Fried Green Tomatoes (not the movie)

While I like the movie Fried Green Tomatoes as much as the next girl this post is not about the movie.  It’s summer for goodness sakes, I’m talking about the real thing.

I hate to admit it but I don’t like tomatoes.  I like tomato juice, salsa, chili, spaghetti sauce, ketchup, and most everything else made of tomatoes but not plain, old, raw tomatoes.  However, I do really enjoy fried green tomatoes.  Go figure.

On my way home from the vet today I stopped at Bennett’s Market.  As I was perusing through the fresh vegetables the box of green tomatoes caught my attention.  I recalled tearing out a recipe from Southern Living (June issue) for fried green tomatoes.  I picked up three and planned to add them to supper.  Brandon has been away for work since Sunday so I wanted to have a home cooked meal ready for him.

When I arrived home, I started digging through my stack of “want to try” recipes and found the one.  I had all the ingredients.  Hooray!  It was super easy and they only take 4 minutes to cook.  I definitely think you should try it!

Ingredients: 1 egg, ½ cup buttermilk (I’ll tell you how to make it), ½ cup SR cornmeal, ½ tsp salt, ½ tsp pepper, ½ cup all purpose flour, 3 medium firm green tomatoes

Note:  If you don’t keep buttermilk (I don’t)here’s how to make it.  Pour 1 cup of milk and add 1 tbsp of vinegar then let it stand for 10 minutes.   Voila, buttermilk. (so for this recipe you need ½ cup of milk with ½ tbsp. of vinegar)

You need three bowls

1^st bowl:  ¼ cup of all purpose flour

2^nd bowl:  egg, slight beaten and buttermilk

3^rd bowl:  cornmeal, salt, pepper, ¼ cup of all purpose flour

Slice your tomatoes about 1/3 inch thick.  Dip a slice in the 1^st bowl (front and back), then the 2^nd bowl (front and back), then the 3^rd bowl (front and back).  Then drop in a cast iron skillet (really any skillet will do but you can’t beat cast iron) filled with ½ inch of oil.  I put my heat on medium.  Let the tomatoes cook about 2 minutes on each side.  Drain on paper towels. 

ENJOY!

We enjoyed them so much we decided to share!