Mediterranean Flavoured Green Tomato Pasta Sauce

Green tomatoes make me think of pickles, and from there I really struggle to come up with ideas of what on earth to do with them because the pickles are just that good.  What do I do when I don’t have enough to make pickles though???

Thanks to Lifestyles of the Organised I have found a wonderful inspiration of what to do when you have a few green tomatoes.  Her link to allrecipes.com came up with a wonderfully easy sounding vegetarian dish which suits perfectly with the amount of tomatoes that I have hanging around looking for a home.  Tart and tasty, this is a fresh and quick dinner idea if you are looking for something different and have an abundance of tomatoes at your place.  Now of course it wouldn’t be me blogging if I didn’t go and change things around to suit my purposes.

Green tomatoes, are light in flavour, with a hint of the fullness to come, with more crunch to the texture they impart a very different dynamic to your cooking and as such probably can’t complement some of the strong flavours that a fully ripened one would.    I added chicken into this mix, along with the pine nuts, to boost the protein content and the texture, and it complemented the flavours well, without overpowering the tomatoes.   This is certainly a recipe to add to the books for those odd times when you have green tomatoes lying about.

• 30g pine nuts
• 1 onion finely diced
• 12 med green tomatoes finely diced
• 4 cloves garlic
• 250g crumbled feta cheese
• 2 cups hand torn basil leaves (1 bunch)
• 2 chicken breast finely sliced
• 3 cups cooked pasta noodles
• 2 tbl sp. olive oil
• salt and pepper to season
• 1 tbl sp good quality dried oregano

Yield: 4 generous serves

Cook your onion in the olive oil on a medium heat until it starts to turn translucent, then add your finely diced or grated garlic, the oregano,   pine nuts and the tomatoes.  Cook until the tomatoes are starting to simmer and are turning soft.   Season well with salt and cracked black pepper.   Cook your chicken in a separate pan and then add to the tomato mix at time of serving along with the pasta,  fresh basil and crumbled feta.  Stir gently and serve fresh and warm.

I think this sauce, without the chicken, would be a perfect accompaniment to eggs for breakfast.   We made enough for left overs and have to say, the flavours the next day are sure to be sensational and well married.

Happy Cooking,

Leah