Thursday, September 25, 2008

What Do You Get...

When your garden gives you naught but green tomatoes?? Well, thanks to David's inspiration, I have an answer! Now, some of these greenies are actually supposed to be green - they're heirlooms known as Green Zebras - but they have a dense, rich texture like the unripe San Marzano and cherry tomatoes that I also added to this fruit mince, and I think they worked quite nicely!

I didn't wind up using David's recipe, though, since I didn't have all the ingredients and didn't feel like going to the store. Next year, though, I'm SAVING some greenies to make a batch of his and compare the two!

Isn't the mincemeat a whole lot prettier at the beginning of cooking?? Look at the bright greens of the apples and tomatoes, the orange of the carrots and orange peel, and the purple of the heirloom carrots and raisins!! It smelled SO FREAKING GOOD while cooking that I can't wait to make more of it just to make the house all Christmasy!

This is after cooking it down for an hour and a half - less pretty, but tastier for sure. I didn't add any alcohol to mine, so that everyone can enjoy it, and I know my dad will definitely get his fair share of tarts this Christmas - I have 3 jars of this stuff lying around in my freezer! Given who it's going to, though, I may be tempted to toss in a couple shots of brandy for good measure...

Green Tomato Mincemeat
Makes about 5 quarts
650 g chopped green tomatoes
1 kg half-peeled, diced Granny Smith apples
250 g Thompson raisins
100 g shredded carrots
165 g chopped dried pears
1/2 cup candied orange peel
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves (omit if freezing, stir in once thawed)
1 tsp salt
2 cups brown sugar, firmly packed
2 tbsp blackstrap molasses
2/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup water
  1. Combine all ingredients in a large stockpot.
  2. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to low and cook, partially covered, 1 hour and 15 minutes, stirring frequently (I left mine an hour and a half, I was lazy).
  3. Can according to water bath canner instructions.
  4. Alternatively, freeze: pack cold mincemeat into freezer jars or containers, leaving about an inch headspace for expansion. Seal and freeze promptly.
Amount Per Quart
Calories: 694.6
Total Fat: 1.1 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 78.1 mg
Total Carbs: 180.8 g
Dietary Fiber: 10.0 g
Protein: 4.3 g

This marked the end of my gardening project this year... I picked out the last of the beans, the green tomatoes and the few peppers that didn't rot after the downpour, and in between college papers I'm working on mowing through what I can fresh and preparing the rest to freeze. I also whipped out a bakery order (6 banana breads!!) for one of my mom's co-workers (and my dear friends) over the past couple days, two at a time!

I'm still not finished with the carrot posts, though - I just found out that my Psych prof is partial to the veggies too so I'm going to be trying out another cookie recipe (and hopefully posting the other one I've made) this weekend on breaks from writing my Communications and Food Service Management papers... but at least I finished my G*d D@mn Computing assignment! Until then, it's nose back to the grindstone for me. Sigh... I forgot how much work school is! At least I was pointed in the direction of the possibility of free money... thanks again to the recently term-papered-out David Tanita. I could be mean and not post the link in order to give me a better chance, but I'm feeling nice today! Here you go!

8 comments :

  1. Don't forget the fried green tomatoes with goat cheese!

    Leave it to me to take something healthy, and make it unhealthy :)

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  2. We've got some green tomatoes, too, and this just sounds so intriguing I think I have to try it! But I've got nowhere near 650 g. Maybe I'll have to sneak into my neighbour's yard and stock up!

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  3. No alcohol? Well ... I s'pose that's OK. But, really, when you think about it, you'd have been cooking it for an hour and a half, so the alcohol would have been totally gone. Truly.

    I'm so glad that you've gotten to make fruitmince, though! It will certainly brighten up the holidays. :)

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  4. This looks wonderful. I adore green tomatoes & this certainly looks like it would be worth a try!

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  5. This looks delicious, can't wait to try it with the green tomatoes I just found!

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  6. Why are you keeping it in the freezer? It's a preserve, right?

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  7. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  8. Ruth - if you do canning, you can for sure keep it on the shelf, but if it's not processed and heat sealed the freezer is safest for storage.

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Thanks for the feedback!