Making green tomato chilli ketchup

Years ago I made the best green tomato chilli ketchup but somehow lost the printed copy of the recipe and I’ve been kicking myself ever since, especially as the recipe was removed from the website I’d found it on. Sigh. This year when dad said did I want any green tomatoes I searched harder online for something similar to the previous recipe - and found this Green Tomato Recipe on the From The Larder website, and it gets a huge thumbs up from me.

And of course with anything made with green tomatoes - fresh bright green tomatoes go in, and ends up as something more brown - but don’t let that put you off.

No really don’t.

This has a great taste and is so useful. I love it alongside roasted squash and rice and even in sandwiches.

The recipe calls for 1kg of green tomatoes, and while I had a lot from dad (and I mean a lot) some had ripened as they sat alongside the already red ones and so had made their way into roasted tomato pasta sauce and subsequently the freezer, I was still a few short. And this handful topped me up to the full kilo - a quick last picking from my own tomato plants and I was good to go.

There’s a bit of chopping involved as you’d expect, but nothing too onerous. And don’t they look so fresh and vibrant?

I debated (with myself, in my head!) about if I should use my preserving pan or not. And in the end the logical answer of ‘you’re preserving so why the heck not’ won out, and I’m so glad I did.

It is a large pan, and even though the amount of ketchup I was making was relatively small using this pan meant I was confident it would all fit in and there’d be no risk of anything bubbling over.

In preparation I’d even saved one of those almost 700g passata jars, but I didn’t use that in the end instead opting for smaller jars. I mean, it often takes me more than one attempt to use all the passata and I knew I’d be using the ketchup in smaller amounts, so it made sense to fill smaller jars.

This is very much like the recipe I remembered and I’m so pleased to have found it, and to have had the green tomatoes. I think next time I’d probably add more than one green chilli, and would consider adding some grated ginger too for an extra bit of zing, but that’s for next time when no doubt I’ll have lost the recipe again.

We’re already almost through one of the smallest jars, with the others safely stored on the top shelf of my pantry. And I couldn’t be happier!

Post Comment Love 15 - 17 November

Hello there, and welcome back to this week’s #PoCoLo - a relaxed, friendly linky which I co-host with Suzanne, where you can link any blog post published in the last week. We know you’ll find some great posts to read, and maybe some new-to-you blogs too, so do pop over and visit some of the posts linked, comment and share some of that love.

Please don’t link up posts which are older as they will be removed from the linky, and if older posts are linked then please don’t feel that it’s necessary to comment on those. If you were here last week it was great to have you along, if you’re new here this week we’re pleased you’ve joined us.

This week there’s been more ‘firsts’ - I’ve finally been inside the next village’s village shop leaving with some local eggs and cooking apples; we’ve made our first (but not last) visit to the Newark Civil War Centre to discover more about Newark’s fascinating history, topping that off with lunch in a newly refurbished and reopened pub with great burgers. Then as the sun was out we headed up to Farndon and walked along the River Trent and around Farndon ponds - again something new to us. It was great to be out exploring in the sun, especially as the forecast ahead doesn’t look quite so bright.

I’ve also got a new sign which arrived this week from eBay. It looks vintage, but isn’t and that’s ok - it’s destined for the garage gym, which is also home to MOH’s dartboard. I think it’ll look great there, though I don’t expect it will make us a fortune!

Have a great week.

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Flying Geese: challenge accepted and completed

Less than a month ago I shared that I was trying out some patchwork Flying Geese blocks, and that my challenge for the next few weeks ahead was to complete the smaller size quilt top and find some material to back the quilt with.

Well, I’ve done better than that - I’ve actually finished the quilt.

And I mean completely finished.

Yes, I’m as shocked as you are!

I think it worked out pretty well.

While making this I have learnt and relearnt much - it’s been a very long time since I completely finished and quilted a quilt. And while I love the fancy designs that come from quilting by long arm quilters, I was happy to keep the quilting on this one simple, taking a ‘stitch in the ditch’ approach.

I found the grey duvet cover that I had in mind, and I think the colour works well and the narrow border frames the top nicely. I’ve also impressed myself with the scrappy binding, and took the same approach adding this as I did when I made my sewing machine mat earlier in the year. I’ve since read in an online craft group that many people machine stitch the binding on the back and do their hand sewing to attach the binding to the front. Thankfully in sewing there are no hard and fast rules (or not many anyway), and I think my version of doing the exact opposite works well for me.

Hand sewing the binding could be one of those tasks that gets put off and off; I was fortunate that the timing coincided with my monthly sewing group evening and that was the perfect project to take along and chat as well as sew. The fact that I made huge progress in those two hours - almost two sides sewn - and the compliments from other members were enough to convince me to finish this in just three hand sewing sessions. And I’m so glad I did!

My plan is to donate this quilt to Project Linus UK, a charity whose mission is to provide love, a sense of security, warmth and comfort to children, who are sick, disabled, disadvantaged or distressed through the donation of new, homemade, washable quilts and blankets. 

I was concerned that it wasn’t ‘perfect’ but I’m also not sure that anything homemade is ever really perfect, or as perfect as whoever makes it wants to be, and I’m also sure that only they will see many of the ‘imperfections’ too. And a quilt that is used and loved is way better than no quilt at all.

Are there more Flying Geese on the horizon?

The short answer is yes, but not quite yet.

I enjoyed sewing the Flying Geese and like how they turned out, though I’m not planning on repeating this pattern for my next ‘geese quilt’ - I’ve decided I want a lot more of the geese blocks instead. I’ve seen a couple of designs that I like, one which is made of solely of the flying geese blocks, and another which mixes plain squares. I’m currently deciding between the two, and wondering in reality just how many geese a king size quilt would need.

Well I know its lots, but how many and my tolerance levels are the question.

An interim plan

But as ever a new plan has formed.

I remembered that I had some blocks left over from my Great Granny Square quilt top (which while sewn together has got no further), even though I’d used some to make reusable kitchen towels by backing the quilt block with towelling squares, but I wasn’t sure how many.

It turns out I have three of these blocks left, which is also a third of a small quilt. So I reckoned that if I added another six blocks I could make another quilt and therefore have two to donate at once, so that’s what I’m working on. I’m trying out another new-to-me-block - the Drunkards Path block, no sniggering please!

It’s early days though, but as ever I have a plan for choosing these too - but all that’s for another day, for now I’m enjoying my perfectly imperfect finished flying geese quilt, and that new block.