Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Celebrate: It's Green Tomato Season!

Praise God from whom all blessings flow, most especially green tomatoes in August. I didn't give the green tomato its due when I was a youngin growing up in Appalachia, but I came to appreciate it in my late teens. It is by design that a popular movie and book extol its virtues: it's a tart, spicy, tasty delight, all the more so because they aren't easy to find in the grocery store and are at their peak for such a brief period of time.

But I got lucky on a recent stop to my local Harris Teeter, which now has a section of local produce and this week, had big, plump, perfectly firm green tomatoes!

 I set up a little assembly line to make mine. There are a lot of ways to go about it, but I was aiming to cut a few calories by skipping buttermilk. I dipped each slice in flour, dunked it in egg whites (i accidentally got a bit of yolk in there...no biggie) and then coated in a mixture of yellow cornmeal and panko breadcrumbs.

I then fried each slice in about an inch of vegetable oil on medium heat, frying until they were golden. I then let the slices cool a little bit, patted them with paper towels and then got ready to get down to business!

I ate mine on a bed of baby spinach and topped with some chipotle mayo...I think it would also be good with a sriracha aioli.

Go forth and enjoy green tomatoes while you can! They're also delicious with goat cheese and balsamic vinegar glaze and in BLTs.

No comments: