I thought I was done blanching, freezing, fixing, and figuring out ways to use the garden produce, but that was not the case. We went to visit Ryan and the garden earlier this week after a hard frost. The garden has already gotten frost three or four times before, but this time Mother Nature meant it. John managed to salvage a meal's worth of green beans and snow peas but then asked if I could do something with a five-gallon bucket of green tomatoes. I wasn't going to give out fried green tomatoes for Halloween, so I convinced him that just a big bowlful would be much better. Ryan found a recipe for tomato relish that sounded very interesting to me (no vinegar!) so I decided to try it.
The first thing I learned was that fresh ginger is completely different than ground ginger. I cut off a hunk, peeled it, and reveled in the scent. After I added the cumin and lime juice and zest I was really hooked.
I added the rest of the ingredients and then diced the green tomatoes for what felt like forever. In actuality, it only took about 90 minutes but I was quite happy that I did not have a five-gallon bucket full of the things.
After all the peeling, juicing, zesting, and chopping, I put the pot on the stove to cook down. This recipe called for ripe tomatoes and cooking it down for approximately 30 minutes but I cooked mine down for about 90 minutes since I was using green tomatoes that were much harder.
I doubled the recipe and we had to have hamburgers on Thursday night so I could taste my relish. It's damn good! I love the taste of limes, cumin, and ginger, so I may be making more of this stuff with canned tomatoes once I finish these jars.
But for now, the good news is I have enough ginger left over for a fresh ginger cake, and enough limes to enjoy several vodka & tonics with plenty of lime, just like I like them. I'll be pacing myself with the drinks so I have enough vodka and limes to last through at least Tuesday (and I'll probably need to replenish the ingredients so I have more on hand for at least a week afterward).
I hope you have a great weekend!
I thought I was done with hot weather! Eep, it is too warm outside and inside my house. Looks delicious!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear it was good! I always feel bad about wasting green tomatoes, and last year I tried pickling them, but I didn't end up eating any. All things being equal, I think I'd like to just have the vodka and tonic (and I expect I will be needing a lot of drinks next week).
ReplyDeleteThat sounds and looks amazing, Bonny! And you are so right about fresh ginger... it is amazing. I frequently make ginger simple syrup to add to soda water!
ReplyDeleteBoth the relish and the cake sound yummy. I am a huge ginger fan, and will be making that cake this weekend. BTW, fresh ginger freezes really well. Just cut into the size pieces you might be using for a recipe (because it freezes really hard). Also, IMO grating fresh ginger leaves most of the flavor on the grater. I usually shave the frozen ginger with a sharp knife or mince fresh ginger as fine as I can to keep all the juicy flavor with it.
ReplyDeleteBring on the salsa, chips, and G&Ts.
ReplyDeleteOh yum! Thanks for the recipe links. Both the relish and cake look amazing. We love fresh ginger and use it a lot (always mince a large piece when making stir fry). I'm guessing that tomatillos would work well for the relish...I don't have enough green tomatoes, but could add some tomatillos easily!
ReplyDeleteEverything here looks fantastic. Be right over for a taste test :)
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy fresh ginger in a lot of things, but I often forget I have it and then it molds. It's a good idea to freeze it, so you can have it whenever you want it. Please report on the cake if you actually make it. And the relish sounds divine! Congratulations on your victory in taking something that would be wasted and making something delicious of it.
ReplyDeleteYum!
ReplyDeleteI had to laugh about you handing out fried green tomatoes. I'd get in line for some. I saw a post about someone offering up either a bowl of raw potatoes or a bowl of candy to the kiddies at the door and was surprised at how many kiddies wanted the potato.
Gardens are a gift that keeps giving. I'm glad the relish turned out well. I mean after all the prep it would be disappointing if you didn't like the taste. The ginger cake looks delicious. I love ginger.
ReplyDeleteThat relish looks delicious! (and I can only hope we're not all going to need a case of booze to get through this next period of unknowing) ... I just started Intermezzo this morning and had trouble getting oriented with Peter's chapter (the language, his character - yikes!). Ivan, however, is not at all hard, and I'm looking forward to reading more.
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