Green Tomatoes

[yellow]

Well, I'm bumping this to 2008 because I've been having severe tomato anxiety this weekend.

I picked over 40 POUNDS (yes, 40 pounds) off of 5 tomato plants on Thursday night before the snow storm hit. So I've had bowls and boxes of tomatoes all over my house and I'd been fretting what to do with all of them. I gave away about 10 pounds, but that still left me with a whole lot of tomatoes. Most of them are small, and some are on the way to being ripe.

I relegated the ones that look like they could ripen in the next week to the kitchen counter.

The ones that are in good shape (not cracked or otherwise prone to moldation [yes, I made that word up and I like it!]) are in various window sills in the kitchen and laundry room. That still left me with a whole bunch of small green tomatoes.

So today I made a tomato cake (dud, I tasted it ), two green tomato pies (went in the freezer uncooked), and 10 big jars of pickles (I hope I meet some pickle lovers soon). I think I'll make Jones' chutney tomorrow or the next day (I'll need to go by the Indian grocery and get some sultans and demerara, whatever the heck that is). So my anxiety has lessened but I still have tomatoes all over the freakin' place!!!

I might fry some tonight. They are so small, though, that it might not work all that well.

And the rest? I can even think about that now... and I haven't even starting thinking about the peppers, which are only in the 5 pound range. But they are small. And hot (mostly habaneros).

Gawd, life is so hard.

[Eden]

Sultanas are golden raisins - its a term mostly used in places that learned to speak English from the Brits... If you ask for a sultan, you are likely to get something quite different
Demarara sugar is raw brown sugar. You should be able to find both items in your regular grocery store.

[solveig]

We run a vegetable farm, and this is favorite fall treat around here. The green tomatoes add this really nice tangy touch to apple crisp. Everyone knows something's unique about this, but no one can put a finger on it...just don't tell them until after they know it's tasty.

Green Tomato Apple Crisp
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine 4 C chopped green tomatoes, 4 C peeled, sliced apples, 1/2 C raisins, and 1 tsp grated orange rind. Sprinkle on 2 Tbsp flour, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp ground cloves, 1/8 tsp salt. Toss with apple mixture. Drizzle on 1/2 C honey, and mix to distribute evenly. Place fruit in an oiled 7-1/2x12 baking dish.
Combine 1/2 C whole wheat pastry flour, 1/2 C brown sugar, 1 C quick-cooking rolled oats, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, and 1/4 tsp salt in a bowl. Cut in 1/3 C cold butter with a pastry cutter or two knives until the mixture is the texture of coarse meal. Spread the topping over the apple mixture. Bake for about 50 minutes, or until the apples are tender.


This one is also good, but I don't use quite as much oil as they call for:

Green Tomato Pasta Sauce
Put on a large pot of water, and cook 1 lb fettuccini (or other) pasta. Soak 1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes in boiling water for 10 minutes, drain, and cut the tomatoes in slivers. Heat 6 Tbsp olive oil in a large, deep skillet over medium heat. Add 6 cloves garlic, finely minced, and 1/4 tsp chili pepper flakes (optional). Carefully add 4 to 5 green tomatoes, very finely chopped, and the sun-dried tomatoes. Cook, stirring often, for 3 to 5 minutes. Drain pasta and return to cooking pot. Pour hot green tomato sauce over pasta and add 1/4 C fresh chopped basil leaves and 1/4 C finely minced parsley. Season with salt and pepper. Toss to combine well, and serve! Top with grated parmesan cheese if you wish.

[SouthernBelle]

On my fried green tomatoes, I dip in milk, dip in flour, dip in egg, dip in cornmeal. Of course they must be fried in a cast iron skillet or dutch oven.

Don't go too green with them. Let them lighten up a bit.

[carpaltunnel]

I make dill pickles with the small ones, or even quarter the larger ones so they'll absorb the brine. wash the tomatoes, put in sterile jars with dill, garlic buds, and if you like hot, a pinch of red pepper flakes. Boil brine and pour over the pickles in the jar, and seal. If they don't seal I keep them in the refrigerator and eat them first.

The crisp recipe sounds great!

[Lifesgreat]

Hey Yellow!

We picked a bunch of tomatoes before the storm and are keeping the green ones in the garage. In the past, we have had luck wrapping them in newspaper and waiting for them to ripen. Don't know what DH's plans are for them this year. I also gave a bunch of green ones to a friend who likes to fry them.

We gave away a lot of tomatoes this year to "tomatoless" friends. Seems like the bees really liked our yard and didn't go anywhere else.

I left a "pickling cucumber disguised as a pumpkin" in the yard. I wasn't going to eat it. . .

[Grog]

For as long as I can remember, my mother has made a so-called "green ketchup" which until very recently I thought was "relish" (it's not, obviously) but rather green-tomato based. It's SO good on everything, including Shepard's pie.

Actually Shepard's pie is ONLY good with green ketchup.

I have no idea what the recipe is but it's probably something like onions and green tomatoes. I could ask if you want.

[yellow]

We picked a bunch of tomatoes before the storm and are keeping the green ones in the garage. In the past, we have had luck wrapping them in newspaper and waiting for them to ripen.

Garage? What's that?

Remember my little house? Now picture boxes and bowls of tomatoes. They are now spread all over, some in windowsills, some in the fridge, some in the freezer, and a bunch still on the counter. I'm going to skip the wrapping and just keep them in boxes and will rotate them, kind of like an incubator. That is, until I have a space-related hissy fit (they seem to happen weekly) and they end up...somewhere else.

Off topic: we've been in this small--by American standards--house for 3 years now, intentionally choosing it because of its size (1200 SF, which includes a finished attic, no garage, built in 1890). I really thought I would have adapted by now, but I haven't. I'm grateful for what I have, but, man, this bumping into stuff all the time makes me c-r-a-b-b-y.