Green Tomato Salsa Recipe
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There is just about nothing worse than laboring in your garden all spring to look out and find your giant, beautiful tomato plants being laid siege by a mouse.
Tomatoes, in general, are not my favorite vegetable to grow: they’re fussy about water; they get the blight; they’re particular about nutrients; they attract a wealth of pests. I like low maintenance plants, personally!
This year, however, my garden is filled to the brim with tomatoes! I have tons and tons of green tomatoes in various stages of ripening, which unfortunately caught the attention of a very hungry mouse who is also a very picky tomato connoisseur - the little stinker takes three tiny chomps out of each tomato and moves on.
What’s a grumpy gardener to do? I had an adorable pet mouse in high school named Merlin, and there’s no way I could bring myself to kill him/her, and I’m not exactly a cat person… so, I decided to pick them green!
About Green Tomatoes
Let’s be clear: green tomatoes will, in fact, ripen if given enough time.
Simply sit them on your windowsill or countertop, and let the waiting game begin.
The problem, for me, is that I have an enormous bin chock full of green tomatoes, and I would rather parcel this massive quantity of produce out than spend the next couple weeks buying veggies from the store and suddenly be swamped with more ripe red tomatoes than I can handle.
Good news: green tomatoes are not only edible, but they can also be flavorful and delicious when used properly! Any gal raised in the South will immediately think of the beloved favorite, fried green tomatoes, but I’m not much for frying things, especially not in my own kitchen. I somehow always make a horrible mess!
You’ll notice that I spend a decent amount of time encouraging my readers to rethink our go-to foods. A lot of what we consider “normal” fruits and vegetables from the store ship from across the planet in refrigerated vehicles and are grown with incredible amounts of pesticides and fertilizers. The environmental impact is huge, and there are so many other nutritious foods available in your area or backyard! Did you miss my kumquat chutney, loquat salsa, red sorrel pesto? (Hint, hint!)
Cooking With Green Tomatoes
Green tomatoes range in flavor from a milder version of their sweet, ripe cousins to a delightful tartness not unlike tomatillos; it’s all about where they are in the ripening process.
They also have a noticeably firmer texture than red tomatoes, which is great for some recipes (like fried green tomatoes) but requires a little tempering for most uses. I recommend roasting, sauteing, or grilling them to soften them up and bring out a richness of flavor.
Green Tomato Salsa Recipe with Avocado
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups halved small green tomatoes
2 jalapenos, halved lengthwise and seeds and core removed
olive oil
1/3 cup finely chopped onion
3 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro
3 cloves of finely chopped garlic
1 ripe avocado, chopped
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
salt and pepper to taste
lime juice (optional)
Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 350.
Grease a large roasting pan or cookie sheet with olive oil and arrange your tomatoes in a single layer, cut side facing up. Then add your jalapenos,cut side down.
Roast your tomatoes until they’re considerably softened. The time will depend on how ripe your tomatoes were when you harvested them, but mine took about 30 minutes last time.
Allow your tomatoes to cool, then coarsely chop and combine with other ingredients in a medium bowl.
Let your flavors marinate in the fridge for an hour, then serve with chips or layer onto some nachos or tacos!
Remember: food is all around us when we take a creative approach in the kitchen! By choosing to harvest and savor them in their green stage, I avoided killing other species and introducing toxins into the environment, while still making some dang tasty food!
More green tomato recipes soon!
