BY CLAUDIA SLOVACEK
The 12th and 13th Avenue Community Garden invites all gardeners, cooks and neighborhood residents to partake in our 16th annual Green Tomato Cook-off. It will be held once again at St. Paul”'s Lutheran Church on the corner of 28th Street and 15th Avenue South in Midtown Phillips on Thursday, October 20th. The facility is handicapped accessible.
Every year we gather at the end of the growing season to celebrate our fall harvest and to squeeze every last ounce out of our gardens. Usually the first frost of the season has occurred and now gardeners have an abundance of green tomatoes. We encourage you to find a recipe using green tomatoes, make the dish, and bring it to share.
We have CASH prizes for three categories of entries: 1) Sweets like pies, tarts, and ice cream (one of our all-time favorites was green tomato ice cream); 2) Savories, like stews, soups, casseroles, frittatas, empanadas, and spanakopita; and 3) Sauces/condiments, including salsas, chutneys, and the like. We even had green tomato beer one year! If you don”'t have any green tomatoes but want to bring a dish to share, we also welcome dishes of Minnesota harvest theme: rice, apple pie, etc.
Doors open at 6 pm on Thursday, October 20th in the upstairs gathering room at St. Paul”'s Lutheran. If you are entering the cook-off, please make sure your dish arrives by 6:15 so that we can have the judges taste all the entries at the same time. Once the judges are through the line, the rest of the attendees and cooks are welcome to partake of the meal.
On a side note, as an appetizer before the main judging and eating, we offer fried green tomatoes to all, along with hot sauce. Our recipes keep getting better year after year. Coffee and cider will also be provided.
So join us in a few weeks, whether you bring food or not, to celebrate another successful harvest and to taste delectable Green tomato dishes. You do not need to be a resident to win any of the prizes ”“ all cooks are welcome!
