Market Recipe: DJ Olsen’s Fried Green Tomatoes with Ricotta, Tomato Jam and Chow Chow

Photo from LA Magazine Digest Blog

DJ Olsen and Eddie Hah are the collaborative culinary team behind The Doughroom, a 60-something seat restaurant on Overland near Palms. At the market last Wednesday, DJ was shopping for both green and red tomatoes. At The Doughroom, he uses a tempura batter to fry the green tomatoes and tops them with an herbed ricotta, house-made tomato jam and chowchow, a pickled relish brought from Nova Scotia to the American South. Chowchow can be used as a condiment anywhere you would use pickles – atop hot dogs or to season a meatball sandwich (you might soon see this on the menu at The Doughroom). DJ shares his recipes below.

Chowchow

yield: 2-1/2 qt.

keeps: 1month, refrigerated

INGREDIENTS

4 green tomatoes, cored

1 small white cauliflower, cored

1 small romanesco caulilfower, cored

1 euro cucumber

1C pitted green olives

1/2 head white cabbage, cored

1 yellow onion, peeled, root end removed

3 jalapeño chilies, stem, seeds and membranes removed

1/2C kosher salt

1qt. apple cider vinegar

2/3C brown sugar

1tsp ground turmeric

1tsp ground ginger

1/4tsp allspice powder

1T celery seeds

1tsp. coriander seeds, toasted

1T mustard seeds (yellow or brown, or a combination)

2 fresh bay leaves

Individually pulse each vegetable in the food processor to achieve a fine-chopped texture.

Combine all vegetables in a large stainless bowl.

Add salt and toss until salt is well-distributed.

Place vegetables in a large china cap (conical mesh strainer); place china cap in an 8qt container to drain.

Place a plate atop the vegetables, a 3lb box of salt atop the plate.

Refrigerate overnight, or let sit at room temperature, a minimum of four hours to extract moisture and drain.

Combine vinegar, brown sugar, turmeric, allspice and ginger powders, celery, coriander and mustard seeds, bay leaves in a large saucepan

Bring to a boil (hi); reduce heat; simmer 30 min.

Remove bay leaves from vinegar and discard. At this point, if the vegetables have drained required amount of time, proceed to step 10. However, the infused vinegar can be made ahead and refrigerated until needed. In this case, heat refrigerated vinegar to boiling before proceeding to step 10.

After vegetables have drained, remove plate and weight from them; discard liquid; add vegetables to vinegar mix and enough water to make liquid visible among veg (1/2C)

Bring mixture back to a boil; reduce heat; simmer 15-30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until mixture is relish-like in texture.

Transfer mixture to sterilized 4qt container; cover, refrigerate until needed.

Tempura Batter

yield: 1 quart

keeps: 5 days

INGREDIENTS

1-1/4C AP flour

1tsp ground cayenne

1T kosher salt

1tsp baking powder

1/3C rice flour

1/3C corn starch

1/2pint IPA (Racer 5)

carbonated water as needed

Mix dry ingredients.

Whisk in beer, soda water to proper consistency (runny, thinner then wet paint).

Keep refrigerated until needed.

To use, season vegetable with salt and pepper, duct with all-purpose flour, shaking off excess. Dip into tempura batter. Deep fry in corn oil (375°) until crispy, 3 minutes at most.

Once fried, again season vegetable with additional kosher salt as desired.

Tomato Jam

yield: 2 pints

keeps: up to three weeks, refrigerated

INGREDIENTS

3lb. fresh tomatoes, washed, stemmed, cored, rough chop

Or: one #10 can Roma tomatoes, drained of liquid, tomatoes hand-crushed

1C granulated sugar

1T kosher salt

1tsp. ground cumin

1/2tsp cinammon

2T fresh grated ginger

1 jalapeño, stem, seeds and membranes removed, minced

2T fresh lemon juice

1T vincotto

Place tomatoes in large stainless bowl

Sprinkle with sugar, salt, cumin and cinammon; toss to combine

Add grated ginger, jalapeño; toss to combine

Squeeze in lemon juice; toss to combine

Place everything in a large saucepan over hi-heat

Bring to a boil, stirring frequently

Reduce heat, simmer, stirring occasionally; cook to jam-like consistency (1-1/2-2hrs.)

Stir in vincotto, and if necessary, further adjust seasoning with additional salt and sugar

Cool, containerize and refrigerate until needed.