Green Tomato Cake

Green Tomato Cake

Rated: Submitted By: Glenda Photo By: Tessa Servings: 24

"This is a moist, spice-type cake...a good way to use some of those extra green tomatoes before frost hits."

INGREDIENTS:

4 cups chopped green tomatoes 1 tablespoon salt 1/2 cup butter 2 cups white sugar 2 eggs 2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup raisins 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Place chopped tomatoes in a bowl and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon salt. Let stand 10 minutes. Place in a colander, rinse with cold water and drain.
2.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch baking pan.
3.	Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and beat until creamy.
4.	Sift together flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, soda and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Add raisins and nuts to dry mixture; add dry ingredients to creamed mixture. Dough will be very stiff. Mix well.
5.	Add drained tomatoes and mix well. Pour into the prepared 9 x 13 inch pan.
6.	Bake for 40 to 45 minutes in the preheated oven, or until toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean.

Basil-Shallot Mustard

This is so good that I had to share while basil is plentiful.  It isn't a recipe to can, so I just put all the mustard in one jar and stuck it in the refrigerator.

Basil-Shallot Mustard

Makes 5 half-pint jars

¼ cup light mustard seeds

½ cup dry mustard

2/3 cup apple juice

2/3 cup red wine vinegar

1/3 cup water

2 tablespoons minced shallots

2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar

1 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon allspice

3 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped

1. Combine the seeds, dry mustard, apple juice, vinegar, and water in a glass or ceramic bowl and stir, mixing well.
2. Let sit 4-6 hours, stirring occasionally. (Cover bowl with plastic wrap.)
3. Process the mixture in the bowl of a food processor until the seeds are coarsely ground.
4. Cook the mixture in a double boiler over simmering water, adding the shallots, sugar, salt, allspice, and basil. Cook 20-25 minutes. The mustard will thicken as it cools.
5. Pour into sterile jars. Cap and seal. Allow flavors to marry 2-3 days before using. Will keep in refrigerator 2-3 months.

Pickle Recipe

A few days ago, Robin had asked for my pickle recipe (the one I was bemoaning being about to run out of), and it's actually a combination of two recipes from The Complete Book of Small-Batch Preserving, which I have raved about before but really, REALLY is a great book.  So, my version of the pickles:

Toni's favorite dill pickles

about 3 pounds of small pickling cucumbers
2 cups white vinegar
10 cups water
1/4 cup plus 2 TBLS pickling salt
1 TBSP granulated sugar
4 large heads fresh dill or 2 TBSP dried dill seed
4 small cloves garlic
2 tsp mustard seeds

THE NIGHT BEFORE:  Cut a thin slice from each end of each cucumber. Place cucumbers in a non-reactive container (I use glass bowls).  Combine 4 cups water and 1/4 cup salt in a large bowl, stirring until dissolved.  Add 4 cups ice water and pour over cucumbers.  Let stand for 12 hours in refrigerator or a cool place; drain and rinse under cold water.

Prepare canner & lids.  Recipe makes 4 pint jars.

Combine vinegar, water, salt, and sugar in a large stainless steel or enamel saucepan and bring to a boil.

Remove hot jars from canner.  Place 1 head fresh dill or 1 1/2 tsp. dill seed, 1 clover garlic and 1/2 tsp mustard seeds in each pint jar.  Pack cucumbers into jars and pour boiling vinegar mixture over cucumbers to within 1/2-inch of rim (headspace).  Process 10 minutes for pint jars and 15 minutes for quart.

I opened these after waiting 1 month, I think.  Provided you use a pickling cucumber, these make very crunchy pickles.