Green tomato chutney

These are from our garden - we call them Maisie's tomatoes.

You can look on-line for chutney recipes - lots to choose from. I liked this one becaue it had apples. And raisins, shallots, hot peppers, vinegar, ginger, and brown sugar.

Put it all in a big pot and cook it for hours - and I do mean hours. Don't be affraid to make it spicy- it can take it.

I put the clean jars and tops in boiling water for a few seconds - and let them dry on a clean towel...I then add the boiling chutney directly - cleaning the top of the jar and sealing it. Some people turn them upside down - disaster if you ask me. There's enough sugar in this recipe to ensure preservation - you should let it rest two weeks in a cool dry space - keeps for a long time...refrigerate after opening....it's Indian - often served with curries - but is great on top of cheese or anything else you can think of.

Two egg sandwiches

Above - scrambled eggs - on toasted buns - put under the grill so the chees would melt - have to have a little ketchup....William inhaled his.

Sometimes I just make a fritatta - this is great cold and travels well - like for a road trip!

Morty and Mushroom Mornay

I had some deep feeze croissants and a bunch of fresh mushrooms so I sauted the mushrooms and made a cream sauce...melted butter, flour, added chicken stock, some milk, and the sauted mushrooms (sauted with butter and olive oil and a little bit of garlic and white wine)...put it all together over the "fresh" croissants...a ladies lunch - Faye would love this - William did too.....Morty could only hope.

sauted mushrooms, melted butter and flour combo and chicken stock

Tomato soup - Dutch style

Tomato soup in Holland usually has meatballs. My twist is ground veal.

Mazie's tomatoes....simmered with onions and salt and pepper

Cooked for 20 minutes and strained.

William got the Lillie's here at a grower in Kapelle for 3 euros - candle sticks from my dear brother Frank from Africa, napkins my mother gave me 'cause they were too old for her - runner from Bennington Potters in Vermont where I grew up - love this place.....http://www.benningtonpotters.com/

Homemade chicken stock (boullion trekken)

Remember those backs of the chickens we saved in the freezer? I took 4 out and defrosted them and put them on a tray with carrots, cellery, onions and fresh tyme, salt and pekker, and a splash olive oil.

I roasted it in the oven at 360 (180) for about an hour and half - I then added a bunch of water and some more salt and pekker to a large stock pot adding all my roasted goodies.

And a few bay leaves...and let it boil for several hours...you get a much darker and fuller stock by roasting the chicken and vegtables first!

Dinah's mother's tomatoes

The very last of the tomatoes - I roasted the red ones in the oven and will make green tomato chutney this week with the green ones. A fantastic year for the tomatoes!

In the crate it's everything just pluked sunday morning 11 october - the foto above this one shows the red ones separated from the green ones.

Two years ago Dinah's mother Maisie gave her some tomato seeds from her own plants to give to me to plant in the Netherlands. Dinah gave them to me in this cute little pin box and I then misplaced it when I got home. This spring I found them and affraid that they might not come up I planted a lot of the seeds - I got 80! What the fuck do you do with 80 tomato plants? I couldn't kill my babies so I repotted them and gave a whole lot of them to my friends at work. And now I hear all kinds of great stories from them about their tomato plants. I planted 16. William brought some to his parents - we've been eating them every day.......I planted them late and we had a glorious end of the summer in Zeeland - perfect weather for tomatoes and that's why we still have so many. DMJ they really did wonderful in our climate. Maisie is no longer with us but her memory will long live on!

Steak with garlic dirty mashed potatoes

Can you tell I don't like to peel potatoes? I wash them real good and cut them in quarters, add salt and one good size peeled garlic glove. I use an old fashioned potatoe masher, my girlfriend Lidia always just jused a fork - but skip the beaters for this one. Add lots of butter and pepper and a little bit of milk before mashing. William was late coming home from Gent so I turned the oven on low - made a well in the middle - and put one last glob of butter in the middle and kept them warm for an hour.....they kept beautifully.