Whistlestop Cafe Cooking

One of my favorite movies of all times is Fried Green Tomatoes.  It also happens to be one of my favorite southern foods.  Hot, crispy slices of breaded tomatoes are so delicious.

 Green tomatoes are firm, not mushy and wet like red tomatoes.  The flesh is tart instead of sweet.  There are so many ways to make fried green tomatoes.  They can be breaded with just flour or a mixture of cornmeal and flour.  Seasoning the flour/flour mixture is key to getting the coating to have full flavor.  In order get the coating to stick you have to first dip them in an egg or buttermilk mixture.  The actual frying time in shallow oil is very short.

 I keep them in a low temp oven on a rack placed on a rimmed baking pan to keep them hot and crispy as I fry them up in batches.  I did find an oven-fried tomato recipe today that I may try and tweak in order to cut down on some of the fat and make them healthier.  I have had success with oven fried zucchini so I assume it would be a similar process.

We served these last night with spinach and asiago chicken sausages.  YUM!

There is a seafood restaurant around the corner from us that serves them as appetizers with a side of ranch dressing.  Who doesn't love ranch with fried foods?

These tomatoes were actually from my mother's garden. 

 My own garden is growing abundantly (despite our lack of rain) but the tomatoes aren't quite ready yet.

 I'm waiting eagerly as they get bigger and bigger. The red ones I save for caprese salads.   Lots of yummy meals all summer long!