12 Pounds of Green Tomatoes: and we don't like Relish. Ideas?

[p.j.]

Hi. I picked a large number of green Beefmaster tomatoes earlier this week. Right now they are packed in newspapers in a box in our basement, in hopes they will ripen. I used to pickle them for my Dad years ago, but he is gone and they weren't that good.

Being realistic, I think they will rot before they turn red.

Aside from fried greens tomatoes in cornmeal, do any of you have ideas for consumption of these fruits? Casseroles, side dishes, desserts, etc.: all ideas, other than relish, are welcomed.
Thanks and have a great weekend, p.j.

[opinionatedchef]

mexican tomatillo sauce and pipian verde (tomatillo sauce w/ other ingredients). freezes fine; salsa does not(unless you're going to add it into a sauce after defrosting.)

[DetectDave]

Green Tomato and Lemon Marmalade
1 lemon, thinly sliced and seeded
2 1/4 pounds green tomatoes (about 5 large tomatoes), cored and thinly sliced
3 1/4cups sugar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Pinch of salt.
1. Bring lemon slices to a boil in a pot of water. Drain.
2. Combine all ingredients in a saucepan along with 1/4 cup water, and bring to a simmer, stirring, to dissolve sugar. Cook at a bare simmer until tomatoes and lemon slices are translucent and syrup thickens, 20 to 30 minutes. Cool completely; store in refrigerator.
Yield: 1 3/4 cups.

Green Tomato Salsa (Salsa Verde)
Ingredients
• 5 medium green tomatoes
• 2 jalapeño peppers
• 1 small onion (white or red)
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
• Salt and pepper to taste (for an extra zing, add 1/16 to 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper)
Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor (a few tsp of water may help get things started in a blender). Refrigerate unused portion.

[p.j.]

Thanks, Dave. The Green Tomato and Lemon Marmalade sounds tasty. I'll have to give it a try. Tha salsa sounds good, too.
p.j.

[toveggiegirl]

Green Tomato Cake!
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Green-Tomato-Cake/Detail.aspx

Green Tomato Pie
http://susanalbert.typepad.com/lifescapes/2009/07/green-tomato-pie.html

Green Tomato Soup
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Green-Tomato-Soup-230446
http://thefoodproject.org/2009/08/05/lincolnboston-csa-newsletter

Green Tomato Salsa
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/green-tomato-salsa

Also check out this CH thread:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/653331

[Andrew_Cookbooker]

They will ripen! We had 25 lbs of green tomatoes and I was thinking the same thing, so we did a little looking online and decided to ripen them. We put them in our basement where it's cool but not cold, and put them on trays in a single layer (important), put some old teatowels over them and left them, checking them every few days. Within a couple of weeks they started turning red, and eventually we were able to use almost all of them. It has been almost two months now and I still have a couple of pounds in the kitchen. I've made several batches of tomato sauce, as well as using them in sandwiches etc. They're not quite vine ripened, but they're better than what you'd get in our supermarkets this time of year here in the wet north. We lost a few to rot, but only a few - most were perfectly edible

[Beckyleach]

Green tomato pickles--not relish--are just delicious! They're similar to bread-and-butter pickles but have more zing and tang. My favorite recipe comes from the cookbook Fancy Pantry.

[p.j.]

I used to make sour tomato pickles for my Dad. Traditional Eastern European Jewish side with a corned beef & pastrami sandwich. But I never developed a taste for them.

[alkapal]

p.j., what did you do with all those 'maters? i guess they're all gone? for the future, i just saw a recipe for green tomato soup with pancetta from emeril, and that looks pretty good.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/em...

[p.j.]

alkapal,
Sorry, I've not checked this thread for a week. No, the tomatoes are still in the basement. I need to visit them tonight. The Emeril recipe sounds good; I've just printed it out. I need to figure out something non-porky to substitute for the pancetta/bacon, as we keep kosher. Maybe I will try the recipe with piece of smoked turkey, or just omit the meat.
Thanks, p.j.
p.s. The bowls of cherry tomatoes are ripening on the kitchen counter, with very few going bad.

[alkapal]

p.j., you could sweat the onions in some oil, and add the smoked turkey later. but i'm not imagining smoked turkey with the green tomatoes -- although many use it for collards. also, (and instead of meat) for a little smoky "depth" you *might* add a **TEENY TINY** piece of chipotle in adobo. (and i mean teeensy, tiiiiiny! ;-)).

[alliedawn_98]

That recipe is delicious and I have made it many times. I'm sure you could do it without the meat or the turkey would probably work to give it a smoky flavor.

[bear]

I was lazy this Saturday (or Sunday?) and watched part of Food Network's 5 Ingredient Meals. I must say that I was surprised at how delicious this dish looked. Bacon, sauteed onions, tomatoes and cheese...hard to go wrong.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/cl...

[alkapal]

to keep from rot, take them out of the box, but leave them individually wrapped in newspaper. put on cellar floor, with a little room around each tomato.

how about a sweet pickle? http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/665825

and did i just see a recipe for a casserole? http://www.chow.com/recipes/10885

(i'm envious....i'd be going fry crazy!). make a little tower with the hot fried green tomato, with some creamy goat cheese. serve it on some arugula and vinaigrette. dang, now i'm hungry! ;-)).

[p.j.]

Sounds little tower sounds delicious. My arugula is still going great guns outside!
Thanks, p.j.

[alkapal]

pj, you're lucky to have fresh arugula.

[kmr]

We just finished eating a big batch of green tomatos sauteed with garlic and thyme, really good! Mince a clove of garlic and saute with some torn up italian bread and olive oil to make croutons. Remove croutons from the pan, add a bit more oil, and saute chunked up green tomatoes for about 4 -6 minutes, until they get nice and browned on the edges. Add back the croutons, and some fresh thyme. I've made the scalloped green tomatoes from "Gift of Southern Cooking" and it was wonderful, don't have the book handy, tho..... we usually store several lug boxes of green tomatoes to ripen over the winter, and they are ok, about the same as store bought....just make sure to pick out any that start to spoil. Good air circulation seems to help prevent spoilage. My husband has made green tomato pies (like a mock apple) and he really liked it....

[Cherylptw]

Roasted like red tomatoes; drizzle with olive oil and add some chopped garlic, shallot, smoked paprika, S&P. Roast slowly then pulse a few times in a food processor and they'll be great slathered on toasted crostini with some mozzarella or a smoked cheese, such as gouda or cheddar and allow to sit in an oven long enough for the cheese to just start melting. Spread it on bread when making a sandwich, a BLT or something like roast beef (add the roasted tomatoes to horseradish).

These are also great in a chutney or if you're into mexican food, you can make a delicious roasted salsa with quartered green tomatoes, seeded (used like tomatillos) some seeded poblano chiles, an onion, cut into wedges and a few garlic cloves. Put onto a parchment lined baking sheet, drizzled with olive oil and roast for about 20-25 minutes or until the chiles are becoming charred (you may need to remove the onion & garlic before the chiles to keep from burning, depending on your oven) Once the chiles are roasted, allow the veggies to cool enough to be able to handle them. Peel the chiles and tomatoes. Add all the veggies to a food processor, along with the juice from the baking pan (it's flavor!) Sprinkle in a little ground cumin, S&P. a pinch of dried oregano leaves and the juice of fresh lime) Pulse the mixture a few times while drizzling in a little olive oil, just enough to break it down into a dipping consistency (you don't need much, the tomatoes are juicy). I canned a batch of this at the end of summer and it's so good.
This sauce would be good on grilled or roasted chicken, warmed on a steak with blue cheese or stirred into rice when cooking (reduce the amount of liquid)

[p.j.]

Cherylptw,
Thanks so much for your response. The roasted salsa idea sounds delicious.
Would the salsa freeze pretty well if I don't want to can it?
Thanks again, p.j.

[Cherylptw]

I think that it would, the only thing is that because it's frozen, you may have a little extra liquid (from the frozen ice that thaws) but you could drain it off and it should be fine. The taste won't suffer; I have a container in the freezer.