Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Fried Green Tomatoes

by Daddy X


Makes two servings:

Don’t worry if this doesn’t sound like enough for two; it is a rich dish.

6 green tomato slices, 3’ x ¼” (or more smaller slices, but best to keep 1/4-3/8" thick.)

1 teaspoon sugar

Flour, enough to dredge tomato slices, salted and peppered to taste. 

1/3 cup (or more :>) cream. The heavy variety.

Butter, with some olive oil mixed in for frying. You’ll need a considerable amount. The flour sucks up lots of the stuff. Stay away from scales for two days after ingesting.

A plastic bag.

Green tomatoes can be obtained from restaurant supply greengrocers or from a high-end specialty market. Unless you grow your own tomatoes, like Momma X and I. Or hit up your rural friends.  Try, if you can, to use meatier tomatoes rather than seedy ones. Make sure there’s no blush on them; you want them green. Although we get tons of green at the end of the season that will never get ripe, eating these damn delicious things more than once or twice a year would be a death sentence.

Sprinkle sugar lightly on the tomato slices—both sides. Let sit for 15-20 minutes. Don’t pat away any liquid that may form on the tomatoes.

Put the seasoned flour into the plastic bag and flop the sugared tomato slices around until coated. Save excess flour; you’ll need a little later on.

Heat a pat of butter (or butter/olive oil mix if you’re trying to save calories, but at this point, WTF) in a medium-hot skillet and fry coated tomato slices at medium temperature (you’ll need to add butter and/or oil as the initial stuff is absorbed) until nicely browned on both sides. Put them somewhere to stay warm. Don’t worry too much; fried tomatoes hold heat quite well.

Now for the topper that really sets the dish off:

Add another pat of butter (if needed) to the drippings in the pan. Sprinkle some of the leftover seasoned flour to make a little roux. Simmer, stirring at low heat 30 seconds to 1 minute.

Add cream to pan and stir over low-medium heat until it bubbles and thickens. Do NOT overheat or sauce will break. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour over fried tomatoes. 

Put the whole mess into face. Watch for that first bite. They really do hold the heat. Yum.

Damn! That's good eatin'.

And if you want a quicker trip to the graveyard, put you head in the plastic bag.

9 comments:

  1. Sounds like it might be worth it!

    Got to try this sometime. Though I have no idea where to get green tomatoes here.

    And how did you get turned on to this -- um -- weakness?

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    1. Seems to me you can find just about anything a person could possibly want where you live. :>)

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    2. I found the recipe somewhere long ago. Been using it thirty years or more.

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    3. Lisabet, I'd offer to air-mail you some green tomatoes late in the summer, but there's no guarantee they'd still be green when they got to you.

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  2. Oh wow. My stomach is growling uncontrollably now, so thanks for that... :) And I know someone who's currently growing tomatoes. I need to go talk to her about this. :)

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    Replies
    1. Go hit that friend up. Give 'em the recipe and you'll have a friend for life. But don't eat too many. That life could be drastically shortened.

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  3. Such temptation! I do grow my own tomatoes, and used to fry green ones, but the quick trip to the graveyard factor made me give it up. I used seasoned bread crumbs instead of flour, and never thought of the sugar part--hmm, maybe I'll try a few this year. But definitely without the cream sauce.

    Green tomatoes in a curry-ish stirfry are good, though.

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    Replies
    1. Aw, go with the cream just once. It's what really makes the dish. And yes, they do lend themselves to curries, not to mention green tomato pickles. Yum.

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