Cover Image: Tomato Love

Tomato Love

Pub Date:   |   Archive Date:

Member Reviews

Thank you to NetGalley and Storey Publishing for the opportunity to read an advanced reader's copy of this cookbook for an honest review. (Publish Date: June 21, 2022)

“Tomato Love” by Joy Howard is a cookbook and guide celebrating the world’s most popular fruit.

I was excited to read this cookbook, because I always have an abundance of tomatoes from my garden in the summer months, and I wanted some new ideas on how to use them up. I assumed this cookbook would contain more vegetarian options, but many of the recipes used meat. However, I did find a few recipes I really enjoyed: Tomato Grilled Cheese (the whole family loved this one!), Southwest Quinoa Salad (a fiesta for the palate), and Creamy Garlic Pasta (who knew sun-dried tomatoes were so flavorful?).

The author’s section “Cooking with Fresh Tomatoes” was extremely helpful! Howard not only guides readers on how to properly store, prep, squeeze, grate, and wedge tomatoes, she also explains how tomato seeds have a distinctive taste that just doesn’t work for every recipe. She then gives great instructions on how to remove the seeds, pulp, and core like a pro.

I really appreciated the author’s guidance for buying canned tomatoes. Howard advised purchasing whole tomatoes and then chopping them yourself rather than buying pre-chopped tomatoes, because most of them contain chemicals that help tomatoes hold their shape after being cooked. This results in tomatoes that don’t break down properly for recipes – not to mention lackluster flavor.

Other than wishing there were more meatless recipes, I would recommend this cookbook to anyone wanting to use more fresh or shelf-stable tomatoes in their meals. The author’s advice was very helpful and her instructions were easy to follow for anyone wanting to explore more options for using any variety of tomato.

Was this review helpful?

Tomato Love is a delightful cookbook with wonderful photos. The summer tomato season is right around the corner and this book provides a variety of recipes for all occasions.

The Mushroom Kale & Tomato Strata utilizes the cherry tomato, while The Caramelized Onion and Tomato Jam highlights the roma varietal. There are even recipes that call for sun-dried tomatoes and canned tomatoes that are available year round.

Whether you are in the mood for soup, salad, scones or a hearty pasta, Tomato Love has fun, easy recipes the whole family will enjoy!

Was this review helpful?

I looooveeee tomatoes. They're amazing. They can be almost sweet, snap in your mouth all juicy-like. Or they cna be spicy and piping hot right out of the oven. They always add something to whatever recipe they're in and they go with almost everything. So I adored Joy Howard's recipe book, from the basic sauces to the more complex dishes. The photography is stunning, the recipes are straightforward and easy to follow. I would highly recommend this to those who, like me, enjoy a good tomato and would love to do so in new ways!

Was this review helpful?

I LOVE tomatoes. I love them raw, cooked, canned, in a sauce - so whenever I can get my hands on a new tomato inspired recipe, I want it. While I liked this cookbook, there are some downsides.

What I liked:

- A quick run through at the beginning of the authors preferred tomatoes and preparation techniques

- Beautiful, detailed photographs of each and every dish

- Easy-to-make recipes with easy-to-find ingredients

- Recipes include different forms of tomatoes which is a realistic representation of how we eat them year round (not always fresh from the vine)

What I didn't like:

- Many of the recipes are just normal menu items that happen to contain tomatoes. I expected all of the recipes to be more tomato centric, such as the tomato scones and tomato goat cheese tart. Chicken skewers that include tomatoes, grilled flank steak with tomatoes and oven baked cod are not really recipes I was expecting to find in this cookbook.

- Some of the recipes reuse the main tomato ingredient, such as the any day red sauce. In a book where the sauce is the main event and several recipes use it, it would make more sense to list the recipe for the sauce and then immediately follow with all the recipes that contain it, instead of having those spread out.

There are some great tomato-dominant recipes in here and some recipes that you can pull out when you’re like, "I have too many tomatoes; what can I make.?" Overall, I would recommend this cookbook. Just know that not every recipe is all about the tomatoes.

Thank you NetGalley and Storey Publishing for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Was this review helpful?

I thought I loved tomatoes, I certainly do now.

The pictures are beautiful and enticing, the recipes are mouthwatering and yet simple. The book is a triumph!

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for gifting me this arc in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

Was this review helpful?

First, thanks to Netgalley and Storey Publishing for the opportunity to receive and ARC in exchange for an honest review.

WOW. As an avid gardener who just cannot say no to another tomato variety in my beautiful garden I am always looking for new ideas for recipes.

This book is not just about tomato sauce. There is a tomato vinaigrette which will now be the star of my summer salads. The book is creative, offers solid advice (yes those canned tomatoes are a wonderful substitute) as well as an education on types of tomatoes. Cooking includes baking, stovetop, and instant pot and there is a lovely variety from the pot roast to the curry to the tomato basil soup.

I was a bit perplexed on the index as it appears to be for a blueberry focussed cookbook and would have liked to see more than 44 recipes but the photos are wonderful and presentation (via protected pdf is so nice and clean and, well, pretty.

Well done.

Was this review helpful?

This is such a clever cookbook! I’ve never considered how many things you can do with a tomato, but I’m thinking about it now! There are a lot of recipes which are easy to follow and look amazing.

Was this review helpful?

This is a versatile cookbook, full of recipes revolving around one of my favourite fruits: TOMATOES!!!

<img src="https://i0.wp.com/jackfrostgardens.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/NFF_Tomatoes_Mix-2-W.jpg?fit=3000%2C2000&ssl=1"/>

The recipes run the gamut from vegetarian to a meat-lovers delight. There is even a Tomato and Peach Panzanella salad that was beautifully presented. (The colour photographs of the simply prepared dishes were absolutely mouthwatering!)

<img src="https://cdn.loveandlemons.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/panzanella.jpg"/>

I am personally going to try to make the Sun Dried Tomato Scones. I will pair them with her recipe for Roasted Tomato Basil Soup or the Instant Pot Black Lentil Stew, made with hot Italian sausages. The recipes are easy to follow and you don't have to hunt for obscure ingredients to make the majority of the dishes in this handy book.

<img src="https://kitchenconfidante.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Sun-Dried-Tomato-Thyme-Scones-kitchenconfidante.com-8449.jpg"/>

Other tantalizing entries included Carmelized Onion and Tomato Jam, BLTK's Kebabs, Patlican Soslu (a Turkish eggplant dish that looked incredibly appetizing), Root Vegetable Latkes in a Romesco sauce (flavoured with smokey paprika), Chicken Meatballs in tomato sauce, Balsamic Grilled Flank Steak and the intriguingly named: Worth the Wait Pot Roast!

<img src="https://www.datocms-assets.com/43891/1616239711-mswnp9n5lfagqrgj8t5knxgjv772qpdd.jpg?auto=format&fit=crop&h=450&w=800"/>

I;m rating this one a sure fire 5 out of 5 stars because every single recipe looked appealing and doable. My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this great little cookbook in exchange for an honest review.

Was this review helpful?

This book is very basic regarding tomatoes and in the majority of the recipes, tomatoes are a minor ingredient. I did not post this anywhere.

Was this review helpful?

I thought this was a fun take on a cookbook. We use a lot of tomato based products for foods such as pasta sauce, tomato paste, salsa, ect. but I have never seen a book devoted entirely to this delicious food staple. I liked that there were a lot of recipes here I probably would have never seen elsewhere. This is a good cookbook for anyone who loves tomatoes and wants to learn all of the different kinds of recipes you can make from them.

Was this review helpful?

A vibrant book full of amazing photos and beautiful tomato's. Getting ready for the spring and summer season I am excited to review this book. The book starts out quickly with the types of tomato's and how they vary. It includes the importance of storage and prepping. The delves into cooking with different type of pantry tomato's, canned, ketchup, paste, sundried and anything included in these broad categories. The recipe section is divided up starting with breakfast/brunch also including the colorful photos of the finished recipes. Snacks are also represented with a wide variety of creatively delicious recipes. Salads, soups, stews is the next section with creative new recipes all featuring the star - TOMATO. It also includes the recent kitchen appliance the insta pot with recipes to really utilize the pot. Vegetarian mains are represented for those days you want purely vegetable focused meals or vegetarians. Also explores some meaty mains still focusing on maters. It then develops the basics, from vinaigrettes and variety of sauces. This will definitely assist the reader with the best ways to utilize their stock of tomatoes. Fun creative and innovative.

Was this review helpful?

The pictures of fresh tomatoes look so delicious. The recipes are perfect for a light summer meal. I would recommend this cookbook for tomato lovers.

Was this review helpful?

What a delightful book with tasty recipes. Have tried a few, and had good success. If you love tomatoes and want more ways to serve them this book is for you. Highly recommend.

Was this review helpful?

Think of it as no-whining dining.

We know it's a fruit rather than a vegetable but the fact that so many people get confused just goes to show how versatile the tomato is. Then there are all the different types, not to mention the cultivars - and you begin to understand why Joy Howard says that she hasn't met one she didn't love. I'd argue with her there - I have no affection for the ones you find in the supermarket next to the ones labelled 'grown for flavour' to distinguish them from the ones that have obviously just been grown for profit. Personally, I'd prefer a tin of tomatoes to those - and Howard makes good use of these. She's not at all precious if you get the taste.

Tomato Love gives you all the information you need on buying, storing and prepping tomatoes and the flavours you get from the different varieties. Unfortunately, many of the varieties are common in the USA but not in the United Kingdom and to make good use of the recipes you're going to have to get inventive. You're also going to have to be able to convert American 'cup' measurements into grams or ounces.

The recipes (supported by some excellent photography) give meals that will taste good from breakfast through to main meals. There are classics - occasionally with a twist - such as a tomato grilled cheese sandwich which uses mayo instead of butter to crisp up. There are plenty of good tips too - such as how to cook shrimps without them going rubbery.

I had some favourites but - if you like tomatoes - you're going to find something to please everyone. I was torn between the spicy gazpacho and the roasted tomato basil soup: both deliver flavour in abundance as a starter or a light lunch. For main courses, I was taken by the root vegetable latkes with Romesco sauce and the fall vegetable curry: I suspect that the latter is going to make regular appearances. I'm also going to try the tomato vinaigrette which will give a salad quite a lot of oomph. I would have liked to try the mushroom, kale and tomato strata, which looked tempting for a cold winter's evening but it provides twelve servings and it's rare that I cook for that many people these days.

There's plenty of inspiration in the book and it's a pity that it will be more useful in the US than the UK but I'd still like to thank the publishers for letting Bookbag have a review copy.

Was this review helpful?

I really liked the variety of recipes in this book & the pictures are great! Every single recipe had a photo, which is always my ideal with a cookbook.

Was this review helpful?

Single-ingredient cookbooks are not always as good as you would expect. This one is a huge exception. The photos are gorgeous, but the recipes themselves are top notch. Many takes on classics, and quite a few unexpected new ideas.

Was this review helpful?

Tomato Love by Joy Howard was a feast for the eyes! I grow about twenty different tomatoes each year or at least try to keep it down to that many varieties so books about tomatoes always catch my eye. Joy's book of tomato recipes does one of my favorite things there is a photo for each recipe!

I did make the Pizza Margherita recipe from my jarred tomatoes from last summer. It was delicious a recipe. Looking forward to making more when it's tomato season especially Joy's Tomato and Peach Panzanella. There are some puzzling recipes such as the Shrimp Cocktail for two that doesn't even use tomato, it calls for Heinz chili sauce but no tomatoes. This isn't a tomato cookbook to use your bounty of tomatoes as many of the recipes use canned or sun-dried tomatoes which is fine but it's not for me a true celebration of tomatoes cookbook. There isn't one photo of fresh heirloom tomatoes sliced up in the rainbow of colors they come in or much talk about tomatoes in each recipe and for that reason, I can't give this cookbook, a book that celebrates tomatoes, a five-star I'm giving it a four. It's a good book but not great regarding tomatoes. There are only forty-four recipes about tomatoes. Also, I found one recipe that mentioned a specific tomato, Campari tomatoes, but the majority of the recipes featured cherry tomatoes which is good because for anyone who has grown cherry tomatoes you do have a bounty and recipes for them are useful but a book called Tomato Love and not feature some of the gems of the tomato world feels a bit lackluster. Not even the tomato San Marzano gem of the sauce world is mentioned for any recipe in the book or a homemade ketchup recipe to get a lot of the sugar out of ketchup that is made commercially. For me, it left more to be desired for a book about tomato recipes.

Was this review helpful?

I'm not a tomato fan, but everyone else in my family loves them. So, I wanted to see what meals I could learn to share with them. I found a bounty that I can try for them, as well as a few I may even like myself. Every tomato lover needs to book!

Was this review helpful?

The tomato soup recipe is addicting.

<i>Tomato Love</i> is a cookbook for the tomato grower and enthusiast. I'm excited to try out the tomato goat cheese tart once the growing season starts. That being said, there's obviously not a huge breath of recipes here. I'm pretty disappointed that there aren't more sauce recipes especially. As much as I love tomato gardening and cooking, I was a little disappointed.

Thank you Netgalley for the arc for an honest review.

**I'm not going to post my review to goodreads, because I don't want to detract from the author's score.

Was this review helpful?

I am not the cook in the family, but I often love cooking for fun. Most of all, I love reading a cookbook which feels warm and solid and yummy. Tomato Love was all of that and more. Should I say it sparked joy?

It starts with some of the varieties of the fruit available (and mentioned) and briefly touches upon how to prep them and store them, which the very novice/hobbyist cook in me really appreciated. It has some gorgeous gorgeous photographs of the cooked meal described, which almost made me want to cry and definitely made me hungry.

I was especially into the fact that there were some rather easy-to-make recipes combined with a few complex ones, which ensures that just about anyone can make these if they want to. I can’t wait to make the Shakshuka with extra veg, the Baked Chicken Thighs (which looks SO beautiful!), and the Herb-Roasted Grape Tomatoes!

Anybody with a food craving should pick this book up!

Was this review helpful?