fried green tomatoes.

Earlier this week, I had a crazy craving for some summery, southern goodness in the form of fried green tomatoes. I could have very easily picked some up at any number of restaurants in Nashville, but what's the fun in that? I was pleasantly surprised that you could actually purchase green tomatoes in the grocery store (reason #489576034 why I love publix) and set off to make them myself in the beautiful kitchen of the house I'm sitting this week. Here's my recipe for tomatoes and sauce if you feel like having your own FGT adventure.

Ingredients
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 egg
Green tomatoes, sliced about 1/4" thick [I used 2]
1 cup cornflour (or 1/2 c. cornmeal and 1/2 c. flour)
2-3 tablespoons of Cajun or Creole seasoning
Salt and pepper to taste
Vegetable oil

Sauce
1/2 cup Creole mustard or other spicy mustard
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons horseradish [I didn't have any, so just left this out.. oops.]
2-3 cloves minced garlic
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice [I used juice of 1/2 a lemon]
1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/8 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
Salt, to taste

1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup finely chopped heart of celery [I just finely chopped normal celery]
1 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped parsley
1 tablespoon grated white or yellow onion
1 tablespoon finely chopped green onion, white only
Hot sauce, optional

Directions
1. Make the sauce first. It needs to chill before serving. Mix together the first group of sauce ingredients (top of the list through salt), and then slowly add the olive oil while stirring. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Not only did I leave out the horseradish and cheat on celery hearts, I estimated measurements on just about everything and used only white onion. I thought it tasted great, so no worries about improvising if you don't have all the ingredients on hand.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together buttermilk and egg. Mix together corn flour, Creole/Cajun seasoning, salt, and pepper in shallow bowl or dish.

3. Pour enough vegetable oil in a large saute pan to shallowly cover the bottom of the pan. Heat over medium heat.

4. Meanwhile, dip tomato slices in egg mixture, then coat both sides with corn flour. Place tomato slices in pan in a single layer. Do not crowd. Cook over moderate heat until golden brown on bottom. Turn and brown on other side. (Total cooking time is 3 to 4 minutes.) Tomato should be cooked all the way through but not mushy. Exterior should be golden brown.

5. Place tomatoes on a baking sheet lined with paper towels to cool before serving.


Source (with some slight modifications): NPR - recipe was originally made with shrimp

Fun idea for you sandwich lovers: Make a BLFGT. Toast some sourdough bread and add some lettuce and bacon on top of your FGT, plus sauce. Om nom nom.