Articles
Growing Up in the Butcher Shop: Pickled Green Tomatoes /
Pomodori sottaceti Verdi
Ciao Amici,
When the garden came to a close I got great pleasure from helping my Grandmother pulito sul giardino (clean up the garden.) One plant still growing were the tomatoes. Grandmom pulled out a few vines before the frost with the green tomatoes still on them and we’d hang them in the basement to ripen. It was amazing to see those tomatoes ripen without being in the ground. With some of those green tomatoes we would just slice and then dip them in corn meal and fry some right away, but that was just to pass the vooley (desire). The last thing we did with the green tomatoes was we pickled them so that we could enjoy them in the winter as a side dish to go along with a sangwitch. I helped Grandmom wash and slice the tomatoes and then salt them over night. Sale (salt) is a mineral use to flavor a dish, but before refrigeration it, was also used to help preserve food.
The next day we rinsed the tomatoes and Grandmom added celery, onion, garlic, vinegar peppers and oreagano. After filling up each jar she would top them off with a bay leaf and then add the oil and put the lids on and set them in the big blue canning pot to process. When we were finished, we labeled and dated them before they went to the cold celler .
“Alora, Josie, “ Grandpop would say, “One last time before we put the grill away; let’s have some steaks!” Not only was the grill used to cook the steaks but also to warm us up on that chilly Autunm evening. “Lasci noi li ha coi Pomodori Verdi la Signora ha fatto,” Grandpop said. ( Let us have them with the green tomatoes the “Lady” made.) As we sat and enjoyed those steaks we would reflect on the exceptional summer we had cooking al fresco (outdoors.)
Appetito viene in mangiare.
Appetite comes in eating.
Grazie,
Joe
- DeFranco and Daughters Catering & Deli
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Con cordiali saluti,
Joe