Tomatoes For Dessert!

Green Tomato Brown Betty

Green Tomato Brown Betty

Ingredients:

2 cups crumbs (graham cracker, whole wheat cracker or cookie crumbs)

1 stick unsalted butter, melted

3 pounds (approximately 3½ cups) unripe green tomatoes, thinly sliced

¾ cup raisins

Juice of 1 lemon

1¼ cups light brown sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground allspice

½ cup apple juice

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350˚.
2. In a small bowl, combine the crumbs and melted butter. Set aside. In a medium bowl, mix the tomatoes, raisins, lemon juice, sugar and spices together.
3. Butter a 2-quart baking dish. Spread a third of the crumb mixture evenly over the bottom. Spread half of the tomato mixture on top of the crumbs. Sprinkle with half the apple juice. Cover with another third of the crumb mixture, followed by the remaining tomatoes. Sprinkle with the rest of the apple juice. Finish by covering the tomatoes with the remaining crumb mixture.
4. Cover and bake for approximately 45 minutes or until the tomatoes are soft. Remove the cover. Raise the heat to 400˚ and bake for another 10 minutes or until browned on top. Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Serves 8

Adapted from TOMATOES: A Country Garden Cookbook by Jesse Cool

Tomato Ginger Upside-Down Cake

Ingredients:

1 stick unsalted butter, melted

1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger

6 tablespoons light brown sugar

2 to 3 ripe tomatoes (or enough to cover the bottom of the pan as you would a pineapple upside-down cake), skinned, seeded and sliced ¼ inch thick

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

1½ cups brown sugar

½ cup molasses

2½ cups unbleached white flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 tablespoon ground ginger

½ teaspoon ground cloves

1 cup buttermilk

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350˚.
2. Combine the melted butter with the ginger and sugar and spread evenly on the bottom of a parchment paper-lined 10×14-inch pan. Cover with tomato slices.
3. In a mixer, cream the butter with the brown sugar and molasses. In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and spices. Add the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk to the creamed butter and sugar. Pour batter over tomatoes in baking pan.
4. Bake for approximately 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when testing the center of the cake. Remove from the oven, loosen outer edges with a knife and invert onto a platter larger than the baking pan. Let stand at least 5 minutes before trying to remove the pan. Carefully peel back the parchment paper. Serve warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Serves 8 or more

Adapted from TOMATOES, A Country Garden Cookbook by Jesse Cool

Recipes and Picture by Linda Alexander

Editing-Lisa Centala