Rescue mission

In spite of my best efforts to keep the tomato plants constantly hydrated by watering them twice a day, the huge deluge of rain we had on Tuesday led to vast quantities of my cherished fruit to split. And when I say deluge, I can confidently say Tuesday morning's cycle to work was the wettest yet. Fortunately my waterproof trousers and jacket are just that - waterproof - but I may as well have place my hands, feet and head in a bucket of water before stepping into the office!

However, back to the tomatoes.  For those not familiar with growing them, a sudden heavy watering can result in the fruits growing with such speed that they split their skins. Normally it happens to the ripe fruit since the unripe skins tend to be tougher, but not this time. I came home from work to find large quantities of split fruit - both red and green.

A sorry sight

Fortunately some survived

They are still edible but ideally need to be consumed the same day so, on Tuesday evening I set about trying to salvage the ripe fruits.  With around 2kg there were far more than I fancied eating for dinner and they are all cherry tomatoes, so I really couldn't face removing their skins to make a sauce.  I therefore consulted various recipes for dried tomatoes and ended up taking what I hoped was the best bits of each under the circumstances (it was already past 7pm and this wasn't going to be something I was going to be staying up all night to complete).

Each tomato was cut in half and the seeds scooped out. Normally I'd have cut them all through the middle (the equivalent of the Equator if they were the Earth) but I just went wherever the split was.  As I did each one, I placed it cut side down on a couple of layers of kitchen paper so that as much juice drained away as possible. I then turned them all cut side up and sprinkled them with a little salt and some dried oregano. They were then turned back the other way and placed onto cooling racks (the sort you use to cool cakes, biscuits, scones etc. on).

Delia Smith recommends gas mark 1/2 (80C) with the door wedged open with a skewer, leaving them for 6-8 hours. However, this would have made them ready at about 4am and I wasn't leaving anything in a lit oven whilst I slept for fear of burning the house down, and particularly because I wasn't confident that my old oven would actually stay alight at such a low level. It has no half mark on the dial so for all I knew I could have just been gassing the tomatoes along with everyone else in the house! However, she is clear that you are trying to dry the fruit, not cook it.

By complete contrast Nigella Lawson suggests putting them into an oven heated to gas mark 7 (220C), turning the oven off immediately and leaving them overnight. However, she doesn't remove the seeds and places them cut side up and adds sugar and olive oil as well as salt and thyme. I have tried this method before and ended up repeating the process twice since they were far from dried or even 'sunblush' as she suggests.

In the end I opted for something in between. I put them in the oven at gas mark 1 with the door open a teeny-tiny bit for about 1.5 hours but then closed the door and turned the oven off as I retired to bed. In the morning they were a lovely consistency -  not the sun dried tomato consistency that you would buy in a shop but drier than the sun blush variety you may get as antipasti from a deli counter.

I crammed as many as I could into a sterilised jar and then covered them with olive oil. I added a circle of greaseproof paper to stop any from poking above the level of the oil and I'm hoping they will keep for a few months. I had a few left over, which I've not put in oil. They are in the fridge and think will make a nice addition to a risotto I'm making tonight.

You may be hoping that this is the end of the story but my next task was to do something with the unripe tomatoes that had split. The obvious answer was Green Tomato Chutney, but with another 2kg of fruit this is double the quantity I normally have that refuse to ripen at the end of the season - and double the quantity in the recipe I use. As a result, I am currently looking at two vast vats of chutney slowly cooking on the stove top and I have scoured every corner of the kitchen for empty jam jars.

The recipe is from Delia Smith's Complete Cookery Course which is, unfortunately, not available on-line. So, in brief:

1.1kg green tomatoes, washed
1.1kg cooking apples, cored and quartered
900g onions, peeled and quartered
6 cloves garlic, peeled
450g raisins or sultanas
1/2 tbsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tbsp salt
2 level dessertspoons ground ginger
625g soft brown sugar
25g pickling spice
1.75 litres malt vinegar

Chop the tomatoes, apples, onions, garlic and raisins in a food processor, tipping them into a large saucepan as you go. Add the spices, sugar and vinegar and tie the pickling spice in a square of muslin and dangle it into the pan. Next, heat slowly, stirring until the sugar has dissolved, and then bring to simmering point. Remove any scum and then simmer very gently for about 3.5 hours uncovered.

I have to say I struggle to keep it simmering whilst not letting it stick to the bottom of the pan, so I tend to watch it like a hawk, with very regular bouts of stirring. This can mean that it takes a bit longer. You want it to reduce and thicken so that your spoon leaves a trail when you stir it. It will thicken further in the jar as it cools.

When you are happy with the consistency, fill your prepared and sterilised jam jars, filling as full as possible. The above recipe makes about eight 450g jars. Having doubled the recipe to cope with my glut of split green tomatoes, I've ended up with 19 jars of varying sizes. Let's just hope the remaining tomatoes don't split AND manage to ripen or we could be completely over-run with chutney by the end of October!