Until recently, August has been cold.
My birthday was in the middle of the month and my MIL took me out to lunch for the occasion. As I got in the car, dressed in jeans and a sweater, she asked if I ever remembered it being this cold on my birthday. Typically, my mid-August birthday has been spent at the pool or sweating like crazy at two-a-day field hockey practice… not contemplating soup for lunch at a new, cute deli in town.
It was weird.
Weird… and annoying.
I love summer for a lot of reasons but reason numero uno? I like it hot.
You know who else likes it to be hot? Tomatoes.
My poor tomato plants have been so thrown off by the cold, grey weather this month. In talking with other gardeners, it seems like we are all in the same boat. The weather has stunted the ripening of our tomatoes. Normally, I would be spending every waking minute canning, but right now I barely have enough ripe tomatoes to make a decent caprese salad.
Instead my tomato plants are full of pretty good sized, GREEN tomatoes.
So, finally, this week I decided to stop being bummed about my green tomatoes and do something with them.
When I travel to the south, my trip is not complete until I have fried green tomatoes. Fried green tomatoes are a traditional southern side dish made from unripe tomatoes. I have also seen them used in BLT’s and in appetizers.
I decided to make fried green tomatoes for late, lighter dinner earlier this week and it was a perfect use for those dang green tomatoes that won’t turn red. To spice things up, I added a little paprika to the flour dredge and topped the finished fried tomatoes with a horseradish sauce. They would also be good with a little chipotle aioli or even just some fresh squeezed lemon juice.
- 4 large green tomatoes, sliced about 1\2 inch thick
- 2 large eggs
- 1\2 cup of milk
- 1 cup flour
- 1\2 cup cornmeal
- 1\2 cup breadcrumbs
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- Salt and pepper
- 1 quart of vegetable oil (enough for frying)
- Whisk eggs and milk together in a medium bowl.
- Scoop flour onto a plate.
- Mix cornmeal, breadcrumbs, paprika and S&P and place on another plate.
- Dip tomato slices into flour and coat, then dip slice in the egg and milk mixture, then dredge slice in the cornmeal mix Intel coated.
- In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Place tomatoes into hot oil in small batches. (Tomatoes should not touch.) When they are golden and slight browned, flip and fry the other side.
- Set finished tomatoes on a paper towel lined plate to absorb any remaining oil.
- A tip for dredging, not just tomatoes but chicken, fish or whatever: have one hand be your dry hand and the other is your wet hand. It makes your life a whole lot easier.
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