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I realize this is not necssarily a Puna issue, but here in the Bay Area, tomato ripening is over. We have many green tomatoes on the vine.
We have a friend raised on a farm in Kansas who gave us great instructions on how to do FGTs. If anyone has another local recipe for these, please share. Glen and Jerry or someone love okra, so I assume you also ate FGT growing up.
Edited by - rbonplaza on 10/01/2007 16:56:15
Edited by - rbonplaza on 10/01/2007 16:56:54
Edited by - rbonplaza on 10/01/2007 16:57:57
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I pick up a box from a local organic farm every couple of weeks. You get what they give you. Lately, they have been giving me lots of green tomatoes. Yes, I did have these growing up but as the youngest of five and with an older sister, I didn’t do nuthin' (until they all left, then I did everything). Sure didn’t do much cooking. But the way Mom did it was pretty simple. She just sliced the tomatoes, dredged them in buttermilk, dipped them in a mixture of half flour, half cornmeal and fried them, then put then on a nice bed of shredded iceberg lettuce. What I have been doing is I put some cornmeal and flour in a bowl, with a lot more cornmeal than flour (crunch). I add freshly ground pepper. I don’t do salt, but it does add to the flavor so, maybe some nice Hawaiian sea salt. I also put in some Tony Chachere’s, which is kind of a Cajun seasoning. You can use any Cajun seasoning. I put some milk (buttermilk is better but I rarely have it on hand) in another bowl. I start the skillet up and throw in quite a bit of extra virgin olive oil. Medium heat. Let it get good and hot though in a pan that retains heat well. Cast iron is good.
Then I throw in the kicker: in the skillet I put one of two things: 1) about 10 drops of Asian chile oil (careful!) which I get at Trade Joe;s (Oh, god I am going to miss you Trader Joe’s!) or 2) or some crab boil, just a few drops. Mix that with the olive oil after it is about ready to go. Then dredge the tomato slices in the milk, drag them in the cornmeal/flour, shake off the excess and fwow ‘em in the pan! I guess about a couple minutes per side. Use tongs. Be careful of splatters. Wear an apron (and nothing else).
I put them on cous cous. Cheese grits, if you can find them, would also be very good. I am not really a very good cook, but I have been getting a lot of green tomatoes lately, and this is what I have done with some of them.
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OMG that sounds so good. I bet it would be awesome with Panko! I have been using Panko for fried chicken and fish - man it's yummy and crunchy too. (And none of these recipes have calories.)
Carrie
"In through a doorway she brings me
White gold and pearls stolen from the sea..." U2
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nothing better than anything fried, fried, fried....eggplant, okra, zucchini flowers and vegetable...need to try the green tomatoes since that's all we have left growing in the garden now along with the yellow pear type....yum!
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Here's an odd bit of trivia for y'all...
When I lived in Birmingham, I was about 4 miles from the Whistle Stop Cafe (made famous by the movie with the same name as this thread). Its a real place and their fried green tomatoes are incredible.
John Dirgo, R, ABR, e-PRO
Aloha Coast Realty, LLC
808-987-9243 cell
http://www.hawaiirealproperty.com
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John, when we move over, you need to help us replicate the recipe for the Whistle Stop.... maybe we can have an FGT party! Glen's expertise will be invaluable!
Ed & RB
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Actually, we try not to eat fried food, but we do love it. Crisco has a transfat-free product that works pretty well (for cooking
