Mass cooking of tomatoes

[wafflycat]

I've got a *vat* of fresh tomato sauce cooking at the moment. My tomaot plants outdoors didn't ripen, so I snipped the mass of green fruits off and brought them indoors. I've been using them as and when they've ripened up in salads & cooking. Got a huge amount left though and to make sure they aren't wasted, I've gone through them all and I've chopped them up, got them cooking with olive oil, onion, garlic, a bit of celery and some thyme from the garden. It makes a fabulous sauce to go on pasta and to use as the basis of a bolognese.

 

[sheddy]

And when is the party ?

 

[purplemoon]

Snap!

I've got a glut of plum (roma) and normal tomatoes at the moment and was just looking at them wondering whether to make a pasta sauce or a roasted tomato soup!

Also have peppers, courgettes and aubergines to use so might do one of each and make a veggie pasta/ratatouille type sauce

 

[Bigtallfatbloke]

Patent it with a silly name and head off to dragons den...like that reggae reggae bloke did.

 

[fossyant]

Ours are all still green....loads though sat on the plants at the moment...

So bringing them in green will ripen them ?

 

[wafflycat]

Oh yes.

 

[purplemoon]

Put a bunch of bananas next to them and they'll soon ripen

 

[red_tom]

Fried green tomatoes at the Cyclechat cafe?

 

[User482]

Yes, I've been roasting my glut of homegrown toms on a low heat for about an hour, with plenty of olive oil, garlic and rosemary. Delicious.

 

[ChrisKH]

I didn't even get tomatoes this year, but did plant late.

 

[Maz]

Speaking of 'grow your own', I'm often tempted to give it a go, but which fruits/vegs/herbs are low to zero maintenance? I'm not greenfingered by any stretch of the imagination. I just want to grow something edible with little or no care needed from me, let nature do its stuff etc.

Is it possible?

 

[ChrisKH]

Speaking of 'grow your own', I'm often tempted to give it a go, but which fruits/vegs are low to zero maintenance? I'm not greenfingered by any stretch of the imagination. I just want to grow something edible with little or no care needed from me, let nature do its stuff etc.

Is it possible?

Depends what you like. Tomatoes are really easy and you can pick up seedlings that someone has already grown to pottable size at lots of spring fairs, car boot sales, etc. if you don't want to do your own. I tend to do a tray of tomato seeds once a year (16 tomato plants)in potting compost in a south facing bedroom until early May when I re-pot them into individual pots. They are ready for potting outside in late May. Water regularly and feed monthly. With a good bit of sun, you get ripe fruit on them by August latest. Except this year of course.

 

[Maz]

Depends what you like. Tomatoes are really easy and you can pick up seedlings that someone has already grown to pottable size at lots of spring fairs, car boot sales, etc. if you don't want to do your own. I tend to do a tray of tomato seeds once a year (16 tomato plants)in potting compost in a south facing bedroom until early May when I re-pot them into individual pots. They are ready for potting outside in late May. Water regularly and feed monthly. With a good bit of sun, you get ripe fruit on them by August latest. Except this year of course.

Ooh, mate, I reckon that's just too much work for me.
How about herbs? We eat tons of Dhaniya (coriander) at home. Is that growable in these climes?

 

[purplemoon]

Ooh, mate, I reckon that's just too much work for me.
How about herbs? We eat tons of Dhaniya (coriander) at home. Is that growable in these climes?

Yes! I grow lots of it both in the garden and on my kitchen window sill. You can either buy one of the ready-grown pots from the herb section in the supermarket and, depending how green-fingered you are, gently separate the individual plants and re-pot them to give them more room.

Alternatively, just stick some coriander seeds (the ones used in cooking are just as good and much cheaper than buying from garden centre) into pots of soil. That way you can sow some every few weeks to give you a constant supply

 

[Tharg2007]

Ours are all still green....loads though sat on the plants at the moment...

So bringing them in green will ripen them ?

you have tomatoes growing in your garden? where abouts is that?