Thursday 19 September 2013

Not so Green Tomato Chutney

 
For me now's the time to start harvesting everything that needs to be brought in, especially all the things that won't survive these much colder nights and damp mornings that we've been having.  Yesterday the last of the tomatoes were picked, as you can see they are all green, there's not much chance of any ripening going on now so I thought I would make some Green Tomato Chutney.

 
I was lazy and didn't even look out my recipe for Green Tomato Chutney instead I found a Red Tomato Chutney recipe at the top of my folder so used that.  It can't be that different can it?  Chutney is chutney is chutney it's all basically veggies and sometimes fruits simmered long and slow with sugar and vinegar.

 
At least now all my tomatoes are used up and safely bottled for future use.  The kitchen smelled wonderful, it was strange I don't usually like the smell of vinegar but the mix of garlic and ginger seemed to make it a heady, warming smell.

 
Now they are all safely labelled so I don't forget exactly what's in there or the date I made them.  Simple food for our simple lifestyle, and the first preserves for my new storecupboard, once I've washed out the cupboards that is :-)
 
Now I am going to go and pick all the Sweetcorn which will simply be popped in the freezer, so no nice cooking aromas in the kitchen today.
 
I've put the recipe I used one the Recipes I Use Regularly page at the top of the Blog.
 
 Sue xx
 
 
 
Simple September - Top Tips #12
 
Play with your food!!
 
This is one of the best bits of advice I can give you.  If you are feeding yourself and your family on a budget do not be afraid to play with ingredients and make things up as you go along.  Looking at the recipe I did above, to be 'real Green Tomato Chutney' it should have had different spices, white onions and have turned out looking a little greener.  But I know the ingredients that went into it and they are all things that we like so the finished food will be something we will be happy to eat.
 
If you have something you want to use up put the name of it into your Search bar and see what recipes come up, and then experiment, if you don't have some of the ingredients listed  use what you do have or miss some things out.  I also use 'Eat Your Books'  (at the top of my sidebar) which gives me instant access to all the recipes in all the cookbooks that I own to save me from flicking through too many books and losing heart.   
 
If you make any item out of foods that you like to eat it will be fine.  Be braver than usual and try things out.  Make it fun and if the kids are usually unsure of new things give it a wacky name and arrange it on the plate in a fun way.  My chutney for example could be 'Mum's Slimeball Tomato Relish'.
 
My kids had some strange names for the foods they ate, their favourite meal was actually 'Trees and Pillows' .....  Can you guess that one then ?   :-)


17 comments:

  1. I now only make chutney once every 2 years as we only eat it occasionally. We love spicy green tomato chutney. Are you going to be flitting back and forth to your new home?

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    1. Yes, regularly.

      I've been busy in the kitchen today preparing food to take with us, with only a microwave and the Remoska until the Aga is installed in October I have been making some homemade ready meals that can be reheated and tubs of salad to go with them.

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  2. I too have a glut,thanks for the kick up the bottom, time to get picking and pickling.

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  3. Trees and pillows? If they were anything like my kids that would be something like broccoli and ravioli :)
    Your green tomato chutney looks yummy,mine always turns out that sort of colour regardless of which onions, vinegar etc I use in it.

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  4. I buy a quantity of Seville oranges during the few weeks of their availability. These are frozen then used to make batches of marmalade throughout the year.

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  5. Mm? Trees and pillows? Broccoli and fish perhaps? I've got to start using up more of what I've got in, payday isn't for another week yet.

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  6. I have to pick my unripe tomatoes too, but tend to leave them in a bowl and fish out the red ones as they ripen. Keeps us going until Christmas quite often. Not this year tho, the seeds took forever to come through, and the plants took a long time to get going, so our harvest is very depleted from the usual

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  7. I would go with broccoli and ravioli too, trees are my grandkids favourite veg.. I have been making a few different pickles, my green tomato chutney is very spicy (I got a bit carried away). There was a bit leftover when I potted it and when I tried it it cleared my sinuses. ha ha.

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  8. I love green tomato chutney... Mmmmm

    Cauliflower and broccoli? Trees n pillows? Lol

    Have a great weekend lovely lady and LH .

    Rw

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  9. It's turned into a lovely warm colour, much nicer than your average green tomato chutney. I've run out of my spiced apple chutney as the harvest was so poor last year, so I'm looking forward to getting stocked up again this year.

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  10. This is exactly what I needed to read today Sue as I've grown tomatoes for the first time from three plants someone brought into the charity shop. I've had over fifty little orange tomatoes ripening on the windowsill.

    yesterday I was looking at the mass of green ones left & thinking chutney...

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  11. ... did another count, so far 100 red tomatoes with as many green to pick ! Picked another load of blackberries today too x

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  12. ... did another count, so far 100 red tomatoes with as many green to pick ! Picked another load of blackberries today too x

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  13. Yes, lots of you were right 'Trees and Pillows' was actually Broccoli and Ravioli. The Ravioli had to be the Heinz one out of a tin, they thought it was brilliant!!

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  14. This sounds really delicious and something new to try. Thank you for sharing this.

    Simon

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