FRIED GREEN TOMATOES, SOUTHERN STYLE

This is my Mother’s recipe for Fried Green Tomatoes Southern style. Slice several green tomatoes about a half inch thick or to your liking. Salt and pepper to taste. Roll the green tomatoes in flour the same as you would fried chicken. Heat the oil very hot and fry. The fried green tomatoes should be eaten while they are hot or they will become soggy.--- Sara Jones

SLOW ROASTED TOMATOES I love preserving the ripe fresh tomatoes from my garden for those cold snowy wintery days.Ingredients:Enough tomatoes to cover a cookie sheet when quartered.3 tsp. salt – I use Norton Salt Flakes Few cloves of minced garlicFresh oregano – Tablespoon or 2Freshly ground black pepper – to taste ¼ cup or so of good olive oil2 tbsp. balsamic vinegarBlanch the tomatoes in hot boiling water for 30 sec-onds, then immediately put into a cold water bath to cool. Peel the skin off of the tomatoes and quarter, making sure to save the juice onto the pan. Combine the salt, garlic, oregano, pepper and vinegar with the oil then pour over the tomatoes. Roast in 350 degree F. oven about one hour. Cool, then store in a freezer bag in the freezer until ready for some tasty pasta topping! — Pat Fromm

TOMATO MARMALADE WITH BLOOD ORANGES 2 pounds ripe tomatoes1 lemon2 blood oranges or regular oranges2 pounds of sugar

TOMATO MARMALADE, cont’dCore, peel and seed tomatoes. Chop tomatoes and place in large saucepan. Peel lemon and oranges and reserve the rinds. Slice fruit. Re-move seeds. Chop fruit and add to tomatoes. Shred reserved rinds, add to the tomatoes. Bring tomatoes to a rolling boil on high heat, cook eight minutes. Meanwhile, add the sugar to the pan and cook approximately 15 minutes. Let the mar-malade stand for two weeks before using. — Janet Austin

GREEN TOMATO JAM2 ½ cups pureed green tomatoes2 cups sugar1 3 oz. package of raspberry gelatinIn a large saucepan, bring tomatoes and sugar to a boil; reduce heat, simmer uncovered for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in gelatin until dissolved. Skim off any foam. Refrigerate or freeze.— Janet Austin

MIDSUMMER DAY’S ENSALATA

This dish is an assemblage of ingredients. It can be made into a main dish by adding (chorizo) sausage, thinly sliced steak or chick peas.

Ingredients: 3 tomatoes, cut into eighths, 1 cup fresh or canned cooked corn, 1 cup red onion, medium size, diced, 1 red pepper or a small jar of roasted peppers, diced and black olives (15.)

Cilantro Dressing (Juice of three limes, 3 tbsp. cilantro, minced, 3/4 cup of olive oil, whisked.)

Assemble, Dress, Serve. Next time, decide what other harvest vegetables can go into this. It’s that kind of salad, great in August.— Pat Libutti.

Recipes from the

Garden Club of Teaneck

Mr. Stripey Isis Baby Cakes Pineapple Belgium Pear Green Zebra

Tomatoes!

One large can of imported Italian peeled tomatoes, approximately 106 oz. 10 large basil leaves

The Meatballs: Take the bread and place in a bowl and add the milk and with your hands, knead the bread until all the milk is absorbed. Chop 3 cloves of garlic and the parsley. Place the bread in a large bowl, add the pork and beef and mix. Add the eggs, garlic, parsley and raisins, salt and pep-per, and mix all so that it is evenly combined. Roll the mixture into balls about 2” in diameter (should make 30.)Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Place the meatballs in the oven on a pie pan and cook for about 25 minutes or until brown, turn for even browning.

The Gravy: Take a large heavy pot with a lid, place in it the olive oil and sauté 3 chopped garlic cloves until caramelized, add all the juice and crush the peeled tomatoes by hand and place in pot, and add one tablespoon of coarse salt. Cook for 15 minutes or to boil and then add the meatballs and simmer for an additional 30 minutes with the lid off. About ten minutes before serving, add the fresh basil. Serves 6.— Joe Papa

AND........BASIL LEMONADE! I made the basil lem-onade with a very simple recipe: a. Buy a 2 liter bottle of lemonade b. Put a half ounce of basil into a blender and half the lemonade c. Blend on high for 1 minute and pour into a container d. Repeat with the rest of the lemonade and another half ounce of basil. Pour the rest into the container. e. Put the container into the frig and every time you open the frig for the next 24 hours, shake the container f. After 24 hours, strain the mixture through cheese cloth or a very small-holed strainer (get out all the green.)It is best served ice cold. It tastes great alone. It also makes a great base for adult drinks. Enjoy!— Marty Steeil

Grandma Rose’s Sicilian Meatballs & Tomato Gravy (circa 1918)

In the 1950s. I was a young boy living in a Jer-sey City Italian neighborhood. The predominate language heard was a Neapolitan dialect, some-times integrated with yet another dialect, Sicilian.

Each Sunday after the 9 o’clock Mass, I would scurry to my Grandmother’s house to do my Sun-day chore, grating and tasting wonderfully aged, fragrant, sharp Pecorino Romano. As I walked through the neighborhood, I caught the fragrance of the wonderful aroma of tomato sauce, meat-balls and sausage in various stages of prepa-ration for the Sunday family feasts. I became anxious as I began to visualize the delicious meal we were about to partake in the afternoon. Antipasto, pasta with meatballs in exquisite gravy made from home canned San Marzano toma-toes. Delizioso!

My Grandmother was a superb cook and an avid vegetable gardener who raised and fed six children and a husband during the Great Depres-sion. She prepared wonderful meals, and like all Italian grandmothers, had her own style of meat-balls. None of this was recorded, but my wife, another great cook, would observe her making dishes and was able to reconstruct them reason-ably well. So, here are Grandma Rose’s Sicil-ian Meatballs and Tomato Gravy (Sauce).

Ingredients:Stale Italian bread, crust removed and torn into chunks to make about 2 cups2/3 cup of whole milk6 large garlic cloves2 eggs1 ½ pounds of ground pork1 ½ pounds of ground beef½ cup of raisins (optional, but really great)½ bunch of parsley 3 tsp. of coarse salt3 tbsp. of virgin olive oil1 tsp. ground pepper

Basil Chives Shiso perilla Oregano Parsley Tarragon Mint

To see the rest of the Garden Club of Teaneck’s Recipes, click on http://rootsrecipes.blogspot.com----Patricia O’Brien Libutti. 2013