Top of The Crop

The wow factor of Clopper's sauce, even as a supporting player in other recipes, is its pure flavor. "It's Italian, not Italian American," she says, alluding to the thicker, more-seasoned sauces she first tasted in Italian restaurants in Portland, Ore., after having returned to the States from living in Italy. "By next week, my husband and I will be making two and three batches of this red sauce every other night, until it doesn't fit in the freezer anymore. We'll eat it all winter long."

Pat and Jack Clopper are huge tomato fans; he likes Sunrise and Cherokee Purple varieties best, and she's appreciative of the specimens a neighbor brings them from West Virginia. They will use their sauce in a variety of ways: on fettucine, of course; mixed with bread crumbs, to fill the center of hollowed-out pattypan squash; and layered in zucchini lasagna. And they'll take filled containers to their 92-year-old aunt in Buffalo, who takes the Cloppers to farms near her house for -- what else? -- more tomatoes.

For her second-place win, Pat Clopper will receive an Oxo food mill.

The third-place recipe, Tomato Shrimp Delight, might be the impetus for a new venture.

Ming Soo Hoo loves to cook for the friends and fellow church members who frequent her Gaithersburg home; she especially likes recipes that don't keep her in the kitchen too long. Just a few days before she saw the contest announcement in the Food section, she had on hand some frozen shrimp, fresh spinach and many tomatoes she had purchased at Grand Mart and at Giant. A friend came over for dinner, and the dish dreamed up in an instant was deemed a winner.

Ming says she never seeds tomatoes for her dishes because she likes to taste the whole tomato. "This is very fast and very easy," she says. "I like the heat in it" from the jalapeño pepper and its seeds. "And it's pretty." The 55-year-old pediatric physical therapist is fond of tomatoes and submitted four other entries as well. She'd been rooting for her personal favorite, Tomato Eggs.

Her daughter helped her write the recipes, and now her friends are urging Ming to write a cookbook.

"I say to myself, middle age? What else can I do now? Maybe I should do that cookbook," she says.

To help her make short work of future tomato endeavors, Ming will receive a Lamson Sharp tomato knife.

"Top Tomato" aprons are on the way to all 10 winners, too. Thanks to all who participated. Shall we do this again next year?