So, I was listening to the Splendid Table last Sunday night and the first caller asked about green tomatoes and what to do with them. Great question, I thought, as tomato season here is from, uh, September 20th – October 10th. We have a lot of tomatoes that did not turn red. I wore a fleece hat to work today — I think the tomato season is over. We have a number of Romas and Early Girls (small tomatoes) left clinging to our dying vine.
One of the dishes described was for a pasta with ricotta cheese, diced green tomatoes, lemon zest, garlic and pine nuts. That sounds fabulous but, looking in the cabinet, I spied some lasagna noodles and decided to give that a try. Below isn’t an exact recipe, just an overview of what I did. More fiddling is encouraged. I used a 9 X 9 square pan and about 6 no-boil lasagna noodles. My sauce was a concoction of butter, garlic, mushrooms, onion, flour, vegetable broth, cheese and lemon zest.
Green Tomato & Mushroom Lasagna
green tomatoes
lasagna noodles
butter
flour
mushrooms
dried thyme
onion
garlic
a lemon
parmesan cheese
ricotta cheese (park skim)
mozzarella cheese
Slice your tomatoes into rounds. Then start the sauce. I used 2 tablespoons of butter and sauteed a bunch of mushrooms, 1/2 a diced onion, and 2 cloves of minced garlic for a few minutes. Then added some lemon zest. Then 2 tablespoons of flour (cooked for a minute or two) and added heated vegetable broth. It thickened and I added some parmesan cheese for creaminess (I think goat cheese or cream cheese would work well too). A squirt of lemon juice and about a 1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme.
Ladle a little sauce in the pan and put two noodles down. Cover with green tomato slices.
More sauce. Two more noodles. Next, ricotta cheese (a whole tub) that I mixed with some salt, pepper, a garlic clove and a handful of parmesan cheese. Then the last layer of tomatoes.
Last two noodles, the rest of the sauce and slices of mozzarella cheese. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 45 minutes.
When you take it out you will think, “Oh my god. That looks so good. Thank you, lasagna gods. Thank you!”
For optimal slicing, let it cool for a few minutes first.
What else should I do with our remaining green tomatoes?
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On a completely unrelated note, if you are in the hospitality business, you should not be a raving lunatic of a woman. Just a thought.
Isn’t anyone going to suggest fried green tomatoes, or are the south and the north that far removed?
*platter of 2 parts flour, 1 part cornflour or masa (seasoned)
*egg and milk wash
slice green tomatoes and dry them on a paper towel, dredge them in the flour, egg, then flour again.
Fry in 350degree oil till brown and let cool.
They taste great with ketchup but better with ranch dressing.
I hope you get to try them!
You could try pickling or fermenting them whole! They make fabulous pickles. I think I have enough now for my entire city.
rubyjune: oh, that’s a classic! of course I hadn’t forgotten about fried green tomatoes. north or south, they are tasty! 🙂 Thanks so much for the recipe!
Eugenia: Mmmm….sounds good. Too bad your city is Eugene, otherwise I would be expecting some pickled green tomatoes!
Ok, this is a dumb question but I haven’t ever cooked with green tomatoes in any form… My green tomatoes are quite firm. The ones that are beginning to ripen are softening but the green ones are hard. Do I still use those hard green ones in this lasagna recipe?
Hi Lori:
When I made this last year I just used the completely unripe green tomatoes leftover in the garden. So, yeah, they were pretty firm! 🙂
Hope you like the lasagna! I’m probably going to be making this again this year as I fear we will have TONS of green ones left…