This past summer, I had an abundance of stubborn green tomatoes that just would not turn in time for frost. I rescued them before we left the lake, so they would not be decimated by frost.
Green Tomato Chutney:
2-3 lbs. tomatoes in various stages of ripeness, coarsely chopped
1 Tb. olive oil
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. red wine vinegar
2 Tb. chopped fresh rosemary
2 Tb. chopped fresh ginger
dash of red pepper flakes
salt
For some reason, the boys were adamant about “rescuing” them too. So, I had a lots of help gathering them up before we left. They don’t even like tomatoes…
I decided to make green tomato pickles. They were beautiful… and quite horrible. Unfortunately, that’s how I used up most of the abundance of green tomatoes.
I made only two jars of green tomato chutney — which was quite an adventure because I have never even eaten green tomato chutney before. I did it just because I had the tomatoes, and thought, “this is what I should do.”
As I mixed the ingredients… I was not even licking my chops. This didn’t even smell good. I was careful not to add raisins, as most green chutney recipes call for this. The idea did not even appeal to me to have raisins mixed with tomatoes. Even green ones.
So, the two jars sat in my pantry, until I the night I had some friends over to share our mutual, but separate, experiences in wine country.
“This might be a good time to pull out that chutney and get rid of it!” I thought.
So, I pulled out jar of chutney, and slathered it on the top of a flour tortilla, and threw on some shaved Parmesan cheese, and heated it on low on top of the stove.
Just as the cheese was starting to melt, I pulled off the tortilla and sliced it up.
To my utter surprise, the four of us devoured the little tortilla, and we all wished I had not wasted so much of that mess of green tomatoes on so many pickles.
What does it taste like? I won’t even venture to say… but I do understand now, why you would want to add raisins.
The next day, I popped upon the second, and last jar of green tomato chutney, and cooked it the same way. Only, this time, I was alone. So, I threw on a pile of Arugula on top, and ate this for lunch.
It just occurred to me, that the green tomato chutney calls for vinegar — so why not use all of those jars of green tomato pickles and make more chutney?!
Brilliant.