When Life Hands You Green Tomatoes...

...don't make lemonade. Seriously, it'll taste terrible. You can, however, whip up a pretty good Green Tomato Soup with them.

As I mentioned last week, the farm got hit with late blight, and the only tomatoes that could be saved were the green ones. I'm not a green tomato expert, but I'm definitely not one to shy away from trying to use a new ingredient, and wouldn't you know it, the New York Times had a nice recipe for green tomato soup in its dining section. Perfect!

Being me, I messed with it a little. I threw in a red bell pepper I found getting pruny in my vegetable drawer and substituted plain nonfat yogurt for the creme fraiche in the recipe. Neither change rendered the soup inedible--in fact, it was quite delicious, and a great way to use up some of the unripened tomatoes we're picking ahead of the first frost. The soup's good both hot and cold--on a busy night, you can come home, throw a salad together, spoon up some of the soup (which is actually surprisingly filling and satisfying), and have yourself a nice 10-minute dinner. My favorite kind!

Green Tomato Soup
Adapted from a recipe on the New York Times website


2T unsalted butter
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced (optional)
1/2 tsp whole coriander seeds
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
4 cups green tomatoes, cored and chopped
1 cup chicken or vegetable stock
salt and pepper to taste
8 tsp plain yogurt (optional)
1T chopped fresh dill
1/2 tsp honey

Melt the butter in a soup pot over medium-high heat. Add onions and bell pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are translucent (3-5 minutes)

While that's cooking, lightly crush the coriander with a mortar and pestle or the side of a knife. Add it to the pot with the garlic and saute for another 2-3 minutes

Add the tomatoes, stock, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the tomatoes have broken down, about 30 minutes. Feel free to watch an episode of Modern Family while you wait: I hear it's pretty funny.

Using an immersion or standard blender, pulverize the soup until it's nice and smooth

Return the soup to medium heat and add the optional yogurt, dill, and honey. Cook until heated through. Taste and adjust seasonings.

I thought the soup was fine on its own, but the original recipe calls for brioche croutons and bacon sprinkled over the top, so feel free to go nuts. I mean, what isn't improved by adding bacon?

Happy cooking, everyone!

Blighted

Well, the organic farm has thrown in the towel with the tomatoes this year.

When I went yesterday, I was told that sauce and cherry tomatoes were now "gleaning" crops, meaning I could help myself to as many usable ones as I could find. Quality was poor because they'd been hit by late blight.

Boy, had they ever. Under a gray, drippy sky I wandered the rows of dessicated plants sporting rotted out fruit that somehow still clung to the vine, although it dropped off the second you touched it, splotching the ground beneath it. The few baby tomatoes somehow still managing to sprout don't stand a chance.

Someone told me that this is the same strain of blight that caused the Irish Potato Famine in the 1840's. We still haven't figured out what causes it or what to do about it. And walking the fields yesterday, I could get a very, very tiny measure of what it must have been like to go out to your farm in the morning and see your previously healthy plants reduced to this. Very disheartening.

Still, there is a bit of a silver lining. At least tomatoes can be eaten underripe, unlike potatoes. Circumstances like this tend to make you think differently about how you use your produce. Serendipitously, the New York Times ran a recipe yesterday for Green Tomato Soup. Keeping that in mind, I pulled some good-sized green tomatoes off the vines so I can give it a try. The weather's turned rainy and chilly very suddenly out here, perfect weather for soup. I know you can also can and fry green tomatoes, but what else? Any suggestions? I'm wide open to them!