Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Garden-Given Great Gastronomy

This year my garden focus was mainly on tomatoes.
And whoo boy, do I have tomatoes!

Saucy!

I've made a few batches of sauce so far, and the most delicious tomato jam evar.


Here be the recipe:

Tomato Jam

3 lbs fresh tomatoes
9 cups (but I only use 4!) sugar
2 lemons
fresh ginger (1" thinly sliced)

In a large pot on medium heat place the tomatoes, cut roughly into chunks, lemon juice and ginger.
Bring to a boil and reduce the heat.
Cook slowly for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
Add sugar and stir until dissolved.
Boil slowly for 30 minutes more or until desired thickness is reached.

And, to go with that jam, the worlds greatest Cheese Crackers:

1 cup butter
1/3 tsp salt
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
1/3 tsp cayenne pepper (more if you prefer spicy!)
2 1/2 sups flour
1 tbs water (approximate)

Blend all ingredients together to make dough. Roll out to approx. 1 cm width and cut with cookies cutters (alternatively, you can roll it into a log and just slice "coins" of dough that are about 1 cm wide).
Bake at 375 degrees F for about 12 minutes.
Best served hot!

Spotty apples!

I've also been gifted loads of pears and apples from my parent's place, with the promise of yet another year of apple butter making ahead!

2 comments:

Denise said...

Wow this all looks so yummy! I had never heard of tomato jam, I just might try this. The crackers are something my Mom and Dad would really enjoy, thanks so much!

Hilary said...

YUMMMMM. I am so jealous of your bounty! But now that we have a real yard and no crazy San Francisco weather to deal with, we're going to plant a bunch of stuff next year. I'm so excited to join the world of the gardening! And I will definitely be trying your tomato jam recipe some time...yum again!