Fried Green Tomato BLT

Fried green tomatoes are pretty serious business.  I found this out last week when I went to Atlanta for work, and well, it turned out I had a lot of down time since a few meetings were cancelled. I was perfectly fine with that since it meant I was able to roam around mid-town, sit in cafes for hours at a time and drink copious amounts of sweet tea (though I’m a total wuss and always go half sweet tea and half unsweetened).  All this unexpected downtime meant that I was able to eat at a few restaurants, all of which were Southern.  And while it did scare me a tad when the dude sitting behind me had to be carried out on a gurney by the paramedics, I decided right then, as I was eating my fried mac n cheese, that it had nothing to do with Southern food.  I decided to ignore that possibility.  You should too.   Moving on….

I don’t really consider myself a Southerner, even though I was born just up the street from my hotel in mid-town, went to middle school in Atlanta and attended college in North Carolina, but I do have a huge affinity for Southern food.  So…perhaps you could say I’m a half Southerner or something?

Anyway, the one thing that totally stole my heart on my trip were the fried green tomatoes.  And I had them prepared every which way you can have them: in crispy batter, soft batter, in between crispy and soft batter and spicy batter. My favorite, to no surprise to me, was when they were super crispy on the outside and soft, but not overcooked on the inside.  The thing I found out: Southerners are dead serious about the way they prepare their fried green tomatoes.  Everywhere I went I kindly asked how they prepared it and each person explained their way as the right way.

When I finally nailed down my favorite way to fry up green tomatoes, I paired it with some bread, some cool butter lettuce, a bit of mayonnaise and some bacon.  You should do this too; it’ll make you happy. And if you don’t? Well…bless your heart.

{Dip the green tomato is milk, flour, egg and then cornmeal.  I used to have the fourth matching bowl…it was a beautiful, bright blue. I miss it. Someone broke it…that person will go unnamed, as they’re probably reading this right this very second.}

Fried Green Tomato BLT

Recipe for fried green tomatoes tweaked from Simply Recipes.

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Does all the friedness (word?) scare you? If so, then I’d recommend making it with turkey bacon, pairing it with wheat bread and using Caroline’s way of making fried green tomatoes.  I tried multiple way to make the tomatoes, i.e., just milk and flour, just milk and cornmeal, and lastly, Elise’s way from Simply Recipes.  Her method was my total favorite.  The tomatoes are a little creamy, without tasting overcooked and the crunch from the cornmeal made me happy. I also opted to fry these tomatoes in the bacon fat. Yes, you heard me.  I could be your nutritionist’s worst nightmare.

Yield 4 sandwiches

FRIED GREEN TOMATOES

3 medium, firm green tomatoes
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup milk
2 beaten eggs
2/3 cup fine dry bread crumbs or cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

SANDWICH

8 slices of bacon
8 slices of bread of choice
7-8 pieces of butter lettuce (obviously this can be substituted), rinsed
mayonnaise

Cut unpeeled tomatoes into 1/4 inch slices. Sprinkle slices with salt and pepper. Let tomato slices stand for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, place flour, milk, eggs, and bread crumbs in separate shallow dishes. Preferably cute dishes like the ones pictured.  Cute things like those bowls make my day. NOTE: I added a 1/4 teaspoon of salt and pepper to the cornmeal.  Obviously, this is optional, but highly recommended.

While tomatoes are resting, fry up the bacon in a cast iron skillet or pan. Remove when done and place on paper towels to drain.

Dip tomato slices in milk, then flour, then eggs, then bread crumbs. In the skillet (where you fried up the bacon), fry half of the coated tomato slices at a time, for 2-4 minutes on each side or until brown. After they’re done, remove and place on a paper towel to drain.

Put slices of bread in the toaster and toast to your liking.  Remove and assemble sandwich with mayonnaise, butter lettuce, bacon and fried green tomatoes.  Cut in half and eat.  Yes!

Tagged as: Bacon, Tomato