Delicious Green Tomatoes

K is a wonderful cook. As a little girl she enjoyed cooking and baking with her younger sisters and me, and as a teenager she prepared a couple of dinners a week for our family.

Ever the experimenter in the kitchen, one fall after the green tomatoes came in from the garden she came up with her own lighter, simpler take on fried green tomatoes - sliced,unbreaded, lightly sauteed in olive oil and garlic, served with lemon wedges and freshly-grated parmesan cheese. Fresh basil, oregano, and/or thyme add additional flavor to this yummy treat. Alternatively, brush them with olive oil and broil or grill, then add your choice of toppings. We enjoyed them so much they became a fall tradition.

Having a vegetable garden for the first time in several years, end-of-season green tomatoes were eagerly anticipated. K's Green Tomatoes have been enjoyed more than once in recent weeks.

With this year's unusually cool summer and chilly, overcast early autumn, there were lots of green tomatoes left in the garden. It was a perfect opportunity to try Mom's newest pickled green tomato recipe. A slightly different version was posted last fall. Mom said this one was even better. I used her new recipe for the rest of our green tomatoes, and made seven quarts.

Yum! These are so good, just like the ones Mrs. Schmidt shared with our family when I was a kid. Here's the recipe.

Pickled Green Tomatoes
For each wide-mouth pint jar:
About 1 lb green tomatoes, enough to fill jar to the shoulder
2 medium cloves garlic, peeled and sliced 1/4" thick
1 tsp. black peppercorns
1/2 tsp. coriander seeds or 1/4 tsp. ground coriander (optional, but really good!)
small pinch hot pepper flakes
1 small bay leaf
2 fresh dill heads or 1 1/2 tsp dill seeds (fresh dill is best if available.)
Coarsely-chopped onions and/or a few thick celery slices make a delicious addition.

For brine:
5 oz water
3 oz white vinegar
1 1/2 tsp kosher or pickling salt (don't use table salt)
1 tsp sugar

1. Sterilize a large-mouthed one pint jar in boiling water. Place new canning lid and screw band in water which has been brought to boiling and turned off. Allow lids to remain in water until you need them. Place a dish towel on counter for setting hot jars on.

2. Wash the tomatoes and pat them dry. Small tomatoes can be left whole or quartered, quarter larger tomatoes. Drain jars and set on towel. Place garlic, pepper corns, hot pepper flakes, bay leaf and dill in bottom of jar. Tightly pack tomatoes into jar.

3. Bring water, vinegar, salt and sugar to a rolling boil. Quickly ladle brine over jar ingredients to cover, leaving about 1/2 inch of head space in jar. Immediately place lid and bands on jar and screw bands down finger tight. Turn jar upside down for 5 minutes. Turn right side up and let stand on counter until cooled. Jar lids should pop in during cooling.

Notes: Multiply the ingredients by the number of jars you plan to make. Since we had a lot of tomatoes, I used quart jars instead of pints, and adjusted the recipe accordingly.

Pickles can be processed 10 minutes in a hot-water bath. We like them crisp, and feel the tomatoes and brine are acidic and salty enough to store safely without the hot water bath if stored in a cool, dark place such as an unheated basement or root cellar, or refrigerated after processing and cooling.

Cure for at least two weeks before enjoying to allow flavors to blend.

Always refrigerate after opening.

Mrs. Schmidt's Pickled Green Tomatoes

Mom's pickled green tomatoes

For several years during my childhood, Mrs. Schmidt helped feed our family. She was a grandmotherly, widowed German lady who lived one suburb north of us in an old bungalow in an old section of town where her chicken-raising had been grandfathered into a rezoning several years before we met her.

She and my mom were friends. Mom made 1940's-style house dresses for her with her vintage patterns, and often bartered her sewing skills with Mrs. Schmidt for all sorts of goodies. My favorites were fresh, organic chicken and eggs, and Mrs. Schmidt's Pickled Dill Green Tomatoes.

Mrs. Schmidt raised slaughtered, and dressed her own chickens. There was no comparing her chickens and eggs with the inferior stuff that came from the grocery store. I feel lucky that as a child, thanks to my family's farming heritage, our home garden, the milkman who delivered our non-homogenized milk, and Mrs. Schmidt, I learned what real food is supposed to taste like.

Mrs. Schmidt was a thrifty woman, and nothing went to waste - not even the green tomatoes left on the vines in her bountiful, beautiful garden just before the first frost. She'd pick those tomatoes before they got hit by frost, and make jars and jars of pickled tomatoes. Every year she'd share several jars with my mom. I was glad not all my siblings enjoyed them, since that left more for me. Mrs. Schmidt's pickled tomatoes come in right up there with my grandma's chocolate milk and homemade apple butter as my favorite food memories besides the ones made at home by Mom.

I was always excited when Mom would ask me if I wanted to come along to visit Mrs. Schmidt. Mrs. Schmidt loved children. She was always interested, sweet, patient, and kind. She made me feel welcome and special at her house. She always had a homemade sweet treat for us when we sat down for tea in her old-fashioned kitchen or in the cool shade of her beautiful garden on sunny summer afternoons.

Since my maternal grandparents lived out-of-state, we only got to visit them occasionally. I missed them alot, and always wished we lived closer to them. I envied my friends whose grandmothers lived down the street or close enough to visit more often. Mrs. Schmidt became a sort-of foster-grandmother that helped fill the gap. She's gone now, but my memories of her will last the rest of my life. If I close my eyes I can still see her plaited silver hair, her kind face, and those sparkling, mischevious, high-spirited eyes.

I never had Mrs. Schmidt's recipe for pickled green tomatoes, though I wish I did. On a mission a couple of years ago, I searched the web and found this one that has all the ingredients I remember in her awesome pickles.

Pickled Green Tomatoes
3-1/2 pounds firm green tomatoes, quartered
1 clove garlic per jar of pickles
1 hot or sweet red pepper - your preference
2 stalks celery thickly sliced
1 quartered, sliced white or large sweet yellow onion
3-5 sprigs fresh dill per jar of pickles
2 quarts water
1 quart vinegar
1/2 cup granulated pickling salt
3 tsp pickling spices

PREPARATION:
Wash about 3-1/2 pounds small, firm, green tomatoes (or larger ones, quartered). Drain and pack into quart jars. To each quart, add garlic, red pepper, onion, celery and dill.

Combine water, vinegar, spices, and pickling salt. This will be the brine.
Bring to a boil, boil five minutes; then immediately fill jars within 1/2 inch of the top. Seal lids. Note: You may want to process in hot water bath for 5 minutes, but not necessary. Makes about 4 quarts. Store for at least two weeks before opening to allow flavors to blend.