Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Fried Green Tomatoes

 

One of the best movies ever, based on one of my best loved books. Of course I had to try this dish after reading it! Turns out I took to it like a fish to the water. This version is not the same as in the book (I have never tried that one, maybe I should?), as it's using Ritz cracker crumbs instead of corn meal and it uses some egg to get things to stick. 
I have no idea if it's authentic but I love the flavor. The biggest factor is to cook these things slowly, and let the tomato soften a little bit, without burning the outside. Project patience.... still working on that. Makes the most perfect summer lunch in early summer, when you're waiting and waiting for those tomatoes to turn red. I take this dish as a sign that God has mercy on those of us who are a little impatient...... This serves 2 people who are dainty eaters, or one of me who hasn't had fried green tomatoes in 10 months.

Ingredients:
2 large green beefsteak tomatoes
1 egg
1 sleeve Ritz crackers (if you subscribe to a clean/real foods diet, use a cup of cornmeal)
A little butter and some oil (I suppose bacon drippings wouldn't hurt, either, if you have some around)
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:
Slice the tomato to 1/4in thickness. Toss the end caps (the coating won't stick to them anyway). Beat one egg in a little dish, wide enough to fit the tomato slices. Crumble the Ritz crackers, add some salt and pepper and put that mix into a wide, deep plate. 
Heat a mix of some oil and a little butter in your favorite frying pan on medium-low heat. 
Dip tomato slices in egg on both sides, then press down in the crumbs, flip, and press down again. Put in the hot pan, and press down again. Wait. Patiently. Sigh. 
Flip. Press down. Wait. Again! Patiently! Judge by the softness of the tomatoes if they're done. Not soggy but not rock hard either... And then "you'll think you died and gone to heaven", indeed.

The Self Sufficient HomeAcre

5 comments:

  1. Yum!
    One question: where did you get the green tomatoes??

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    1. At Springdell Farm in Littleton. I was there for a whole bunch of stuff (including pork for the party), and I bought them out (at $1.99/lbs, a bargain!). They're not organic, but they are IPM.

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  2. I haven't read the book or seen the movie (is that a shame on me?) but I LOVE fried green tomatoes. I use a little flour with salt and pepper but I refuse to eat them until the end of the season when I have to take the tomatoes off before 1st frost.

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    1. What's it like to have so much self-discipline? LOL. I have eaten them green in 2011 when we had the terrible blight around here. These ones were not from my garden, as we're not there yet, but from the farm stand.

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  3. Haven't made these in a while! Thanks for sharing on Wildcrafting Wednesday! Hope you can join us again today :)
    http://www.theselfsufficienthomeacre.com/2013/07/wildcrafting-wednesday-27.html

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