Fried Green Tomatoes
These simply end-of-summer treats will delight you as a side dish or as lunch with soup or salad.
Ingredients
- 2 green tomatoes
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 egg beaten with 1-2 tablespoons water
- 3/4-1 cup cornmeal, panko, plain breadcrumbs or a combination
- kosher or sea salt to taste
- freshly ground black pepper
- dash red (cayenne) pepper - optional
- 3-4 tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
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Core and cut the tomatoes into slices approximately 1/2-inch thick.
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Put the flour on one small plate, the beaten egg and water in a bowl, and the cornmeal, breadcrumbs, and/or panko in a second plate, along with salt, pepper, and a dash of cayenne pepper if you like your food spicy.
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Dip the slices, first in the flour, then the egg and finally in the cornmeal, breadcrumb and panko mixture. It helps to line up the bowl and plates in the order you'll move the slices through the other ingredients. If you want to prepare the tomatoes earlier in the day and cook them at the last minute, place them on a plate in a single layer, cover with plastic wrap or waxed paper and refrigerate until you are ready to cook.
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Heat the pan and then add the oil. If you are using a large pan, add all the oil, but if you are using a smaller pan that will require doing 2 batches, then add only half the oil for the first batch. Once the oil is hot but not smoking, fry the slices for approximately 3-5 minutes per side on medium heat. (Heating the oil first minimizes the amount of oil that the tomato slices will absorb.) The slices should brown on the outside and get warmed on the inside. They get marginally softer, but retain their shape nicely. When done remove to a paper towel-lined plate. Serve warm.
Recipe Notes
I like the coating crunchy, so I use a mixture of homemade breadcrumbs (toasted and sprinkled with olive oil) and panko, adding cornmeal for taste, in roughly equal proportions. Any combination of those or store bought breadcrumbs works.