Fried Green Tomatoes

We pulled up our garden a couple weekends ago and Dave picked all the unripe tomatoes that were still on the vines before throwing away the plants.  So for the past week I have been staring at this gigantic bowl of green tomatoes wondering what on earth to do with them.

Then today it hit me - FRIED GREEN TOMATOES.

I've never had them before, and until today my only reference to them was from the movie of the same title (love that movie by the way).  But I looked up several recipes and got inspired!  Here's the recipe I used... next time I'll make a few changes (like adding parmesan cheese to the breading) but it was a great base recipe.

So here's what I did!

Ingredients: 4 firm, unripe green tomatoes, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup cornmeal, 1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs, kosher salt & black pepper to taste, 1-quart vegetable oil.


I started by slicing my tomatoes into 1/2" slices... discarding the tops & bottoms of tomatoes.

 In a medium bowl, I added two eggs and the milk and whisked them together.

Then in a separate bowl I combined the flour, cornmeal & bread crumbs.  I also added salt & pepper to this mixture.

Setting up my assembly line, I dipped the tomato slices into the egg/milk mixture and then coated it with the breading.

In a skillet, I heated vegetable oil over medium heat.  I put in enough to coat my skillet 1/2" deep.  Then carefully I added my tomato slices, 4 or 5 at a time so as not to crowd the tomatoes.  I let them cook for approx. 4 minutes on each side, or until nice and brown.

Please excuse this photo... I forgot to take a picture until my last batch and by that point the pan starts to look a little nasty...but the tomatoes still turned out great!!

Drain excess oil from tomatoes on paper towels before serving up and sprinkle with some kosher salt.

The outside was crisp and crunchy.  The insides were soft but not mushy and they reminded me quite a bit of deep fried zucchini spears. 

I served mine up with a little ranch dipping sauce... and delicious!!!  Who knew eating unripe tomatoes could be so tasty!!!