FRIED GREEN TOMATOES
SERVING SIZE: 6 | PREP TIME: 15 MINS | COOKING TIME: 30 MINS
Ingredients
5 to 7 green frying tomatoes (they are labeled as such in your vegetable section at the grocery store; you should get 3 to 4 slices per tomato)
4 eggs, beaten
1-pint buttermilk
1 15-ounce container of plain breadcrumbs
1 2-pound bag of yellow plain cornmeal
Olive oil
Smoked paprika
Sweetener of choice (I like Stevia)
Salt and pepper
Directions
Cut tomatoes into ½-inch pieces (approximately 3 slices per tomato). Put slices on a rack to drain, approximately 15 minutes per side. Beat eggs in a dish deep enough to dip the tomatoes. Add milk to beaten eggs. Mix your breadcrumbs and cornmeal in a separate dish with ⅔ being cornmeal. Dip tomatoes in eggs mixture and then dredge in cornmeal and breadcrumb mixture. Use a large frying pan or an electric fryer and heat about ½ inch of oil. Make sure oil is hot enough by testing with a little ball of cornmeal and milk; drop a little in until it sizzles in the pan. Remember, you don’t want a thick crust on the tomato, just a light coating. That’s the issue I have with fried foods—save the thick crust for fried chicken where it should be.
Fry tomatoes in hot oil, about 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until light brown; don’t let the slices touch each other, and sprinkle with preferred seasonings. I do a dash of paprika, a dash of sweetener, salt, and pepper. Season each side. When you remove the slices, put them on a wire rack to drain. If you don’t have one, you can use your oven rack; just put paper towels under it. I like to taste a tomato and decide if I want more seasonings. (This is the same way I cook fried okra.)
For the sauce, you have as many options as your mind will let you concoct. Dill, feta cheese, and sour cream make a nice option. Just mix together until you get a flavor that you like. Pimento cheese can also be good. Another option might be mayonnaise and Thousand Island dressing with a bit of red pepper. Create, create!
Note:
Here’s a shocker (fasten your seatbelts—I almost had to pour a grandma shot when I learned this). I was drinking a martini at the time, so that held me together! When I was fine-tuning my recipe, my friends, Mark Corsale and Taylor Boyd, were my sous-chefs, for lack of a better term. We decided to look up the origins of fried green tomatoes. Well, the gods above and the devil below must have gasped as we did! Fried green tomatoes originated in OHIO! That’s right! They originated in the Midwest and Northeast and are thought to be linked to the cuisine of Jewish immigrants. It is hilarious when you realize that Southern cities such as Charleston and Savannah and elsewhere sell them by the thousands, and everyone just assumes they are a typical Southern dish. Far from it.