I've been busy! With all the leftover tomatoes -- red and green --- and chili peppers that suffered through those horrible days of rain. (There were also a couple of eggplants). They weren't in the best shape, still ... useable. So I made lots of jam: Red tomato jam, green tomato jam and green tomato, dried fruit and apple chutney.
We eat these all sorts of ways: with cheese and crackers, with cheese for grilled cheese, alongside grilled burgers or steak, just as-is on a cracker. Add some to vegetables. Use your imagination. This stuff is delicious and useful.
Green Tomato Jam
2 pounds green tomatoes, chopped
2 small chili peppers, deseeded and chopped
2 cups sugar
1 small lime, sliced
1 cinnamon stick
2 teaspoons chopped fresh ginger
6 whole cloves
Place the chopped tomatoes and peppers in a food processor and process until the vegetables are very finely chopped. Place the vegetables in a saucepan. Add the sugar, lime slices, cinnamon stick, ginger and cloves and mix to distribute the ingredients. Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat to low and cook for about 2 hours, stirring occasionally, or until the mixture is thick and jam like.
Makes about 2 cups
Green Tomato, Grape and Apple Chutney
By some extraordinary piece of luck, every year a tomato plant that I never planted pops up and makes its appearance in my garden.
The plant grows and grows into a jungle with stalks that I hold up with a multitude of stakes and ties. It reminds me of Jack and the Beanstalk (am I dating myself with that one?). And the stalks are loaded, absolutely loaded, with what becomes the sweetest, most delicious cherry tomatoes ever.
I am guessing that the thing grows from a seed or two that must have planted itself from either some other plant somewhere (but not my garden because I don’t have other plants with this variety of tomato) or maybe from the remains of some outdoor patio lunch or dinner at which I served that kind of tomato.
Whatever the reason, the plant comes back every year in the same place, just as thick and fecund as ever.
Nature is glorious.
But of course, after a while the cold weather comes and dozens of tomatoes are still growing and I have to harvest them before the frost. They’re green of course, so, what to do?
In past years I’ve breaded and fried the small green tomatoes. These glorious tidbits are crunchy outside and soft inside and when you bite into them you get a spurt of fresh, tart tomato juice. They are really good as hors d’oeuvre.
I’ve also used the tomatoes to make chutney. I cooked this new version recently, because I had some apples and grapes on hand.
We love chutney as a side relish with roasted meat and chicken. I also serve it on crackers spread with a bit of cream cheese and have used a thin layer on top of cheese to make a super delicious and unusual grilled cheese sandwich.
Green Tomato, Grape and Apple Chutney
2 cups green cherry tomatoes, halved (or use chopped green tomatoes)
2 cups seedless grapes
1 cup raisins
2 apples, peeled, cored and diced
2 medium yellow onions, finely chopped
3 large cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 dried chili peppers (or one small chopped fresh chili pepper)
2 teaspoons mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
Place the tomatoes, grapes, raisins, apples, onions, garlic, ginger, vinegar, brown sugar, water, salt, chili peppers, mustard seed and coriander in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 2-1/2 to 3 hours or until very thick.
Makes about one quart
Green Tomato Pie
After weeks of enjoying red, ripe summer tomatoes in sandwiches, all sorts of tomato salads, side dishes and puff pastry pizzas, the weather and sunlight have changed and I realized that the remaining tomatoes on the vine would not ripen properly.
So, I picked all the green tomatoes.
In the past when I’ve had green tomatoes, I’ve used them for chutney a few different ways. And I’ve made Fried Green Tomato sandwiches too.
This year I was determined to make a pie. Except that green tomato pie usually calls for slices of tomatoes and my vines were loaded with little ones.
No problem. I cut them in halves and quarters, depending on how small they were, and used them that way.
In addition, many recipes for green tomato pie are layered — tomato slices and dried fruit, usually raisins.
I mixed it all up.
Perfecto! This was delicious.
I made two. Froze one for Thanksgiving.
Can be either dairy or parve.
Green Tomato Pie
2 pounds green tomatoes
1/2 cup raisins
1 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoon all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons grated fresh lemon peel
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Pastry for 2-crust pie
2 tablespoons butter or solid coconut oil
1 tablespoon milk, optional
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Chop tomatoes if they are large; for mini tomatoes, cut them into halves or quarters. Place the pieces in a bowl. Add the raisins, brown sugar, flour, salt, lemon peel, cinnamon, nutmeg and lemon juice. Toss the ingredients to distribute them evenly and to be sure the fruit is coated completely. Roll our half the dough and fit it into a 9-inch pie dish. Spoon the filling into the dish. Cut the butter into small pieces and place the pieces around the top of the fruit. Roll the remaining dough, place it on top of the filling, crimp the edges to seal in the filling. Pierce the top crust in 2-3 places to allow steam to escape. For a dairy pie, dab some milk onto the top crust and crimped edge here and there, for a golden finish. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven heat to 350 degrees. Bake for another 40-45 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.
Makes one pie serving 8-10 people
Pear and Green Tomato Chutney
I was always a "late-bloomer" so I was not at all surprised that my tomato plants are too. It's the way it is with me. The plants bore fruit in October rather than at the end of August, when they are supposed to (in my part of the world anyway).
As for me, well, my mother always said "what's the rush?" and of course she was right. I eventually did lose that first tooth, need a bra, learn to ride a bike.
But the tomatoes were a different story. A hurricane was coming (or so I thought). I wasn't about to let the wind and rain destroy those beautiful, slowly-ripening green things. Not after an entire summer of tending to my garden and kvelling when the tiny yellow flowers finally turned themselves into real, would-be tomatoes.
I left a couple on the vine -- just in case the storm passed us by. (It did!)
But with the rest? Some are on the windowsill waiting to ripen. The others became chutney.
Late-bloomers do hold their own in the world in some magnificent way.
Pear and Green Tomato Chutney
3 pounds ripe but firm pears (about 6), peeled, cored and sliced
1 pound yellow onions, peeled and chopped
3 large green tomatoes, cut into chunks (or use 3-4 cups halved green cherry tomatoes)
1-1/2 cups raisins
3 stalks celery, sliced about 1/4-inch thick
3 cups brown sugar
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh ginger
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons salt
2-1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
6 whole peppercorns
Place the pears, onions, tomatoes, raisins, celery, brown sugar, ginger, cayenne pepper, salt and apple cider vinegar into a large saucepan. Wrap the peppercorns in cheesecloth (or inside a muslin bag) and add to the pan. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly to mix the ingredients. Lower the heat, cover the pan partially and cook for 30 minutes. Remove the cover and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, for about 3 hours or until thick.
Makes about 5 cups
Pear and Green Tomato Chutney
I goofed. Really, really goofed.
This past summer I decided to plant tomatoes. Just one plant, because in years gone by the deer came and ate everything, flowers, tiny green fruit and all. So I gave up for a while, but this year risked it with one plant.
But I did it too late. So in late August when everyone was harvesting gorgeous red fruit from their vines, my plants were flowering. I got some lovely green tomatoes by mid-September and thought I had a chance to get some good red ones — if only there was time and temperature. Well it got colder at night. And the earth is in a different place with respect to the sun (thanks Galileo!).
The tomatoes were getting bruised looking and ratty. Some had soft spots.
I realized I would not get one red tomato this year.
Never mind. This became the perfect opportunity to make green tomato chutney, don’t you agree?
Next year I’ll start earlier. The deer have found greener pastures than my back yard.
Btw, if you prefer, make this with apples instead of pears.
Pear and Green Tomato Chutney
6 medium pears, peeled, cored and chopped
2 pounds green tomatoes, chopped
2 medium onions, peeled and chopped
2 small chili peppers such as serrano, deseeded and chopped
1 large clove garlic, chopped
1-1/2 cups chopped dried apricots
1 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup chopped crystallized ginger
3 cups apple cider vinegar
2 cups brown sugar
1-1/2 tablespoons curry powder
1 tablespoon mustard seed
Place the pears, tomatoes, onions, chili peppers, garlic, apricots, raisins, ginger, vinegar, brown sugar, curry powder and mustard seed in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for about 2-1/2 hours or until very thick.
Makes about 2-1/2 quarts