Awesome Sauce: Tomato Talk in the Kitchen Garden Cooking School

By Becca Knutson
Community Garden Coordinator, Tarrant Area Food Bank

The weather is getting warmer, the days are getting longer, and school is almost done for the year. It must be close to summer! In Tarrant Area Food Bank’s Learning Garden that means peppers, green beans, and tomatoes are producing in significant numbers. We can barely wait for our hard work to pay off and for those beautiful tomatoes to turn red.

Tomatoes are a crowd favorite among community and backyard gardeners. There are hundreds of unique varieties to grow and many ways to prepare, store, and preserve this versatile fruit. Tomatoes can be eaten fresh, roasted, baked, stuffed, sauteed, in soups, and made into salsas. On Wednesday, June 7 our Kitchen Garden Cooking School Harvest Series class will feature tomatoes and three TAFB staff-approved recipes that demonstrate some of the different cooking methods. Register today.

Gardeners often find themselves with an abundance of ripe tomatoes early in the summer. This Tomato-Chickpea Salad is a great way to use all those garden-fresh tomatoes in a delightful dish that is sure to be a family favorite!

Tomato-Chickpea Salad

Recipe adapted from beautybites.org

Ingredients

• 1 can chickpeas
• 1 small red pepper
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro
• 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
• 2 green onions
• 1 small white onion
• 2 large tomatoes or 2 pounds cherry tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
• Salt to taste

Instructions

• Rinse and drain chickpeas, place in a large salad bowl.
• Chop pepper, tomatoes, onion, green onion, basil and cilantro. Add to the large salad bowl.
• Add olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
• Mix everything together and add salt, if needed.

For more information about our classes and workshops, visit tarrantareafoodbank.eventbrite.com.