Fried green tomatoes have always intrigued me, along with deep fried pickles (which I will leave for another post). Strangely, up until now I have never tasted them – let alone cook them myself. So when I got the opportunity to grab some fresh green tomatoes from Sandy’s vegetable garden up north, I jumped at the chance. I had never been so happy going home in the car with a bucket full of tomatoes, basil, and zucchini blossoms – all the things I cannot wait to grow in my own yard one day. You see, I currently live in an apartment that lacks not only a balcony, but even so much as a window sill. Needless to say, that dream will have to be put on hold until I move out.
As I have mentioned before, this blog is about a learning process. So not having a clue where to start, I decided to use a recipe from the famous Guy Fieri – you know, the host of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. I figured that if there was anyone who knew anything about fried food, it would be him. Therefore, I did not change a thing about his recipe. I thought I’d test his out first, and then dream up what I could possibly do next.
Essentially, you begin by slicing your tomatoes to about 3/8 of an inch. My mandolin does not make slices thick enough for this, so I sliced them by hand. This led to couple of uneven slices with varying thicknesses – but hey, that just adds to the homemade appeal. Next, you mix up some buttermilk and yogurt to dip the tomatoes in before you batter them.
Tip: If you do not have buttermilk on hand, you can easily mix your own! Buttermilk does not actually contain butter. Rather it is simply the left over, sour liquid from the butter-making process. All you need to do is add 1 cup of milk with 1 tablespoon of white vinegar – let it sit for 5 minutes, whisk it together and you’re finished.
I then quickly made the batter. Typically, they tend to consist of a combination of flour and cornmeal. Guy’s had some cayenne and pepper to kick up the spice – although, next time I would add more flavouring to this part of the recipe.
Heat up your oil to 365F. A neat trick I learned – since I do not own a thermometer yet (that is on the to-do list) – is to put a wooden spoon in the hot oil, and if it really bubbles around the edges, your oil is hot enough to fry. So drop in a few tomatoes at a time, and cook them a 2-3 minutes on each side. Next time I will wear a shield, as I only suffered minor burns from the hot oil. Hey – at least I didn’t set anything on fire this time.
Once they are fresh out of the fryer make sure to sprinkle them with some kosher salt. As for the dipping sauces, there are endless possibilities – ranging from cream sauces to marinara sauces.
The end result turned out pretty good! Once you bit into the perfectly crunchy outer layer, your palate was immediately hit with a blend of both sweetness and acidity. I loved the warm flavour from the deep frying, and it really amplified the fruity, sweet nature of the tomato. Overall, I think the batter needs some work – and next time I would really kick it up with a few more spices. Make sure to gobble these up right away as they don't keep.
I remember my father using up the last of the tomatoes that did not ripen. He would fry them in a small amount of butter, salt & pepper. They were very tasty!! I will have to try them this way,
ReplyDeleteWow, they look tasty. I will have to try a veganized version of this recipe. Once again beautiful pictures.
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