– Fried green tomato recipes have met their match. –
Not having a garden, I haven’t made a green tomato recipe in years. A few weeks ago my friend Dennis gave me a huge bag of end-of-season produce, which included about five pounds of hard green ‘maters. While I had originally planned on frying them, he talked about this wonderful stew he’d made by braising pork cubes in white wine along with chopped green tomatoes. A retired fireman who’s generally difficult to impress and not prone to hyperbole, my ears perked up when he uttered the words, “one of the best things I’ve ever cooked.” Sorry, fried green tomatoes, we’re making stew.
One of the interesting things about cooking with under ripe tomatoes is that their texture is very different. They’re very firm and don’t have that squishy seed problem that ripe tomatoes have, so when you chop them, feel free to leaves the seeds. Also, green tomatoes are much lower in sugar and harder to digest than their ripe siblings, so eating them raw might not be a good idea if you’re at all weak in the digestion. They go great in soups, though!
Note: This green tomato recipe can also be made in a slow cooker. Once you’ve deglazed the onion pan with white wine, combine all ingredients in the crock of your slow cooker, set it on low, and cook for 6-8 hours.
- Serves: 4
- Calories: 289
- Fat: 12g
- Saturated fat: 3g
- Unsaturated fat: 8g
- Carbohydrates: 18g
- Sodium: 1672mg
- Fiber: 5g
- Protein: 18g
- Cholesterol: 36mg
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 small onion, diced
- 1 shallot, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, diced
- 1 pound pork loin, but into 1-inch cubes
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 2 pounds green unripe tomatoes, chopped
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 whole branch of fresh sage with 5 or 6 leaves
- 1 teaspoon marjoram
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 cup freshly chopped parsley for garnish
- Preheat oven to 225°F (107°C).
- Heat olive oil in a small saucepan over medium-low heat and cook onions until they are tender and just beginning to brown, about 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally to keep them from burning. Add shallot and garlic and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.
- Heat a Dutch oven over medium-high flame and sear pork cubes on all sides. Remove pork from Dutch oven and pour in white wine. Lower heat to medium-low and cook for 1 minute, scraping up all the good meaty bits on the bottom with a spatula.
- Pour cooked onions and seared pork into white wine, then add tomatoes, chicken stock, bay leaf, sage, marjoram, salt and pepper. Cover Dutch oven and slide it into the oven. Cook for 3 to 5 hours, depending on how long you've got, stirring well once every hour. The longer the stew cooks, the more tender the pork will be. If necessary, add a little water or stock here and there, in 1/2 cup increments, to keep the stew from burning.
- Serve hot, topped with freshly chopped parsley, or freeze for up to four months.
I’m so very glad to find a recipe for green tomatoes! This sounds like an amazing stew. End-of-season green tomatoes end up sitting on the window sill. Now I will know what to do with them. Thanks!
I *need* this stew! Sounds amazing.
Sadly, no green tomatoes in my life right now!
Any suggestions for substitutions?
Although, I do not have any green tomatoes here right now, my mother-in-law often gives loads of them to me. This sounds so intriguing! You are the queen of these wonderful and unique ideas for fun ingredients! This one looks absolutely perfect! Will totally be trying this with my next basket of goodies from MIL.
I love green tomatoes. I used to fry green tomatoes all the time when I used to work in this restaurant. This recipe reminds me of a green tomato chili we used to make using beef instead of pork. I just printed the recipe and will definitely give this one a try when I get some more green tomatoes. Sounds delicious.
This reminds me of the traditional green chile stew with pork I ate when staying in Monument Valley this year. On a cold March night, looking up at the kabillions of stars, it really hit the spot. I’ll have to replicate!
Steph, this recipe sounds great and I do still have green tomatoes in the field. I’ve been feeling lazy, so haven’t made fried green tomatoes or green tomato relish (check out the recipe in Diana Kennedy’s Nothing Fancy book). I’m thinking pork shoulder might end up a bit more juicy, but that’s the meat I use here for stew. Food Blogger Camp 2011? I’ll be there, how about you? I’ve got some news..I think. Anyway, thanks for this and I’ll give it a try tomorrow night. Tonight is yudofu.
not so much a green tomato fan here, although your recipe might intrigue me to make another try with them — and it did get me remembering green chile stew. both good to make for these winter days, I’m thinking. thanks.
This recipe convinces me that it’s time for me to finally break down and buy a slow cooker. It sounds delish.
I’ve never had green tomatoes – can you believe it? I definitely need to try them!
I had a bunch of green tomatoes in September. I will have to remember this recipe next year when I can’t keep up with the garden.
I love your ability to make something delicious out of whatever you have on hand. This looks particularly good.
My husband made the best, I mean THE BEST, green tomato sauce the other day (a neighbor put out a box of green tomatoes and we took a bunch.) I’d love love to make this too — though I’ve never cooked with pork. Can I leave my Jewish reserve behind and try it anyway?!
Pork and green sauce has to be one of my all-time favorite combos. Although I’m not a huge sage fan–minus the sage is this still just as tasty–or what substitutions would you offer?
This does sound very yummy! But, since there are no green tomatoes now — would tomatillos work? I thought the same thing as another reviewer — reminds me of a chili verde in a way. I make chili verde quite often and this would be a nice alternative. Thanks for the recipe!
MMMMM. I wonder if I could adapt this to use the pile of tomatillos sitting on my counter? Or maybe just wait for my tomato plant to catch up with my recipe stash pile ;)
This sounds great, and paleo to boot! I must confess I’ve never had green tomatoes, but I have watched the movie Fried Green Tomatoes multiple times. Does that count? Maybe I can find some at the farmer’s market.
Anything with pork is good.
I never knew what to do with green tomatoes, except fry them up for fried green tomatoes! Thanks for the recipe. It looks delectable!
green tomatoes and pork loin, what a great use for some thing I have a lot of in the summer!
like pork loin..but can i use pork shoulder/butt? my fave cut.. now i have one more yummy pork recipe ..keep em coming!
You should be able to, but maybe slow-roast it first to make it tender, then add the roasting pan drippings to the soup? Actually, OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH THAT SOUNDS GOOD.
a personal note: I have been having Very Real Physical Health Problems, With Being Able to swallow food, Especially Solids Right Now, My Twin Sister Called Me Anorexic Nervosa, And My Parents Have THEIR Doubts Too, And No Matter WHAT Stuff I Say About My Health Problem, My Whole Family QUESTIONS Me, Like I’m Making It ALL Up, And It’s ALWAYS The WRONG Answer…….It DEPRESSES Me A Lot, Because My Family Has Made My HEALTH ISSUE Into Something To Be HATED, But When THEY Get Sick, Or Were Sick Not So Many Months Ago, I NEVER DOUBTED Them! THAT Really HURTS……Very HURTFUL To ASSUME I’m Lying……