Friday, September 24, 2010

Green tomatoes and tiny pickles

The first summer I planted a few vegetables in my flower beds has turned out to be the worst one for growing them. OK, the zucchini did fine, but when doesn't it? And I have a decent number of ripe Roma tomatoes. All of these (and more) from just one potted plant:
But this stunted cucumber is struggling along:There are all sorts of creative things to do with green tomatoes, none of which I've tried. There was a recipe in the paper for Rustic Italian Green-Tomato Jam which sounds tasty-- anything with "Rustic Italian" in the name usually does. If you feel ambitious, here it is:

2 pounds green tomatoes, cored and cut in 1/2 pieces
1 and 3/4 cups sugar
2 lemons
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
3 inch cinnamon stick, broken

In a glass bowl, toss together the tomatoes, their juice and seeds, and the sugar. Cover with plastic and refrigerate for 24 hours. Remove from fridge 1 hour before cooking, then turn mixture into a heavy 4 quart pan. With a zester, shred yellow skins of both lemons into the tomatoes. Trim and discard the white pith and cut the lemon into small pieces, removing seeds. Add to tomatoes.

Bring the mixture to a boil, and simmer uncovered until candy thermometer reads 210 degrees. Test thickness by spooning jam on a chilled plate-- do not overcook. It will keep 2 weeks in the refrigerator or 6 months in the freezer.

Serve at room temperature on, what? The recipe doesn't say, but with all that lemon, maybe crackers and cream cheese? Let me know if you make it.

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