Jennie and I made a triumphant return to the Hollywood Farmers’ Market last weekend, and we only had eyes for tomatoes! There was such a bounty, and we could not resist. We bought all shapes, sizes, and colors and let ourselves buy the most perfectly ripe, you-better-eat-this-today, juiciest tomatoes we could find.
I have been wanting to make fried green tomatoes for months, but green tomatoes are hard to find in the supermarket and I haven’t made it to the farmer’s market in quite some time. This was the day. So, we got ready to fry.
We were inspired by a recipe in Sheryl Crow’s cookbook, for these fried green tomato BLT sandwiches. The idea is to use your fried green tomatoes as the bread. Sheryl (and her personal chef, Chuck White) made a slightly fancier version with arugula, pancetta, and a garlic aioli. But we decided to keep it simple with regular old bacon, butter lettuce, and mayo.
Fried Green Tomatoes (a big batch)
Ingredients:
3 ripe, green tomatoes
flour
2-3 eggs
cornmeal
vegetable oil
Directions:
1. Slice your tomatoes into 1/4 inch rounds.
2. Pour about 1/2 inch of oil into your cast iron or dutch oven, and heat to about 350 degrees.
3. Set out flour, beaten eggs, and a mixture of cornmeal and flour that is about 2:1 cornmeal to flour.
4. Dip the tomatoes in flour, then egg, and finally the cornmeal mixture.
5. Fry the cornmeal-coated tomatoes in oil for about 2 minutes per side, and set on a paper towel lined plate to drain.
To Assemble BLT’s:
Lay one fried tomato on a plate, spoon a small amount of mayo on top, followed by a layer of bacon. Add a layer of lettuce or greens, and another layer of bacon, mayo and top with the second tomato. Serve with a tomato emulsion sauce for an extra tomato kick!
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