Fried Green Tomatoes

Last week, friends of ours kindly volunteered to pick out our CSA veggies while we were out of town (eating a delicious, fancy schmancy brunch at the "Tabbard Inn" in DC. Just thinking about that brunch... mmmm...) They chose some beautiful, green/orange tomatoes. Here they are with some nectarine-friends:



After oo-ing and ahh-ing over how perfect they looked and smelled, I realized I had no idea what to do with them. So, like a good Southerner, I turned to my Hoppin' John cookbooks for inspiration. He has fried green tomato (of course) and green tomato soup recipes. I made both! Well, I didn't make his fried tomato recipe, but he inspired me to try my own. I don't like deep frying things because having that much hot oil on my stove makes me nervous. I used the same technique I use to fry tofu, inspired by this 101 cookbooks hit.

First set up your fry-station with one scrambled egg in a shallow bowl, Italian-herbed bread crumbs mixed with some Parmesan cheese in another, and 1-2T EVOO in a frying pan. I liked to line them up along my stove in that order with a stack of paper towels at the end.



Heat the oil over medium heat. Slice your tomatoes ~1/2" thick. Dip each slice in the egg, then the bread crumbs, and then drop them into the oil. After a few minutes, the first side will look golden-brown. Flip them to fry the other side, adding more oil if needed. When the second side is done, remove the tomatoes and place them on the paper towel stack.



This blots away some of the oil, making them more crispy and less greasy. Another tip I've heard to make fried green tomatoes less greasy is to chill the tomato slices in an ice bath before frying them. I'm too lazy to try this, but I bet it would work well.

Here's the finished product:



We had them with the 101 cookbooks soba noodle recipe linked above, one of my all-time favorite.

Yum!