Fried Green Tomatoes

Green Tomatoes

Fried green tomatoes are a Southern thing.  Here in California though, I've been hearing a lot about fried green tomatoes.  My local farmer, Lacie Robertson tells me she has customers who are absolutely passionate about fried green tomatoes.  So I decided to give them a try and picked-up some green tomatoes from Lacie at a local farmers' market.  

The Southern way!

I'm not a Southern girl but I actually do have

some Southern roots.   My great grandfather hailed from Kentucky.  So I am thinking, I'm a little bit Southern after all.  And this means if you're going to make fried green tomatoes, you've got to make them the Southern way...which means you gotta use corn meal and a cast iron skillet!

I chose a Southern recipe for my batch by Food Network celebrities  Gina and Patrick Neely.  Like true Southerners, they recommend using hard green tomatoes.  I was amazed at how hard an unriped tomato actually is!

 I sliced my tomatoes into 1/4" slices and then seasoned them up with Nature's Seasoning.  Next they got battered up.  I liked that the Neely's recipe is traditional but updated.  Their breading is a traditional corn meal base combined with panko.  (I substituted Italian bread crumbs for the panko.)  The results were incredible...and my husband even liked them!

Tart & Tangy

So here you go y'all.  Here's the recipe link for fried green tomatoes.  And, after I made my batch, my Southern friend Ruth in Oklahoma (who loves fried green tomatoes) said

 "warning...you might start speaking with a Southern twang!"

Fried Green Tomatoes with Basil Mayonnaise

Tomatoes & Basil

Tomatoes and basil are one of my absolute favorite summer

combinations.  Both have been plentiful in our weekly CSA Produce Box from Robertston Family Farm.

Roasting Tomatoes

This month, I've been roasting a lot of tomatoes.  Even on hot summer days, I crank-up the oven to 400 degrees and roast tomatoes.  The kitchen gets really hot but it's worth it.  Roasting tomatoes really brings out their natural sweetness.  I normally roast them in extra-virgin olive oil (sprinkled with Kosher salt and course ground pepper) but recently roasted them in Sutter Buttes Traditional Aged Balsalmic Vinegar (a local company) and they were delicious served over pasta with a home-made pesto sauce. 

Conchiglie with Roasted Tomatoes

We loved this summer pasta dish!  I recently made Conchiglie with Roasted Tomatoes with a recipe from Williams-Sonoma.  (You really can't go wrong with their recipes.) Tomatoes and basil along with goat cheese were the stars in this dish.  It was easy to make and a dish worthy to serve to dinner guests.  Here's the link for the recipe:  Conchiglie with Roasted Tomatoes. Give it a try...I know you'll love it too!

Caprese Salad

It wouldn't be summer without Caprese Salad.  Vine-ripened tomatoes are so plentiful in our weekly CSA Produce Box that we've been enjoying a lot of Caprese Salads!  Sometimes I drizzle them with extra-virgin olive oil and sometimes with just a thick aged balsamic vinegar. To season the tomatoes, my grandmother always used Morton's Nature's Seasoning and that is what I use to season my Caprese Salads.  If you've never tried it, Nature's Seasoning is a seasoning blend of salt, pepper, onion, garlic, celery and parsley.  It is a fine blend which I like for presentation and it's not too salty tasting.  

(Farm photos taken at Robertson Family Farm in Yuba County, California)

Trying new things

 Chinese Long Beans

One of the best parts about getting a weekly CSA Produce Box is that

 it's a surprise every week with what produce will be inside the box.

Let's Stir Fry

Recently our weekly box had beans in it that I had never seen before.  I found out they are called Chinese long beans or snake beans.  So I did a little research, got out my wok and did a Chinese stir fry with them. 

Dow Gok Chow Ha Kau

I found a recipe for Prawns with Chinese Long Beans (Dow Gok Chow Ha Kau)  in one of my older cookbooks,  Chopsticks, Cleaver and Wok by Jennie Low.  The recipe called for hot bean sauce and I substituted black bean garlic sauce and it was delicious.  

I discovered that Chinese long beans when stir fried stay crispier than other beans.  I'm a fan now and can't wait to try more recipes with them and my wok.


(Farm photo taken at the Robertson Family Farm in YubaCounty, California.)