On tonight’s menu was a featured item from my childhood and summers in the South: Fried Green Tomatoes. One of my favorite things and another menu item that says (early) summer to me!

I cannot remember when I developed my love of fried green tomatoes… in my head I wonder if it is pre or post 1991, which is when the movie came out. The movie was one of my favorites growing up – I thought it had a great story (and I thought it was so sad, too!). I just loved it and watched it countless times growing up. One summer when I was in the south I remember asking my parents about fried green tomatoes. I loved tomatoes, especially those that were grown in my grandmother’s garden. When I was little I ate tomato sandwiches – the only thing between two slices of bread were slices of tomato and just a sprinkle of salt. Ahh tomato sandwiches! Delicious!

When the sous chef got home from work, we went for a walk on this beautiful, just warm enough evening in July. I had really wanted to start cooking right away – but how could I pass such a lovely night?? Most summers we are sweltering towards the end of July and I find myself needing to survive in the air conditioning. Every opportunity for beautiful evenings, I have to get out while I can. The other great aspect about summer is that when the sous chef gets home after 7 o’clock, it is still light enough to go out for a nice walk. Once the end of October rolls around, we won’t be so lucky.

Once we got home, I started getting my tomatoes and dredging material set. For these fried green tomatoes I set up a plate with plain flour, then a bowl of milk and a beaten egg, and then a second bowl of flour mixed with cornmeal and a little salt and pepper:

Once this was set, I sliced up my pretty green tomatoes:

I heated up the oil in our pan, and once it was hot I put one slice into the pan. It sizzled nicely so I knew that the oil was hot enough. The cooked up so nicely!

I had a plate with a paper towel ready for the cooked tomatoes. We ate them as soon as they were cool enough to eat… personally, I only want to eat hot fried green tomatoes – but not hot enough to burn my mouth! These tomatoes were delicious. We added a little kosher salt and freshly ground pepper on top, and nothing else. I just LOVE how the taste and texture of the cornmeal works with the tomato and somehow brings a sense of ripeness and developed flavor to the tomato.

The finished product – and they did not last long in our house tonight!

While I was making the fried green tomatoes, Sous Chef was prepping and cooking chicken breast which was seasoned with cilantro and lime – the healthy part of our dinner tonight!

Wrapping up to get back to The Goldfinch. Have a great night blog readers!