Tuesday, September 9, 2008
::kicks tomato::kicks ground::
um, if you haven't guessed yet, we ended up with no red tomatoes. none. all of that work. 22 plants. carefully weeded and watered and me, hanging out with disgusting bugs (more than just a praying mantis!) for nothing! ok, for 500 peppers and a single zucchini. i hate even admitting that on here. husband did everything right, planted those baby seeds, tended to them in early spring indoors, and planted them in cute rows outside. we watched them grow and thrive. and we saw them produce hefty green tomatoes...anticipating pico de gallo galore and tomato sauce coming out of our ears.
our hopes were crushed. visions of homemade marinara dashed from my dreams. gah, life is hard! but all was not lost. when tsquared visited our garden for basil, he said why not fried green tomatoes? and why not? well, mostly because i've never had them, never wanted to have them, and have no idea how to make or eat them. but i picked a few green tomatoes anyway and set them atop our large pile of jalepenos to bring home. and that very same day i pondered what to make.
i knew they needed to be cooked. yes, obviously. they were hard as rocks and their stupid green skin not even a little separate from the flesh inside. and then i thought of green salsa and tomatillos. could my annoying lack of red tomatoes help me to make a spicy dipping sauce? mebbe. and then i found this. and sure, it was a small slap in the face with it's mention of 1 red tomato...but why blame the interwebs for our garden's problems? so without any reds and with no cilantro in the house, i did this make-shift style.
baby yellow tomatoes i do have (and a red chili pepper)
green salsa (adapted from allrecipes salsa verde)
3 green tomatoes
2 fresh jalepenos
8-10 ripe cherry or grape tomatoes, halved (or, if you're lucky, 1 red tomato)
1 medium onion, chopped
1/4 c lime juice
1/2 c chopped cilantro
1. put tomatoes and jalepenos in a medium pot and cover with water
2. bring to a boil and cook until light green, about 15 minutes
3. cool slight and drain well
4. place in a blender with onion, lime juice, small tomatoes, cilantro and salt and pepper and puree
boiled bounty
easy to boil, but these darn things were so green they resisted softening after 20 minutes. i took them out anyway and used them after slicing each one just a bit. i also took the seeds out of the jalepenos but i think you could leave them in.
i didn't boil those little yellows because they were already so nice and ripe. plus they would have cooked and split in just a few minutes, so i didn't think it was worth it. i'm not exactly sure you'd have to boil a ripe red tomato, either.
blenderized
so i dumped everything in and blended and it was a bit...watery. this was surprising because my greenies had hardly any seeds and tomato innards. anyway, i'd suggest adding the lime juice in a slow drizzle and seeing how much you need. and as a note, without cilantro this was really just green tomato sauce with a bit of a kick. it sure needed some more flavor, so don't skip it.
no, it's not pea soup
so while this wasn't the best thing i'd ever made or had, it was still good with tortilla chips. (from rite aid, no less.) and if nothing else, i found a way to use some of the "goods" from the garden. i imagine adding some avocados (insert knee quiver here) might be magical. keeping the nice green color and getting some creamy guacamole out of the deal? sign me up. just don't sign me up for community garden summer 2009.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comments:
I haz a present for you! I'm still planning to visit tomorrow, but if that no longer works let me know and I can give you said present on Monday. I had planned to give it to you anyway, but after this post, it's just too good!
Post a Comment