Tomatoes - Ripe and Green
Here are some recipes that use tomatoes both ripe and under-ripe that may not be perfect for eating in a salad but are very tasty when cooked.
Roasted Red Peppers, Tomatoes and Anchovies
This is an all time favourite recipe and I was lucky enough to have it cooked for me over the summer by Phil Howard. This was using southern French ingredients which were particularly ripe but it is always good.
4 red peppers, halved and deseeded
8 smallish tomatoes
50g anchovy in oil
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 rosemary sprigs
tbsp olive oil
Heat the oven to 160C/gas3.
Toss the peppers in a little of the oil from the anchovies. Roast for about 30 minutes until softened. Remove from oven.
Slice 8 anchovies in half and put 2 halves inside the pepper along with 2 tomato halves, several garlic slices and a few little rosemary sprigs. Drizzle over the olive oil and cook for a further 30 minutes or so until all nicely roasted. Allow to cool a little for the flavours to develop.
As home-grown tomatoes get towards the end of their growing season they can be super sweet or if the weather hasn’t been kind you can end up with a glut of under-ripe green tomatoes.
Green Tomato Chutney
Green tomatoes don’t have much flavour, they are rather sour and so make a great chutney ingredient alongside some spices and the sweet ingredients.
This recipe makes quite a few jars so you may want to halve the quantities depending on how many green tomatoes you have.
450g/1lb cooking apples (when peeled and sliced)
225g/½ lb onions (peeled and sliced)
1.35kg/3 lb green or just under-ripe tomatoes
225g/½ lb sultanas
225g/½ soft brown sugar
Generous pinch of salt
200ml/½ pt vinegar (use whatever plain vinegar you have to hand)
2tsp ground ginger
1 tsp dry mustard powder
5-6 red chillies (finely chopped)
Pinch of nutmeg and cinnamon
Chop the apples, tomatoes and onion into smallish pieces and then put them along with all the other ingredients into a large pan with a lid.
Bring to the boil, simmer with the lid on for about 30 minutes, then take the lid off and cook until the mixture has thickened (about an hour). Stir regularly.
Taste and add more salt or spice.
This is great with Indian dishes, it can be frozen but if you want to bottle it, follow these instructions here to sterilise the jars.