Do not be fooled. I had many more green tomatoes after I tidied up the front garden. But in a flurry of excuses, (more than grains of sand on a beach) I left them in our entrance way for a week, maybe two. So I had some fuzzy ones at the bottom of my buckets. These are the survivors of neglect.

It’s amazing when you do a quick google search, how you often find sympathetic interneters. I simply typed “Green Tomato Recipes” and I was accosted with links “Help I am drowning in Green tomatoes” and the like. How enlightening. This is a common situation for enthusiastic gardeners who love the luscious red tomatoes of August and September. This is my first year growing anything vegetative. Saving seeds, harvesting, and processing the end-trails of veggies is still so exciting!

I was rather determined to use these green tomatoes, and I did not want to do a relish, a chutney, a marmelade or a salsa. Our very itsy bitsy fridge is already crammed full of condiments and I’m not particularly fond of relishes and chutneys. (Maybe I just haven’t had the right one.) Also, a small admittance, we have an industrial-sized pressure canner. And it’s heavy. And I’m just a wee bit intimidated by it. Soon I’ll be Farm-Wife extraordinaire and such things will not bother me. But let’s take it slow. It is, after all, my first year.

So for my first recipe, I got it off a blog called “Cooking with Michele.” Thank you very much Michele.

(Please go to the link I provided above as the recipe is copyrighted)

It is very similar to zucchini bread. This was a relief to me because I was very unsure about this. Green tomatoes in a sweet bread? Well, it is delicious!

The second creation (I have a lot of green tomatoes to use,) was:

Green Tomato Soup

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 oz thinly sliced Black Forest ham, chopped (1/2 cup)
• 1 1/2 cups thinly sliced shallots
• 1 tablespoon chopped garlic (2 cloves)
• 1 Turkish or 1/2 California bay leaf
• 2 lb green unripe tomatoes, chopped
• 2 cup chicken broth
• 1 cups water
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• Heat oil in a 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat until hot but not smoking, then cook ham, stirring occasionally, until beginning to brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Add scallions, garlic, and bay leaf and cook, stirring occasionally, until scallions are tender and lightly browned, 6 to 8 minutes.

  Add tomatoes, broth, water, salt, and pepper and simmer, partially covered, until tomatoes are tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Discard bay leaf and season soup with salt and pepper

The only adjustment I did to this recipe, is to add Marc’s Oyster Mushrooms.

This soup was incredibly tasty. I was really hesitant with this recipe because I thought the rather tart flavour from the green tomatoes would transfer to a bitter soup. But the ham and and shallots were brilliant.

Lately, my culinary pursuits have been more successful than my other home-making ventures. But stay tuned. Sewing may feature a small corner of this blog yet!

Where has November found you so far?

Happy Remembrance Day!