Recipe: Fried Green Tomatoes

Tomatoes. Me and Tomatoes go way back. I used to HATE tomatoes. Well, I should clarify; I used to hate raw tomatoes. I liked canned tomatoes, spaghetti sauce, ketchup, basically any tomato in its cooked form but if it was raw, or if it tasted anything like a raw tomato, I thought it was horrible. Fast forward about 25 years and you have a gal who actually likes tomatoes. And I still like ’em. Especially fried green tomatoes. Yum. Tangy green tomatoes coated in a cornmeal batter and fried until crispy. Now that’s a grand snack or appetizer right there.

I don’t eat fried green tomatoes often enough. One reason is that most restaurants don’t serve them and I just can’t find them that often. But on Sunday I stopped at a little vegetable stand and they actually had green tomatoes. My day was made. I bought three and I fried them up that very same night. My boyfriend and I enjoyed these little gems. And do you want to know a secret? This was actually the first time I had ever made them. I had always eaten them when someone else had made them. I know, a gal from  the south who likes to cook but never cooked up a batch of fried green tomatoes. It’s almost a crime!  Anyways, I hope you enjoy  this recipe. Oh and if you’re  a fan of ranch dressing like I am, then you’ll love these babies dipped in it. I based my recipe off of this recipe.

Ingredients

• 3 medium green tomatoes. Make sure they are firm or you will end up with soggy tomatoes.
• 1/2 C all-purpose flour, divided
• 1/2 C cornmeal
• 1/2 C milk
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1 tsp seasoned salt
• 1/2 tsp ground pepper
• About 1 C of peanut oil (you can also use vegetable or canola oil)
• Cast iron skillet. If you don’t have a cast iron skillet, use another deep skillet.
• 3 bowls

Directions

•  Slice the tomatoes about 1/4 inch thick.
• Heat the peanut oil in the cast iron skillet over medium to medium high heat (I had my burner set to setting 6)
• In one bowl, combine the seasoned salt, cornmeal and 1/4 C of the flour.
• In another bowl, combine the milk and beaten egg.
• Place the remaining 1/4 C flour in the remaining bowl.
• Coat each tomato slice in the flour, egg/milk mixture and then cornmeal mixture.
• Fry for about 2 minutes. If your oil isn’t deep enough to totally cover the tomatoes, flip after about a minute or after the bottom side is golden.

Enjoy alone, with ranch dressing or on a sandwich (we ate ours on burgers as well as as a side)