Pickled Green Tomatoes
Back the early days, when my gardening experience was not all that great, I had planted all my tomatoes too close together, and so when I tried to tie them in – a lot of small green tomatoes fell off.
Waste not want not and all that… I had a look on the internet and found they could be pickled. So I gave it a try…
INGREDIENTS:
1 kg Green Tomatoes
Garlic Clove
Celery
Green Pepper cut into strips
Dill
2 Litres Water
1 Litres Vinegar
1/2 cup Pickling Salt
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Put the green tomatoes into sterilized jars and add the garlic, celery, green pepper and dill.
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Bring to a boil the water, vinegar, and pickling salt and boil for 5 minutes.
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Pour the hot brine over the vegetables in the jar and seal.
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The pickles will be ready to us in about 4 weeks.
A nice simple recipe, however the jar I made is still in the back of the cupboard all these years later. They were ok – they flavour was a little odd – sort of cross between a green olive and a caper but went really well with a creamy brie on a crisp cracker!
If I was to make it again I’d probably adjust the herbs and seasonings added to the jars – maybe a strong chilli…. Hmm I wonder.
So next time you “accidently” have green tomatoes – give it a try, you’ve got nothing to lose.
But if you don’t like it – I did warn you.
Pickled Radish Seed Pods
I deliberately left a few radish plant that had gone too far in the garden because I had noticed the bees had been attracted to their flowers and there was much around for bees at the time.
After a while I noticed the plant had formed crisp green little pods, that tasted fresh with a hint of radish and with the texture of a snow pea. They will be delicious in a salad, but then I remembered reading something somewhere that you could pickle these.... so I just had to try it out....
INGREDIENTS:
Green radish seed pods
60g Salt
1L Boiling Water
500ml Cider Vinegar
Herbs and Spices to compliment the radish flavour - I used a chive flower, peppercorns and lemon balm leaves.
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Add the salt to the boiling water and when dissolved add the de-stalked pods briefly - until they go bright green in colour.
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Remove the pods, drain and pack into sterile jars.
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Boil the vinegar with the herbs and spices for 5 minutes and pour over pods in the jar and seal.
I've never made this before so I'm really not sure what it will taste like or how long it will last... only time will tell
Strawberry Christmas Mince Pies
I made a yummy batch of "normal" Christmas mince pies with my mum's recipe, but ended up with pastry left over after I had used all the mince. So waste not want not - I came up with this delicious recipe...
PASTRY
INGREDIENTS:
Cup of flour
Half a cup of sugar
1 egg
quarter pound of butter
small tsp baking powder
lemon juice and rind
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Rub butter into flour,
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Mix in baking powder and sugar, egg and lemon juice and rind
FILLING
INGREDIENTS:
A cup or two of strawberries
About a quarter of a cup of sugar
Cloves
Cinnamon
Mixed spice
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Put strawberries in to a heavy pan and heat until stewed.
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Add sugar and spices. Put larger spices in a spice bag so you can pull them out later. I used a mesh ball that's supposed to be used for tea.
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Heat gently until the liquid is reduced and the consistency is similar to normal Christmas mince.
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Remove whole spices and cool.
To make the pies
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Roll out the pastry and cut into circles that fit nicely into a greased muffin tin.
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Put a generous spoonful of strawberry mix in the pastry case.
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Cut out a Christmassy shape out of the pastry and put on the top.
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Bake for about 20 minutes at 190°C.
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When cool dust with icing sugar and serve.
So yummy!
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The Recipes
Sometimes I’m forced to do something creative with the harvest as there is so much produce...
“a glut” some would say.
I could share any old recipe, but I’m not that great a cook and there are others out there much better than me. So I prefer to share the more unusual things I do, that you aren’t likely to find in a standard cook book.
If it tastes good I’ll tell you, and if it tastes bad – I’ll mention that too! You’ll also find that often the recipes aren’t the technically correct way of cooking – but we get there in the end. Try if you like, but it is entirely up to you.
Chocolate Zuke Bread
Oh my goodness - I think I have won the kids over to Zucchini - by adding chocolate!
The Joeyosaurus even asked if there were still zucchinis hanging around by his birthday, could he have this as a birthday cake!
INGREDIENTS
3 eggs
1 cup of vegetable oil
2 cups of sugar
1 tablespoon of vanilla essence
2 cups of peeled and grated zukes
2 1/2 cups of flour
1/2 cup of baking cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
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Beat eggs, oil, sugar and vanilla
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Mix in zukes
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In a separate bowl mix dry ingredients and then add to wet mixture and mix well
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Pour into 2 loaf tins and bake at 180°C for 1 hour.
Herb Cordial
I dont really like the flavour of water all that much, but I know you have to drink it so I came up with this "solution."
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It's really easy,
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Make a simple sugar syrup (1 water : 1 sugar)
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Bring it to the boil,
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Add the herb of your choice - tarragon is my fav - it's amazing,
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Simmer for two minutes,
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Turn off heat and leave for an hour
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Bottle into sterile bottles.
You only need a small amount in a glass of water and it turns it from boring to delicious.
Chocolate Beetroot Muffins
Beetroot has a much better use than just pickling. Don't get me wrong - I love pickled beetroot, but combine it with Chocolate and something magic happens. You have to try it!
INGREDIENTS
3/4 cup of vegetable oil
1 cups of sugar
2 teaspoon of vanilla essence
2 eggs
2 cups of peeled, cooked and pureed beetroot
1 1/2 cups of flour
1/3 cup of baking cocoa
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
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Beat oil, sugar and vanilla
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Add eggs
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Mix in beetroot
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In a separate bowl mix dry ingredients and then add to wet mixture and mix well
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Pour into muffin tins, lined with muffin paper cups, and bake at 180°C for 20 minutes.
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Lemoncello
We were inundated with more citrus than we knew what to do with and it was in danger of going off if we didn't do something, so I made it alcoholic.
You can also do it with oranges.
INGREDIENTS
a dozen lemons
a litre of vodka
a litre of water
a kilo of sugar
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Carefully peel the lemons as best as you can to avoid the bitter white pith.
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Put into a very large jar or bottle and add the vodka.
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Shake every day for a week.
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Strain off vodka, measure
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Make a one to one sugar solution with the water and the sugar.
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Fill sterile bottles with half vodka and half sugar syrup.
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Enjoy Chilled on a hot summer day - or the day you make it!
Quince Vinegar &
Pickled Quince
Quince vinegar is a great way to use up quince from a prolific tree, and adds a lovely tangy note to many dishes and is great as a salad dressing.
Not wanting to waste the fruit once the vinegar had been extracted, I reduced it down like making quince paste and had this amazing savoury tangy slice-able paste that tasted fantastic with cheese and crackers. Sadly I only got to try it once and all that time spent stirring over a hot stove was ... well I wouldn't say wasted as I know what to do next time, but an un-gardening somebody dropped the jar and smashed it.
INGREDIENTS
4 cups of white vinegar
1 cup of sugar
2 cups of peeled, cored and grated quince.
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Boil sugar, vinegar and quince together until the sugar has dissolved.
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Simmer for 15 minutes, Take off the heat and stand for half an hour.
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Strain through a cheesecloth and return the liquid to the pot.
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Boil for a further 15 mins and pour into sterilised bottles.
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FOR THE PICKLED QUINCE PASTE
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Return the fruit pulp to the pot, add a little more vinegar to allow it to be able to return to the boil.
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Keep stirring until it is reduced to a dark thick paste.
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Put into a sterilised jar.
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Don't leave it unattended or it will burn.
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NOTE: This is quite labour intensive and will take more than an hour. But it tastes amazing and is worth the effort.
More recipes to come
Experience tells me I will need more than one way to disguise a zucchini from kids who hate them!
Cant wait to see what I come up with....
But it will... come back and check later on... you'll be surprised what you find!