That salmonella outbreak has store owners skittish about selling tomatoes, and there were probably tons of the things taken off the shelves. What happened to them? Did they go to the hog farms? What a waste.
So what does a frugal shopper do with those tomatoes bought before the ban? Soak, slice, dice, spice and simmer.
First, give them a thorough washing with tap water. And if that's not enough, soak them in a vinegar bath. Given enough time vinegar will eat up a pocket knife, so surely it will kill a few tiny little bacteria. For some suggestions on what to do with the leftover vinegar, see 62-little-known-uses-of-vinegar.
Anyway, on to the chopping block. Slice up some jalapeños for some additional protection against the bacteria, and you can never go wrong with garlic sliced Goodfellas style.
Put it all in a pan, throw in your favorite spices, and cook over low heat until it's bubbling and saucy. There you have it: Rehabilitated Tomatoes!
Pour the sauce over some pasta and serve with a glass of wine. There's probably not enough alcohol in the wine to kill any germs that survived all of that, but it couldn't hurt. What you see here is the above described tomato sauce over fusilli and served with steamed broccoli and salmon loaf. Yummy yet healthy.
Now if only those local growers will start harvesting and selling those delicious home grown tomatoes!
Added later. I should mention that I did the cooking and eating several days ago, and aside from needing a power nap, there have been no side effects. So either it worked, or the tomatoes weren't infected. Also, on this same general topic, Eric's method of tomato sterilization might be a bit of overkill.