Fermented Green Tomato Relish

Some time ago I wrote a post about green tomato relish and mentioned I may try fermenting it.  Well, I did it.  The results are outstanding if I do say so myself.


Toward the end of the season we were having lots of tomatoes getting chewed on.  I was thinking either birds or rodents even though the chewed spots didn't look like they were made by rodents.  Since we were still getting a few good size tomatoes for fresh eating I kept letting the plants go and put up with the damage.  When I finally pulled up the plants I found out it was some sort of caterpillar doing the damage.  That's what happens when you avoid spraying.


We were going to be going out of town in a couple of weeks so I decided to pull the plants and harvest every sound green tomato and make some relish to ferment.  I ended up with so many little green tomatoes my basket was creaking and I was worried it would break.


Since I had so many I decided on two changes to my plan, first I would clean a bunch of quart jars and second, would use the food processor to save time.


This will not be a recipe with specific quantities as much as it'll be a method to be adapted to what you have on hand.

Two batches of Green Tomato Relish ready to start fermenting

I ran the green tomatoes through the food processor with the julienne/french fry blade.  This cut them into long strips about 1/4 inch square.  I would drop in a red tomato every so often for the little splash of color.  I stopped when the food processor container was full.  Everything was then dumped in a large bowl and mixed well.  We had decided we wanted a bit of heat in the relish so I very finely minced a couple of red ripe jalapenos from the garden and added them.  I added some herbs to one batch but can't tell that they added anything to the flavor.  After everything is well mixed it is time for the salt.


For the salting I used the same process for making sauerkraut.  That means using roughly 3 Tbs for each 5 lbs of mix.  I say roughly because I tend not to measure but use my fingers and go by taste.  Using the 3:5 ratio will work fine though and be more precise if that helps you.  After the salt was sprinkled on everything was mixed and allowed to sit for 30 minutes.  At the end of the 30 minutes, stir the mixture well and put it in jars to ferment.


If you have a fermenting crock you can use that.  I use mason jars for most everything.   Make sure they are clean and well rinsed.  I typically don't bother sanitizing them.  Put some of the relish in the jar and press it down to squeeze out some brine.  Continue to do this until you are an inch or two from the top.  If  you've made a large batch, repeat the process until it is all used up.  Split the brine remaining in the bowl among all your jars.  Use whatever method you choose to keep the relish below the brine and cap the jars. 

Pretty and tasty.  You can see the size of the tomatoes after the food processor.

Once the jars are capped, put them in a pan to catch overflow and set them in an out of the way spot.  I use a corner to the right of our sink that is just a bit awkward to put something we use regularly in.  After 24 hours or so, you'll start to see some liquid in the pan.  This means the fermentation process is starting and the gasses formed are forcing things up.  Start checking the flavor after 3 or 4 days to see if it has reached the desired level of sour.  The first batch was good after 5 days and the 2nd batch took 7 days.  Once it has reached the sour level you want, put them in a refrigerator.  This greatly slows down the ferment.  The flavors will continue to develop until you've eaten it all.


So, like I said, more of a method than a specific quantity recipe.  This relish is good with many things, grilled pork chops and chicken, served with vegetables, or even eaten by itself as a side.  Besides the good wife and me, this has been eaten by the good wife's sister and her family and by a Soldier I work with and his family.  It has been well received by both groups.


I know that much has been written about the benefits of fermented foods for gut health.  I don't know if all this is true and I'm not really concerned with it.  Fermentation does things I know about and care about.  Fermentation makes some nutrients more readily available, lengthens shelf life of the product, and develops some great textures and flavors.  So, if eating all the things I ferment helps our gut health great but I'd be fermenting even if it didn't.


There are many resources online to get you started.  If there is an organic food store close to you chances are good that at least one person that works there knows fermentation.  The one closest to use even sells airlocks for mason jars to aid fermentation.  I've not read it, but several of the sites I've visited to get information have referenced a book by Sandor Ellix Katz called, Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods.  It can be found here, Amazon. 


Give fermenting a go and see what you think.  It is basically a beneficial bacteria driven pickling process.  If you eat sauerkraut, kimchee, or any other commercially fermented product you'll be amazed at the difference between that and what you can make yourself.  If you give it a try let me know how it turns out.


Uncle T

Butternut Squash Two Ways and Pan Fried Salmon

A week or so ago we made the drive back to Tennessee to visit family.  We carried a couple of boxes of goodies for family members.  We took stuff from our garden that the good wife had canned, pickles, pinkeye purple hull peas, black berry preserves, etc.  I took some samples of my bacon and sausage.  This is a variation on my childhood memories.  It seems like every time we visited my maternal grandparents we ended up with jars of preserves or containers of frozen corn or peas.  Then, my grandparents had the most productive garden and now I seem to have the most productive garden.


We did bring some stuff back courtesy of the good wife's sister.  From her garden we had some butternut squash and some purple peppers.  The peppers were sweet with a nice fresh flavor.  I much prefer their flavor over green bell peppers.  They are excellent sliced thinly and added to a salad.  I need to try to find them for my garden next year.  We also brought home a loaf of homemade sour dough bread.  I must say, that is some most excellent bread and she has been making it as long as I can remember.

A nice purple bell pepper

For the butternut squash I was wanting to do something different.  I know, there is nothing wrong with roasted butternut squash but there has to be more variety.  An idea came to me while I was watching SEC football on Saturday afternoon.  A quick Google search didn't turn up anything like it so I had my dish.  What I came up with was butternut squash waffle fries.  That accounted for the solid neck portion of the squash and the rest was cubed up and saved for another meal.

Butternut squash waffle fries and Pan fried salmon

The two meals with the butternut squash also featured pan fried salmon.  I first came across this method 8 or 9 years ago while we were living in Texas.  I don't remember if I found it online or saw it on TV.  What I like about this method is it's quick, gives nice crispy salmon skin, and it's easy to get the salmon to your desired level of doneness.  As a bonus, if desired you can use the butter and salmon juices left in the skillet as the base for a pan sauce to pour over the salmon.


Pan Fried Salmon


1 skin on fillet per person
1 stick butter, softened
kosher salt
pepper

Make sure the scales are off the salmon skin.  Pat dry both the flesh side and the skin side of the fillets.  Leave skin side up.  Coat the skin with a layer of the softened butter. Sprinkle some kosher salt all over the butter coating then add a little pepper.  Lay the fillets in a hot skillet skin side down and sprinkle additional salt and pepper on the flesh side.  When the cooked line is about halfway up the fillet, gently flip it over.  The skin should me nicely browned and crisp.  When the cooked lines meet in the middle the salmon is done.  The salmon will be completely done and flaky but will still be moist.

To make a pan sauce to pour over, add 2 - 3 more tablespoons of butter to the skillet.  Once it has melted and is sizzling, add 1/4 to 1/3 cup of bourbon to the skillet.  If you want to be dramatic and can safely do so, you can burn off the alcohol.  If you don't think you can safely do it then just let the mixture simmer for a couple of minutes.  Once the alcohol has burned off, add 1 Tbs of mustard and 1 1/2 tsp honey to the skillet.  Stir to combine and let simmer until reduced to the consistency you want.  Spoon over each fillet.

Fried butternut squash, pan fried salmon with pan sauce, fresh salad

Butternut Squash Waffle Fries


1 Butternut Squash neck, peeled
oil
salt


Using the waffle blade on a mandolin, cut the squash using the smallest thickness possible.  Once the squash is sliced, let is sit until the oil gets hot.  I used my outdoor fryer with peanut oil and got the oil to 375F.  Immerse the waffle cut squash in the oil and fry until browned.  Drain well and lightly sprinkle with salt.  Serve and enjoy.

Fried Butternut Squash


1 Butternut squash, cubed.  In this case I used just the seed end of the squash.
bacon grease
salt
pepper
roasted cumin


Season the cubed butternut squash with salt, pepper, and roasted cumin.  Heat bacon grease in a skillet, use 2 - 3 Tbs.  Once hot, add the squash and give it a good shake.  Let the squash cook until it starts to brown then toss the skillet to get the squash flipped.  Continue cooking until the desired level of brown is reached.  Serve and enjoy.


Both these ways of cooking butternut squash are tasty departures from the norm.  The waffle fries weren't even thickness due to the difficulty of getting it to cut smoothly.  As a result, many of them were crispy on one part and crispy with a soft inside at the other.  The little bit of salt was just enough to emphasize the sweetness of the squash.  The cubed squash had a similar texture all the way through but the addition of the cumin and the flavor imparted from the bacon grease made the flavor something else.  Both of these methods will be put to use again.  I don't usually grow winter squash but I may need to next year.


The salmon and butternut squash, either way, would be good accompanied by a salad.  The salmon and cubed squash was accompanied by a simple salad.  The salad was Romaine, Red Leaf lettuce, sliced onion, sliced purple sweet peppers, sliced carrots, tossed with apple cider vinegar salad dressing and topped with freshly fried bacon pieces.  Given the time of year, only the pepper was home grown.


Give this salmon and these butternut squash recipes a try in your kitchen.  I think you'll be pleased with the results.  If you do try them, let me know what you think.


Uncle T

Shrimp in a Peanut Garlic Sauce

By now, you've probably figured out that we enjoy the cuisine of many countries.  Indian food is no different.  We've always gone to an Indian restaurant since all the recipes I've looked at have always seemed either overly complicated or had several ingredients that I don't keep on hand and didn't know where to find.  There may be one but I've not found an Indian market close to us where I could get those ingredients.


I was looking around at Indian and Indian inspired recipes last week and I found one that had ingredients that I had or could alter to what I had on hand.  Using what I had on hand also changed both the texture and flavor profile.  We've decided that this is a keeper recipe.  I'm calling this an Indian inspired recipe because I adapted a recipe that was adapted from a curry cookbook that was written by an Indian Chef, 660 Curries.  From what I've read about the author I may have to get this book.


One of the key changes was in the peanut requirement.  The original called for blanched peanuts to be crushed and added to the sauce.  Those peanuts are rather flavorless and only provide a bit of texture to the sauce.  I decided to use some of our homemade mixed nut butter instead.  I leave a bit of graininess to this butter when I process it and the flavor is out of this world. 


This shrimp dish is good served over rice or cauliflower rice.  Not only that, it is quick and simple to make. 


Shrimp in Peanut Garlic Sauce


1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined, size is your preference
1/2 - 1 tsp ground turmeric
1/4 cup nut butter
4 - 8 large cloves garlic
3 Thai chilies
2 Tbs canola oil
1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
salt
cilantro


Place shrimp in a bowl and sprinkle with ground turmeric to suit you.  I was using 35 - 40 size shrimp so I used a good teaspoon of turmeric.  Toss to coat well and let sit for 15 - 30 minutes.


While the shrimp is sitting, mince the garlic and chilies.  Add the oil to a skillet and bring up to medium heat.  Add the garlic and chilies and stir.  After they've cooked about a minute, add the nut butter and stir.


Once the nut butter, garlic, and chilies have browned a bit, stir in the coconut milk.  Be sure to shake the can before you open it.  Bring it up to a boil and reduce to a simmer.  Add salt to taste.  Simmer for 2 minutes and add the shrimp.  Bring back to a simmer and cook until shrimp are done, about 3 - 5 minutes.


Serve over rice or cauliflower rice and sprinkle with cilantro.

Shrimp in a Peanut Garlic Sauce over Cauliflower Rice

I used some of my dried Thai Dragon peppers instead of fresh peppers because I didn't grow any Thai peppers this year.  I just minced them up dry instead of rehydrating them.  If you can't find Thai peppers then cayenne peppers are a good substitute.  You should be able to find both at a good Asian store.


Give this recipe a try and expand your kitchen repertoire.