummus. There is so much garden goodness in this recipe it makes me a little teary.
2. The Viral Roasted Tomato Tik Tok Pasta
I sent the boyfriend to work with a bowl of this stuff one morning, and all of his coworkers immediately knew of the recipe he tried to explain. “Oh yeah… the tik tok pasta…”. It’s real, folks. It’s simple and delicious and all I have to say is, why not?? Tomatoes, herbs, feta cheese, pasta? It’s so simple it’s embarrassing. We added a drizzle of serrano hot honey to the top of our bowls because we are a tad gluttonous and sometimes acid needs a touch of sweet, if you ask me.
3. Crispy Spiced Chickpeas With Peppers and Tomatoes
I have a little competition with myself to see how many garden crops I can fit into a recipe, and this one is the season’s winner with seven items. (Yes, I am including the coriander I harvested in June and the onion I forgot about until last week.) I am always looking for protein because hey, I jump on every health bandwagon, so the addition of chickpeas were right up my ally. This recipe offers another mediteranean flavor, but with coriander, cumin, and turmeric to deepen the flavor.
4. BLTs all day
I’ll take a moment here to remind you that FALL IS ALSO LETTUCE SEASON, so the addition of crispy lettuce doesn’t require a trip to the grocery. You likely have some greens sprouting in your own little garden right now. (If not, this is your sign to order some seeds right now.) BLTs are a personal thing, my friends, so I’ll let you take it from here.
Dukes or Hellmans or homemade?
White Bread? Daves Killer? Dozen Oat Loaf?
Pick your poison, but grow your own L and T, wontcha?
And if all of this feels like too much tomato, remember: you don’t have to get fancy. If you’ve got an extra half hour, roast them first — drizzle with olive oil, scatter in some garlic and herbs, and let the oven concentrate all that sweetness. Then freeze the roasted tomatoes flat in bags. Future you will thank present you when pasta night rolls around and all you have to do is reheat a bag of pre-roasted goodness.
Or, if you’re even more pressed for time, just wash them, pop them whole into a freezer bag, and tuck them away — no blanching, no peeling, no fuss. When you need a burst of summer flavor in January, toss the frozen tomatoes straight into soups, sauces, or a roasting pan and let the heat do the work.
That’s it for Volume 2 of the Annual Tomato Recipe Collection. Here’s to clearing the countertops, stocking the freezer, and keeping the flavor of late summer alive. See you next September for Volume 3. 🍅
