What happened to my tomatoes this year? So many are still on the vine, and they’re green, there’s no chance they’re going to ripen now that we’re in autumn and it seems such a waste to leave them there, not even the chickens are attempting to eat them.  I remembered seeing one of Wendyl’s posts several years ago on how to make Green Tomato Sauce, You’ve heard of Fried Green Tomatoes – such a wonderful movie, if you missed it check out this article and trailer, it’s a goodie – and also a traditional dish in the southern states of America that is delicious. Keep reading for both recipes …

“It seems such a shame to waste green tomatoes when you haul out your plants in autumn so this is a great, easy way to use them up. The taste of this sauce is quite sweet and sour and really delicious on poached eggs, with cheese on crackers or just on it’s own on Vogel’s toast.  This recipe is based on one in the book Preserving with Aunt Daisy which I highly recommend for anyone keen to start preserving. I changed the seasoning as it seemed rather a lot in the original recipe and took a few shortcuts!”

Wendyl’s Green Tomato Sauce

3.6kg green tomatoes
900g apples (I used Granny Smith)
450g onions
5 cups vinegar
900g sugar
110g salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
6 peppercorns, 6 whole all spice, 6 cloves – tied up in muslin

Cut up and boil tomatoes, apples and onions and half the vinegar and other ingredients for 45 minutes.

Strain (I just threw it all in the blender in batches until it was nice and smooth). Add remaining vinegar and boil another 45 minutes.

Bottle into clean, hot bottles and cork when cold.

Fried Green Tomatoes

The best fried green tomato recipe is a video that can be viewed here at Southernliving.com  or you can follow this recipe

4 medium-size green tomatoes, cut into 1 cm slices

1 egg

1/2 cup buttermilk (to make your own follow this recipe from thekitchn.com, all you need is milk and lemon or white vinegar)

1/2 cup cornmeal

1/2 cup flour split in two

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

rice bran or coconut oil for shallow frying

Whisk together the buttermilk and egg and set aside, combine the cornmeal, 1/4 cup flour, salt and pepper on a plate ready for dipping, on another plate spread out the rest fo the flour. Slice your tomatoes then dip each slice in the flour, followed by the buttermilk/egg and lastly the cornmeal/flour mixture. Make sure your oil is fairly hot and deep enough to just cover the tomatoes, fry each side and set aside on a paper towel to drain as you finish the rest. Serve with Chipotle Mayo

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