Cooking up the harvest.

Jill thanks for the hint on the "green" tomatos maybe mine were to green and that's why I wondered what all the fuss was about.

Fried green tomatoes really don't taste like tomatoes as such... I tell people if they like fried zucchini or fried summer squash, they'll probably like fried green tomatoes -- at least that's what the texture reminds me of.

Especially if you have kids, check out the article I wrote last year with a recipe for making "raspberry" jam -- from green tomatoes! It's a hoot. Bluekat helped out with photos. :-) http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/1678/

Hey, I did it, fried them last night. Not bad--I think you get a lot of tang from the acid- one recipe suggests sprinkling with sugar 15 min prior to breading. The tomatao insides kind of fell apart.
I might try dicing them up and making pancakes with green tomato, the way you can with zucchini shreds.

Got some butternut squash (gift from my upstate cousins) and decided to make a roasted butternut squash soup (recipe from food network's (Chiarella) website. The marinated and roast squash gave the soup a really different rich taste. My guests loved it!

I made fried green tomatoes for lunch -- a huge plate of them! Delicious.

If you're fixing them as a side dish, you might also try doing them italian style... add some grated parmesan and a little italian seasoning to the coating mix.

If Little Bit takes another nap this afternoon, maybe I'll get started on making chutney... I have some ripe but somewhat firm tomatoes also that I think might work for Gita's pickle recipe... I was thinking of seeing if I could find some bok choy ("chinese celery") to use in it... sort of between using regular celery and using the cabbage in that piccalilly recipe.

I used a bunch of my late season green beans & peppers last night for a Paul Prudhome recipe called "sweet beef & chiles"... froze half of it for a later meal. I have green beans left, all snapped and ready to go, so I think there's some green bean soup with dumplings in our near future. :-)

All of your suggestions and recipes sound wonderful.

Sally, you've got me thinking about using tomatoes in pancakes. Would you reduce the amount of liquid in the batter? Tomatoes have a lot more natural water than Zucchini.

Roses-- sounds yummy! I used to watch Michael Chiarella. stormyla--I think so, yes, make the batter thick. I haven't made the zucchini cakes in ages.

Jill--

I made a lot of the "Indian Pickle" the other day......

Tried to do 1+1/2 of the recipe--but I think I got carried away with the amounts.....Without intending to--I ended up with 18 pints, NOT 9--as 1-1/2 recipe would have produced if I stuck to it
.
I can't say the end-product was bad--just a bit "intense" in the vinegar/sugar area. A bit darker in color (used a bit of Apple Cider vinegar as part of the total vinegar). Also--too much brown sugar--in my opinion. Like--3lbs!!!!--and I went to 4lbs. Same for the vinegar.....
The recipe calls for 3 pints of white vinegar-----I went too far over that. GOSH! That IS a lot!

Besides--I have a dilemma--I always like to "mess with" someone else's recipes.....Woe be me!!!!!
One thing this recipe does not mind at all is some finely diced, green Jalapeno peppers for a bit of "zinggg" to balance the sweetness. . I think you would like it, Jill.

All I can say is--stay with the recipe as given--ad a bit of the "hots" and see what comes out.

I have so many pints now--I think I will give one to every relative for Christmas....WHY NOT?????

I did all the "Hot Water bath" thing--so it should last.....

Besides--it is NOT "MY" recipe......I got it from Susan at my HD--and she got it out of a Cook Book.

SO! Feel free to make it your own!

This is how many diced veggies I ended up with when I was done!

This is NOT the average-sized foil pan that people use above the burners.....This one was extra long....
I diced and chopped for 2 days! Evenings...mostly....My favorite thing to do as i watch TV. Kind of "justifies" the time spent watching TV. Had to even run to the local farmer's stand to buy more of this and that.....

Good luck! You will like this....I am sure!

Gita, I always mess with recipes too and am often guilty of ending up with a lot more yield than anticipated. It usually ends up in my freezer to be brought out on a future "lazy" day.

That's a lot of chopped veggies!

Increasing the size of pickle and chutney recipes or changing ingredients is generally fine, as long as you don't mess too much with the ratio of veggies to the sugar, vinegar, and salt that is meant to preserve them. I also generally avoid swapping acidic veggies like tomatoes out for non-acidic veggies like peppers.

I'll bet the finished product will be divine!

I figured I'd better post my chutney recipe from this year, since it was such a hit at the crocus party.

Chutney changes every time I make it, although as I noted above I try to be sure that I have included enough vinegar & sugar for the amount of other stuff (especially when I'm adding non-acidic veggies like peppers).

This year, I took a cue from Gita's pickle recipe above and used both green and firm colored (not quite ripe, but definitely not green) tomatoes as well as putting in more peppers and onions than I have in the past. It had a bit of an edge, so I added some fruitiness by dumping in half a can of pineapple and adding some orange & lemon zest.

I did my best to keep track as I went along, but it's not really an exact sort of recipe. :-)

green tomatoes, chopped -- 4 pounds
half-ripe tomatoes, chopped -- 4 pounds
apples, peeled & chopped -- 1 1/2 pounds
onions -- 1 1/2 pounds (about 3 cups, chopped)
sweet peppers -- 1 1/2 pounds (about 3 cups, chopped)
hot peppers (mixed) -- 1 cup, minced

cider vinegar -- 6 cups
brown sugar -- 6 pounds

raisins, dark -- 1 pound
raisins, golden -- 1 pound
minced candied ginger -- 6 oz
garlic, minced -- 2 Tbsp
ginger, grated -- 2 Tbsp
most of a can of crushed pineapple (about a cup), plus juice

crushed & ground hot peppers -- generous 1 Tbsp total
garam masala (Indian spice mixture) -- 1 Tbsp
galangal -- 1 Tbsp
ground ginger -- 1 Tbsp
lemon zest -- 1 tsp
orange zest -- 1 Tbsp

I simmered for many hours until it was thick & glossy, adjusting the flavor until I loved it. :-)

I should add that the above ingredients made a lot... I actually used 2 big pots until it had cooked down pretty well, then I managed to combine it into 1 pot. I still need to put it up (keeps fine in the fridge for a while if you can't can it right away), but I think I've got a good 7 quarts.


This message was edited Nov 12, 2009 9:52 AM

Great Recipe, Critter. How much was the yield?

I edited above... see my note about starting out with 2 pots!

Thanks!

Doing a quick browse during my lunch break. I was just thinking about dmailing critter for that chutney recipe, and then noticed the latest post. That chutney was yummy. Taking note of the discussion on ratios, if I just cut all the ingredients in half for the chutney, will that work out ok? terri

Yep, cutting everything in half will work fine.. and don't be afraid to substitute... skip the candied ginger (I just happened to have some) & add a bit more fresh or powdered ginger instead, use more or fewer raisins (and golden ones aren't vital), etc. I think you can pretty much interchange the tomatoes (green and half-ripe) and apples -- I like some apples for their sweetness, but more apples and fewer tomatoes would be fine too.

I've got a nonstick soup pot that I really like for recipes like this... easy cleanup!

Well, I didn't detect the hot peppers or vinegar--just a perfectly balanced sweet/ spiciness. I'm now a chutney convert

Thanks to a final batch of roasty sauce (turning this round into pizza sauce, yum) and the chutney above, my dining room table is finally clear of tomatoes. LOL

Sally, I'm glad you liked it! I make extra rice for dinner sometimes and eat the leftover rice the next day with plain yogurt & chutney. Yum!

I TRY to make extra rice for dinner but with three teens its a challenge. Last night we went thru three big baking potatos worth of mashed.== After D older S had his afternoon snack of fried chick and a potpie. Lawdy! I'd hate to feed him if we had a farm to work.