Pickled green tomatoes, bacon moussaka

I was googling this morning looking for things to do with green tomatoes, of which we have loads.  I don't particularly want to make chutney as we don't eat much of it nowadays, and I still have several jars in the pantry cupboard from 1, 2 or even 3 years ago.  And sorry to American friends, but I'm not very keen on fried green tomatoes.  Or even fried red ones, come to that.  Well, I came across several recipes for pickled green tomatoes - simply sliced or quartered tomatoes preserved in a briny spiced vinegar, just like pickled onions or gherkins.  What a brilliant idea, they'd be lovely with cheese for a Ploughmans, or in a salad or sandwich.

So that's what I've done this morning.  Washed and thickly sliced a load of tomatoes and packed them into a large sterilised jar (an empty gherkin jar).  Used 2 cups white vinegar and 1 cup of water, heated in a saucepan to dissolve 4 tsp sugar, 3 tsp salt, 2 tsp black peppercorns, 1 each of yellow mustard seeds and black onion seeds.  Poured over the tomatoes right to the top of the jar, stretched over a cellophane cover and screwed on the lid.

Apparently they lose their bright green colour, but remain crisp, which is good.  They're ready after about a week and keep well in the fridge for up to 6 weeks, so I've read.  I guess you could add chillies or herbs to the pickling liquid, and put sliced onions in as well if you wanted.  I'm looking forward to trying them with cheese....I like pickled gherkins but not onions, they disagree with me.

I'm doing a sort of moussaka for dinner tonight, but using diced bacon instead of lamb - as I have no lamb but do have bacon cubes in the freezer.  On which note, must go and slice/grill the aubergine.