The Lemon Fool

So what would YOU all do with a bag of green tomatoes?

NOT CHUTNEY

didds

Would they make a good soup? Follow something like a regular tomato-and-basil or tomato-and-lentil recipe? Or incorporate them into something spicier, maybe (in this season) with a squash?

Otherwise you can always use them in stirfries or curries. And probably incorporate them as a minority ingredient into a fruit&veg drink or cocktail.

Put them out on a south facing windowsill to go red?

Slarti

I would probably use them in chili verde along with tomatillos, me. you could also fry them (See; https://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/fried-green-tomatoes-2 and/or https://www.southernliving.com/kitchen- ... frying-pan ).

Slarti wrote:Put them out on a south facing windowsill to go red?

Absolutely. Put a banana (or just the skin) in the dish with them - or a fully ripe tomato if you can still spare one. The last of my summer crop are turning right now, and I've had a really long season from them (four months).

You will remember not to put them in the fridge when they're ripe, won't you? It kills the smell and the flavour.

BJ

bungeejumper wrote:You will remember not to put them in the fridge when they're ripe, won't you? It kills the smell and the flavour.

BJ

One of the advantages of autumn: tomatoes (and various other fruit&veg) can be kept out without going off rapidly as back in the summer heat.

What you really want for fresh fruit & veg is storage at larder temperature. For those whose houses don't provide a suitable room (or dry cellar/etc), they can be bought under the heading of "wine coolers".

Slarti wrote:Put them out on a south facing windowsill to go red?

Slarti

The windowsill is not essential, anywhere reasonably warm will do. I pulled up my plants last week and put the remaining green tomatoes in a seed tray in my kitchen, they are turning already.

Some years ago, I made a nice green tomato and chili jam.

Google it, several recipes out there.

john

cheers John - I'll give that a try

One thing about tomato recipes is the skinning process. I confess I CBA so just blitz and put up with any minor little bits of skin left around, because whenever I try and skin tomatoes it ends up being really fiddly and messy and a real pain.

"Place your tomatoes in a bowl and cover with boiling water – leave for 10 minutes and then peel the skins away. "

A typical instruction - implying that the skins just fall off. They never do!

didds

didds wrote:"Place your tomatoes in a bowl and cover with boiling water – leave for 10 minutes and then peel the skins away. "

A typical instruction - implying that the skins just fall off. They never do!

Perhaps because you're supposed to plunge them into cold water?

BJ

LOL.

Ive seen all sorts of instructions BJ - putting in paper bags and rubbing skins off, all sorts. enevr woprk for me. Like tomoatoes going red in the first place! Maybe me and tomoatoes are not meant to be?

didds

Well, modern varieties of tomatoes as found in the shops have a tough skin to protect them in transit etc. and that makes them more difficult to peel. That said, tomatoes will only skin if they are properly ripe! Have a large pan of boiling water ready with a skimmer and a bowl of cold water to hand.Plunge a few at a time into fast boiling water, you don't want the water to come off the boil for more than a second or two, boil for 10 to 15 seconds depending on just how ripe they are and the variety, then lift them out with the skimmer and plunge into cold water. The skins should come away in your hands. As chef saucier at Gleneagles hotel in 1969 I found a fast way to do the job by dipping them into the deep fat fryer at 360F for a couple of seconds, then into the cold water, worked a treat until the chef caught me! He thought that I was spoiling the oil. Made no difference to the tomatoes though.

john

johnstevens77 wrote:tomatoes will only skin if they are properly ripe!
john

so green tomatoes [ ie subject matter ] won't ever properly skin then?

didds

Green tomatoes won't skin with the boiling water method, at least I never managed it. If they are hard enough you can use a vegetable peeler, I use a Skyline, non stainless swivel peeler.

PS
As a kitchen boy on the restaurant cars, I could peel a quarter cwt. i.e. 28lbs of spuds in 20 mins. using one of these, peeled the top of my finger off once too. Luckily we were standing in Bristol Temple Meads at the time and I managed to get to the first aid room before departure.

john