Seasonal recipe: Fried green tomatoes

Head out to your garden now and pick those tomatoes before they ripen.

Thu, Sep 17 2009 at 12:56 PM EST

Fried Green Tomatoes

If you wondered why yesterday’s post on green tomato recipes didn’t include a link to a recipe for fried green tomatoes, it’s because I was saving that for today’s seasonal recipe of the week. I’ve never had a fried green tomato before, but I plucked two unripe tomatoes from the vine this morning and decided today was the day to try them. I had no idea how delicious they were going to be.

Choosing a recipe was difficult because there are so many out there. There are purists who say just dredge in egg and flour then fry. Then there are a hundred variations on that. In the end, I chose a recipe from The Neelys that was posted on foodnetwork.com simply because two of my friends were raving about the Neelys the other morning at breakfast and they were on my mind.

My husband, Brian, was a little skeptical when I called him down to the kitchen and told him I needed to use his taste buds, but after a couple of bites he declared they were awesome. I halved the recipe and ended up with nine slices of fried green tomatoes. I ate two; Brian ate the rest.

If you’ve never tried fried green tomatoes before, you need to give them a shot. The Neelys’ recipe has a buttermilk dipping sauce that needs to be made beforehand to sit in the fridge a bit, but the tomatoes were delicious without the sauce if you don’t want to make it.

Ingredients

Oil
4 green tomatoes, cut into 1/4-inch rings
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon garlic powder
4 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
1 1/2 cups panko bread crumbs
Pinch cayenne pepper
Pinch paprika
Buttermilk Dipping Sauce, recipe follows

Time Estimates

Prep time: 15 min

Cook time: 15 min

Total time: 30 min

Directions

Make the buttermilk dipping sauce and refrigerate.
In a deep-fryer, preheat oil to 350 degrees F or heat oil in frying pan on stove top.
Season tomatoes, on both sides, with salt and pepper.
Place flour and garlic powder in a shallow dish. In another shallow dish, beat eggs with the milk. In another dish, mix bread crumbs with cayenne and paprika.
Dredge tomatoes through the flour, then the eggs, and then through the bread crumbs. Add only a few pieces to the fryer at a time, so they can cook evenly, about 2 to 3 minutes in the fryer or 2 to 3 minutes per side in the frying pan – flipping occasionally. Drain on paper towels and serve sauce.

Yield

About 4 servings

Buttermilk Dipping Sauce

Ingredients

1 cup apple cider
1 tablespoon brown sugar
3/4 cup buttermilk
3/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons Neelys BBQ sauce
1 lime, juiced
4 scallions, sliced thin
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the apple cider and brown sugar.
Allow to reduce until thick and syrupy.
Remove from heat and allow to cool.
In a medium bowl, add buttermilk, mayonnaise, BBQ sauce and lime juice and whisk well.
Add in the scallions and the apple cider mixture.
Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve with Fried Green Tomatoes.

Some notes:

I didn’t use panko breadcrumbs because I didn’t have them so I used regular, unseasoned bread crumbs.
I halved the entire recipe. I had more bread crumbs, flour, egg, and dipping sauce than needed for two tomatoes. If you were going to use four tomatoes, you could probably cut the rest of the ingredients down to 2/3 and have enough. I know it’s a pain, but you’ll save on wasted food.
I used the BBQ sauce I had on hand – sorry Neelys.
I used a frying pan on the stove top and just kept a close eye to make sure they didn’t burn.

I’m sure there will be many comments about different or better ways to make fried green tomatoes. Let me hear them.

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