This year’s tomato harvest has been exceptionally bountiful despite the drought we’ve had in this Mid-South area. Many weekends have been spent dicing, cooking down and canning sun-ripened red tomatoes for winter stews and sauces. Nothing beats a home-canned tomato! The Hubby has also eaten his fair share of sliced tomatoes with a slathering of mayo in between slices of white bread.
The majority of the garden’s tomato plants were pulled out for the compost pile in early October. I left a couple plants in the ground thinking a few more tomatoes might just find themselves in a salad or sandwich. This time of the year can be wonky though. Will we have an “Indian Summer” with warm weather or a first frost that wipes out everything green and growing? The remaining tomato plants took full advantage of the warm weather to produce a last minute glutton of fruit. Mother Nature decided to surprise us with multiple frosty nights. Not wanting to loose any produce, I picked all of the sizable green tomatoes before they froze on the vine. With this many tomatoes, what’s a gardener to do? Salsa Verde and Marinara sauces!
Salsa verde (aka Green Salsa, Green Tomato Salsa, Tomatilo Salsa, etc.) is a tangier twist on it’s rosy-colored cousins–regular salsa or pico de gallo. Depending on what you’ve got growing, green tomatoes or tomatillos can be used as the basis of salsa verde. Broiling the vegetables gives them a fire-roasted flavor in the final salsa. (Watch the garlic closely to avoid burning it.)
Once all of your veg has a chance to brown up, let it cool slightly. You’ll need to cut out the blossom cores and peel the tomatoes before blending all of the veg up. If you opt for equal amounts of tomatillos instead of tomatoes, simply peel off the papery husk and wash off the sticky residue before roasting. After blending the roasted veg, cilantro, lime juice and salt into smooth green goodness, cook it down to your desired thickness with vegetable oil. Eat immediately, or freeze/can it for later. Salsa verde is tasty as is with scoop-able tortilla chips, as a taco or tamale topper, or cooked down over succulent chunks of browned pork in Chile Verde Pork Stew.
End of season sun-riped tomatoes also make a fabulous Marinara Sauce. To prep tomatoes, blanch them in boiling water until the skins split. Immediately place tomatoes into ice water to cool. Skins will easily slip off tomatoes. Discard skins and cut out blossom cores. Use tomatoes as whole or hand-crush for Marinara Sauce.
Making Marinara Sauce is easy, but the flavor is developed in stages. Shredded onions, celery and carrots are cooked in olive oil before adding red wine and the crushed tomatoes. Fresh basil, lemon zest and lemon juice are added before a slow simmer takes place. Salt to taste, before blending the tasty goodness into a smooth sauce using your regular blender or a hand-held blender. Use Marinara Sauce with your favorite cooked pasta, as a pizza sauce, or foccacia bread dipper.
Salsa Verde
Unripe tomatoes or tomatillos make this green (verde) salsa delicioso as a tortilla chip dipper, on tamales or tacos, or cooked with pork chunks to make chili verde.
- Yield: About 2 Cups 1x
Ingredients
About 15–17 small to medium-sized green tomatoes*
3–4 jalapeno peppers, stems cut off and cut in half length-wise
8–10 garlic cloves, peeled
2–3 medium-sized white onions, peeled and cut into quarters
1/2 bunch cilantro leaves with stems (about 1-1./2 cup)
5–6 T. lime juice
1 tsp. salt (table, kosher, or sea)
2 T. vegetable or canola oil
Instructions
Preheat oven broiler to high setting. Place oven rack in upper 1/3 of oven.
Place tomatoes blossom end side down on a rimmed baking sheet. Place jalapeno peppers, garlic cloves, and onion on baking sheet. Remove the seeds and ribs from the jalapenos if you do not want heat. (I seeded half of mine for some heat.). Put baking sheet into oven. Broil for 7-8 minutes. Watch garlic cloves to ensure they do not burn, removing from oven if necessary. Turn tomatoes and onion over. Stir jalapenos and garlic cloves. Broil for 7-8 minutes more. Tomatoes should be browned and softened. Remove vegetables from oven and allow to cool until easily handled, about 15 minutes.
Peel skins off of tomatoes and cut out blossom core. Put peeled tomatoes, jalapenos, garlic, onion, cilantro, lime juice and salt into blender or food processor. Puree until fine and smoothly combined. Taste to adjust salt and lime juice to your liking.
Preheat vegetable oil in a heavy bottomed stockpot over medium-high heat. Carefully pour pureed tomato mixture into stockpot. Stir and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and allow mixture to simmer for about 25-30 minutes. Salsa verde should be thick enough to scoop with a tortilla chip or drizzle over a taco. If you want a thinner consistency, simmer for less time or add tablespoons of water until desired consistency is reached.
Salsa verde will keep in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator for up to a week. It can also be cooled and frozen in a freezer safe container for up to 3 months. Salsa verde can also be canned in pint-sized jars with two-part lids using the hot-water bath method. Process pints for 15 minutes.
Notes
*Tomatillos are easily swapped out for green tomatoes. You’ll use about 30-35 tomatillos for this recipe. The salsa verde will have a slightly tarter taste. Peel paper husk off of tomatillos and wash to remove sticky residue. Broil according to the recipe, but eliminate the step for removing skins since there won’t be any to take off.
Marinara Sauce
Sun-ripened tomatoes, herbaceous basil, sauteed veg and bright lemon pair deliciously together in this easy to eat Marinara Sauce!
Ingredients
3 medium-sized onions, peeled and quartered
5 carrots, scrubbed and ends trimmed
6 stalks celery
1/2 cup olive oil
2 cups dry red wine
About 6 pounds fresh tomatoes, peeled and crushed, OR 4-28 oz. cans crushed tomatoes
2 bunches fresh basil
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
1 T. salt (table, kosher or sea)
Instructions
Shred the onion, celery and carrots separately using a hand-held shredder or food processor. Heat the olive oil over high heat in a heavy-bottomed stock pot. Add the shredded onion to the pot and cook until softened, but not brown–about 7-9 minutes, stirring often. Add shredded celery to onion, stir and cook until soft, another 5 minutes. Add shredded carrots to mixture, stir and cook until softened for another 5 minutes or so.
Stir in red wine and cook for about a minute or so. Add crushed tomatoes, basil, lemon zest, juice and salt to pot and stir. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 45-60 minutes. Add salt to taste. Carefully put tomato sauce into a blender, or use a hand-held blender to process until smooth. Use immediately with your favorite pasta. Marinara sauce can be cooled and frozen in freezer-safe containers for up to 3 months. Sauce can also be canned using a hot water bath and two-part lids. Process quart jars for 40 minutes.
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