Ain't it always the same; you wait for the No 10 bus (or tomatoes) to come along, then three (or several tonnes) come along all at once!
I'm flat-out preserving at the moment. As you can see above, today is the turn of Courgettes in Tomato sauce.
And this is my bounty so far....
30 comments:
It is a lot of work, but so worth it. Just don't like heating up the kitchen.
That's right. My sterilising process takes an hour, and in this heat it's a bit excessive.... I go out for an hour.
Those jars of toms do look good - my Delicata seeds arrived today.
I roasted another Delicata last night; this time with the skin on. Delicious.
For the first time here we had those dark green courgettes in our shop ,usualy we have the pail green. I bought the dark ones, they tasted better.
Do they keep as well as butternut?
I'll let you know.... this is the first year I've grown them.
And don't bother with the yellow ones, they look nice, but again are not as good as the dark green ones.
We did a large batch of sun dried tomatoes earlier this week. Weather conditions were perfect and they were 'done' in two days.
I'm freezing my Rosso Sicilians, to process when it's cooler... unless I'm making salsa or pico de gallo I generally process tomatoes during the autumn/winter. I'll smoke a few tomatoes at the end of the season, along with some sweet peppers; sauce made with those seem to have the best flavour!
I've never tried drying them, but in this weather....
I need a smoker...I've been saying this for years.
Same here - the toms are coming thick and fast - some I will freeze whole, some I will stew for additions to sauces, some turned into Ratatouille etc. I have one carton left in the freezer from last year which I will fry and serve on fried Ciabatta - one of my favourite lunches.
And Richard, not to be left out, laid her egg on top of the tomatoes next to the knife....
Have never seen, or tasted, smoked tomatoes or peppers, so that's something new for us to look out for and experience. How lovely to be able to enjoy the fruits of your labours, and remember the wonderful summer sunshine, in the darkest days of winter.
I hadn't thought of freezing them whole, I imagine they'd de-frost as mush, but if they're going to be made into sauces it doesn't much matter. I might try a few.
One of 'The Bimbos' has started to lay... this was her third egg. The knife was to threaten her sister.
I could, of course, just go out and buy everything, but it wouldn't be the same.
I've never heard of smoked tomatoes. Like you Cro I would love a smoker. David keeps telling me that they are easy enough to make, but still hasn't made me one. Perhaps I shall put pressure on him over the winter.
I 'smoke' mine on the grill... just wait until it's beginning to die down and place some chunks of slightly damp wood on the coals. Once it's developed a good smoke, it's perfect for the tomatoes and peppers (and onions, which are surprisingly good smoked).
I want a 'cold smoker', mostly for making bacon; and maybe smoked Salmon. Yes they're not difficult to make, I just need the motivation.
I remembered plans I saw recently on the Mother Earth News website, and thought you might find them interesting:
http://www.motherearthnews.com/diy/garden-and-yard/how-to-build-a-smoker-zm0z15jjzmar.aspx
Unfortunately that's a HOT smoker; a COLD smoker is a wee bit more complicated, but still not difficult to construct.
I sit here in awe of your committment to bottling, pickling and all things culinary Cro.
I enjoy it Pat.... I also enjoy eating it in Winter.
Foul day here; raining all day long. Still, I'm not complaining, we might have some mushrooms.
In fact it was 104 degrees here yesterday with a heat index of 112. It killed my tom turkey. Nothing is getting preserved around here this summer I fear.
With all the heat and no rain insight, the deer just ate what was left of my tomato plants after the hornworms got finished with them. I'm done for the summer.
You put me to shame Cro ….. as much as I love cooking I am nowhere near as industrious as you. Smoking is quite a delicate process isn't it Cro ? I know that you shouldn't over smoke ! XXXX
There's not much I love to eat more than homegrown tomatoes! Yum!
Post a Comment