A Gardener's Diary

I absolutely love fried green tomatoes. I started making them, or the hint was put in my mind to make them, after seeing the movie with the same name, “Fried Green Tomatoes.” They looked delicious. Well, what isn’t delicious once it has been breaded and fried!

Every season I grow tomatoes in one of my garden plots, so green tomatoes aren’t hard to come by. But once the growing season is over they can be difficult to find. And that is when I think they taste the best — once the weather turns cooler. This year, I lucked out. I found bushels of green tomatoes at a local outdoor nursery/farm stand. They were large, so good for nice-sized slices, and hard, so not juicy. A juicy tomato will yield a mushy FGT, which you do not want.

Once you have the perfect tomato, you need a complimentary coating. A couple of years ago, through trial and error, I finally landed on the coating that I think makes a fantastic tomato and I haven’t deterred from the recipe since.

Here you go.

Start by slicing a green tomato — about 1/4 to 1/3 inch thick. Don’t slice too narrow or you won’t taste the tomato.

Get your coatings ready. Prepare your assembly line:

• Flour on a plate. I use parchment paper – easier to clean up.
• Whisk 2 eggs and 1/2 cup milk (I like to use buttermilk, but you can use whole milk) in a pie dish.
• Mix 1/2 cup cornmeal (I use Quaker yellow cornmeal), 1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs, 2 tsp kosher salt, 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper on a plate or parchment paper. (I have found that the panko goes well with the finer cornmeal).

Put vegetable oil in a heavy bottom frying pan and heat.

Now…the Triple D…

• Dip tomatoes in flour to coat.
• Dip in milk/egg mixture. Make sure all parts of tomatoes get coated.
• Dredge in bread crumbs.

Place coated tomatoes in hot oil.

Enjoy! THEY WILL BE HOT AND RETAIN THEIR HEAT. So, if you are like me and eat them by picking them up and biting into the deliciousness, be careful.

Give ’em a try. You’ll like them.

#friedgreentomatoes #cooking #southerncooking