Tomatoes are fairly temperature sensitive. If it gets too hot, in the upper 80's, for too many days in a row, the blossoms will drop off. If it doesn't cool down enough at night, below about 70 degrees, then the blossoms will drop off. When I lived in Houston, the timing of planting was critical because of how hot it gets there in the summer. Generally, you wanted to put your plants in the ground by March 1st to ensure that you were well past the chance of frost and that there were enough days for the growing season before the night time temperatures consistently stayed above 70 degrees. This meant that tomatoes were harvested in May and early June. When I moved north, all of those planting schedules shifted. Tomato plants go in the ground in mid to late May, and we harvest here in the Philly area in August, September, and even October.
This year, I got my tomato plants in the ground a bit later than I normally do, over Memorial Day weekend. My first tomatoes were just beginning to ripen in mid-August. They were so good, I planned my meals around whether I would have ripe tomatoes out of the garden that day. For those few weeks, I was in tomato heaven. Then, I went out of town...
I spent the first 2 weeks of September on vacation. I haven't had a proper vacation since I moved to Philadelphia in 2010. I traveled to Texas and spent time with friends and family. I was in the Texas Hill Country, my hometown of Houston, and with my parents in Tyler. I drank amazing wine (trust me, the Texas Hill Country is putting out some fantastic wines, makes me think of California before the 1976 Paris wine tasting), ate some great food (Tex Mex, barbecue, and Whataburger--if you're from Texas you'll understand why I missed Whataburger), and had a lovely, lovely time.
Before I left town, I made one last check of the tomato garden and saw that several of the tomatoes would probably ripen during my trip. When I got home, I checked the garden, and not surprisingly, all of the tomatoes that I expected to ripen were gone from the plants. Being away for so long, I sort of hoped that one of my neighbors might have picked the tomatoes so they didn't just rot on the vine. So, in that moment, I really didn't mind to much. I noticed that there were a couple of tomatoes that were just starting to ripen, so I left them on the plants and went about my day. Two days later, I went to check on them, and they were gone. I never got another ripe tomato off my plants. As soon as I would see one starting to ripen, if I left it on the plant even one more day, I would come out and find it gone.
By now it was getting on into October, and the weather was definitely starting to cool off. My plants were covered in green tomatoes, but there just wasn't going to be enough days left in the season to allow them to ripen before we would inevitably get our first frost . And, even if that wasn't an issue, with my tomato thief, chances were slim I'd get to enjoy any of them anyway. So, I picked all of the tomatoes, regardless of size, maturity or ripeness, dug up the plants and got the garden plot ready for winter.
But, what to do with so many pounds of green tomatoes? Why, create recipes for a blog post, of course! I hope you enjoy!
Green Tomato Bisque
Serves 4
Tomato soup is a classic, but I wondered how it would taste if you swapped out the traditional ripe tomatoes for green. The green tomato flavor is very bright, almost a bit citrusy. I wanted to boost the green flavor and color, so I added in spinach to the soup base. I also added the herbs in at the very end of cooking, as I was pureeing the soup in the blender, to help keep the green color. It also kept the herbal flavor very fresh which nicely enhanced the flavor of the soup.
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 small bell pepper, seeded and diced
3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
8 cups chopped green tomatoes
5 ounces baby spinach
4 cups chicken stock, low or no sodium
½ cup Italian parsley leaves
½ cup fresh basil leaves
1 cup cream
juice of ½ a lemon
Kosher salt and black pepper to taste
to garnish: sliced cherry tomatoes, chopped chives and fleur de sel
Melt the butter in a large saucepan set over medium heat. Add the onion, celery and bell pepper and cook, stirring, until softened and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, spinach and stock. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.
Working in batches, puree the soup in a blender, adding the parsley and basil to the blender as you process the soup. Place the pureed soup in a large saucepan set over low heat. Stir in the cream, lemon juice, and season generously with salt and pepper.
To serve, ladle into soup bowls and garnish with sliced cherry tomatoes, chopped chives, and sprinkle with fleur de sel.
Pickled Green Tomatoes
Makes 8 8-ounce jars
What can I say, I've been having fun canning these last few years. Unlike fully ripened tomatoes, green tomatoes have a much firmer texture that I thought would hold up well to pickling and canning. These are great paired with a sharp cheddar cheese.
3 cups apple cider vinegar
3 cups granulated sugar
2 tablespoons Kosher salt
½ teaspoon whole cumin seed
1 teaspoon whole coriander seed
½ teaspoon whole black peppercorns
1 cinnamon stick
8 cups diced green tomatoes
2 large shallots, peeled and thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
Place the vinegar, sugar, salt and spices in a large saucepan and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Add the tomatoes, shallots and garlic, and return the mixture to a boil. Remove from the heat while you prepare your canning jars.
Bring a large stock pot of water to the boil. Remove the screw rings and lids from the canning jars. Place the jars into the boiling water in batches and submerge for 30 seconds. Remove the jars and place them upside down on a clean dish towel. Place the screw rings and lids into the boiling water and submerge for 30 seconds. Remove and place them on a clean dish towel.
Carefully ladle the pickles and their liquid into the prepared jars. Be sure to wipe away in drips from the mouth of the jar, and top each with a lid and screw ring. Tighten the ring down until it just feels tight, then tighten it just a bit more. But don't crank down too hard!
BLFGT Sandwich (that is Bacon, Lettuce and Fried Green Tomato, of course!)
How can I have a posting about green tomatoes and NOT have a recipe that uses fried green tomatoes? I must admit, it was hard to not just eat the fried green tomatoes right off the plate, but I did manage to save enough of them to make one sandwich.
2 large green tomatoes, cut into ½ inch thick slices
½ cup all purpose flour
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup panko bread crumbs
Kosher salt and black pepper
olive oil for frying
To assemble the sandwich: toasted whole grain bread, crispy cooked bacon, arugula, and mayonnaise
Place the flour, eggs, and panko in three shallow dishes. Season the sliced tomatoes with salt and pepper. Dip the tomatoes first in the flour, then the beaten egg, and then the panko, being sure that the tomatoes are well coated in each dish before moving on to the next. Place the breaded tomatoes on a plate.
Pour enough olive oil into a large skillet to reach a depth of 1/4 inch. Heat over medium heat until hot--I like to test the temperature by dropping a few panko breadcrumbs into the oil to see if the sizzle. If they do, you're ready to go. Carefully place the tomato slices in the skillet and fry until golden brown on the bottom. Flip them over and continue to fry until golden brown on their second side. Transfer the fried tomatoes to a wire rack set over a sheet pan and sprinkle with additional salt and pepper.
To assemble the sandwich, spread the whole grain toast with a layer of mayonnaise. Add a layer of arugula, then a layer of bacon. Top with two or three slices of the fried green tomatoes, then a second piece of toast.
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