Hoopskirts

Stewed tomatoes for breakfast - a very British thing.  Also a very breakfast thing in nineteenth-century America.  Eggs and Tomatoes comes from Mrs. Bliss's 1850 volume, The Practical Cookbook  (Philadelphia).  It's not a seasonal thing for me right now, since, being April, it's not tomato season. The Recipe To facilitate peeling the tomatoes, I put them into boiling water to blanch them.  Once the skins split, I removed them with a slotted spoon, removed the skins, halved them, removed the seeds, and then rough chopped the remainder Blanched tomatoes I melted two tablespoons of butter in a frying pan, added the chopped tomatoes, and let them cook.  I added salt and pepper to taste. Since the tomatoes were already warmed from the blanching, this didn't take very long.  I beat six eggs with a fork as if I was making scrambled eggs. Pour the eggs into the stewed tomatoes and begin stirrin...

It's August - and that most seasonable of vegetables is ripening - tomatoes! How utterly perfect, because the current challenge for the Historical Food Fortnightly is Seasonal Fruits/Vegetables.   The challenge: concoct a dish based on the fruits and/or vegetables that would have been in season and available to the particular time you wish to interpret. It needn’t be the place you are in at this moment, but it should coincide with the season! I selected "Tomatoes Sliced with Onions," which can be found on  p 49 of Elizabeth Lea's book  Domestic Cookery, Useful Receipts, and Hints to Young Housekeepers  (10th edition), published in 1859 in Maryland. This simple recipe makes a lovely summer salad that highlights the tomatoes.                                        Tomatoes Sliced with Onions               ...