WaPo has announced its Top Tomato recipe winners for 2012  in today’s food section. As we’ve reported, it doesn’t come without a little scandalous tarnish as last year’s winners didn’t receive their promised oven mitts. But there’s a silver lining. The 2011 winners have been notified that their bright-red oven mitts – along with a special extra gift to apologize for the delay – are on their way.

That gift? A cookbook!

Let’s just hope it arrives by mid 2013.

This year’s first place winner is: Barbara Brynelson, a pediatrician in Rockville, Md. who sounds like a tomato winner, doesn’t she? She won for her Chipotle Shrimp With Tomato Corn Salsa. Other award winning tomato dishes were a ginger tomato ice cream (ick?), tomato butter and tomato and smoked salmon pasta. At least visually, we liked second place winner Vincent Amoroso‘s stuffed Corsican peppers.

Gifts for this year’s winners include the aforementioned bright-red oven mitts. One winner is a repeat award winner so she’ll get a set cookbooks. Congrats to all!

Read the story by Jane Touzalin here.