Glut recipes! (eating or preserving!) - tried and tested!

ceridwen

Having read this thread with interest - am still wandering/hoping that someone will provide a recipe for that green tomato curry mentioned earlier on purlease.......<insert winsome smilie:D>

....failing that....owt that one can do with green tomatoes gratefully received...:D

foreign_correspondent

ceridwen wrote: »

Having read this thread with interest - am still wandering/hoping that someone will provide a recipe for that green tomato curry mentioned earlier on purlease.......<insert winsome smilie:D>

....failing that....owt that one can do with green tomatoes gratefully received...:D

.. still waiting for the nice lady at work to write it down for me - she told me what she does, and it sounds very much like this one...
http://www.gardenerscorner.org/subject055299.htm

except the lady told me she just uses chilli and turneric instead of a curry powder, but she said you can use what you like!

foreign_correspondent

Having loads of veg to get through, I made ratatouille last night - it is great for this time of year when many of us have too many courgettes, tomatoes and aubergines...

Dead easy and quick too -

-I fried 3 small onions, and half a dozen crushed garlic cloves in a spot of olive oil...
then chucked in 2 aubergines, 3 big courgettes, (chop these but do not peel - I just quarter them lengthways and then slice into 1cm thich slices) a load of random split/over-ripe toms, peeled and sliced, a squirt of tomato puree, salt, and a bouguet garni of home grown rosemary and thyme...
...let it all simmer down, then chucked in a load of fresh basil and some black pepper at the end.

It made a big panfull and was really tasty - even the OH ate it and said it was good and he never used to like ratatouille! It is also very low calorie, which is good. When I have eaten this lot, I will make another big pan of it to freeze.

furndire

foreign_correspondent wrote: »

Having loads of veg to get through, I made ratatouille last night - it is great for this time of year when many of us have too many courgettes, tomatoes and aubergines...

Dead easy and quick too -

-I fried 3 small onions, and half a dozen crushed garlic cloves in a spot of olive oil...
then chucked in 2 aubergines, 3 big courgettes, (chop these but do not peel - I just quarter them lengthways and then slice into 1cm thich slices) a load of random split/over-ripe toms, peeled and sliced, a squirt of tomato puree, salt, and a bouguet garni of home grown rosemary and thyme...
...let it all simmer down, then chucked in a load of fresh basil and some black pepper at the end.

It made a big panfull and was really tasty - even the OH ate it and said it was good and he never used to like ratatouille! It is also very low calorie, which is good. When I have eaten this lot, I will make another big pan of it to freeze.

I've done similar to the above, but bottled the resulting sauce. The freezer was full !!!

anne15

Hi Furndire,

can you tell me how to 'bottle' ? and how long you can keep it for ?

i'd like to try this as my freezer is almost full & loads of courgettes, beans etc to come yet..........


thanks Anne

furndire

You need jars that have previously had sauces etc in them (usually have these have "vinegar proof lids" (not that you are using vinegar, but toms are very acidic, and these lids have a sort of plasticy finish.). Clean them thoroughly put them in the oven for about 10 mins at high heat, to sterilise them, then carefully put your hot sauce in them. Put the lids back on. Sorry a bit vague, but if you look up "bottling your own" you will get a lot of info. Its one of those things I just "do".
I have a few jars of The Curry Queens basic curry sauce as well. The first time I did this, I put the jars in the fridge after they had cooled as I wasn't sure if I had sterilised everything properly - abit like belt & braces.

foreign_correspondent

I just made sweet chilli jam, it uses loads of tomatoes and some chillies too, which is handy, as I have planty of both - this is my own recipe adapted from a couple of others - it does not set firm, but is more like a thick sweet chilli sause - its very nice with cheese on toast!

I make double the amount, as it reduces down a lot!

• 1 kg ripe tomato, blanched, skinned and chopped (I weigh the kg out after I have done this to allow for any bits I cut off, so you need a few toms more than a kilo to start off with)
• 500g sugar
• about a tablespoon grated ginger, and one clove of garlic, crushed (both optional)
• 1/2 cup vinegar (I used cider vinegar, but I think any will do!)
• 6-10 chillies, red or green, sliced thinly
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 tablespoons light soy sauce

chuck the toms and sugar in a pot and leave for a couple of hours or overnight.

chuck everything else in bring to the boil, stirring till any undissolved sugar has been dissolved (do not let it boil before all sugar is dissolved)

bring it to a rolling boil, and let it boil till it becomes thicker, and about half the volume it was when you started - about 1hr-1 1/2 hrs.

pot into warmed sterilised jars and seal.

nodwah

That's what i've wanted to know about vine leaves for ages thanks! :j

angelavdavis wrote: »

I am just about to cut back my grapevine to allow the grapes to ripen better and thought I would also preserve the vineleaves.

Collect medium sized leaves early in the day (don't use leaves on plants that have been sprayed).

Blanch a dozen at a time, by placing in strong salted boiling water, 1 part salt to water. Bring water back to a boil and then remove leaves immediately with an egg slice or similar; plunge the leaves into cold/ice water. Drain, dry with paper towels or shake dry.

Use immediately, or stack in rolls of six, roll from the side and tie; wrap in airtight plastic and freezer bags. They keep for 6 months frozen. Use immediately after thawing.

You can also keep them in jars of salted water, although I haven't ever tried.

lightisfading

Just found this thread - I don't grow in large enough quantities to have gluts of anything but courgettes but interesting nonetheless

Anyway - I grew gold rush this year - very very prolific. I've found courgettes are delicious in a thai curry (funnily enough, potatoes are too! - just cook them first then add to the other veggies).

For the curry just saute onions and garlic, add in the rest of your veg, chopped roughly (courgettes, peppers, celery, mushrooms, potatoes, ... everything and anything - chickpeas are good too), fry for a few more mins, stir in a few teaspoons of thai curry paste (from the chinese supermarket is best or use more of supermarket version), then a can of coconut milk. Simmer til it's a thickness you prefer, add a splash of lime juice, serve with rice. I've been eating a lot of courgette and new potato thai curry recently :rotfl:

foreign_correspondent

Hi lightisfading - I thought it made more sense to answer your ratatouille in the slow cooker query here - sometimes I saute the onion and garlic first, as I think it tasted better if the onions are a little browned first - however, in the past I have just bunged it all in cold and it has been fine - suppose it depends how short on time you are - I would cook it for anywhere from 6 hours onwards - I generally just give it a poke and see if its cooked! As it's all veggies, it wont hurt you if its underdone, but I do like it to be quite soft and tender and gloopy!

I am sure it would be fine to leave on low all day if you are out at work, I think I have before. If you put everything in raw, make sure the onions are in the bottom, as they take longest to cook, and try and slice or chop they quite finely - everything else will do in quite thick chunks or slices (I chop the courgettes about 1cm thick)