Fried Green Tomatoes

Well, well. Fried food we meet again. I used to badly malign my step daddy for frying up catfish in a cast iron pan and shredded wheat scraps (really delicious, by the way) preferring my usual methods for fat free cooking. Lately, however, i've been delving into this new world of food preparation, and think i like it a little too much.

I was intimidated to try fried green tomatoes, having had so many disgusting versions in various restaurants. But i really had the advantage: fresh eggs, and fresh tomatoes. These tomatoes came from my big Japanese Black Trifele tomato and held up great throughout the process. I cut them about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick and soaked them in some briney (salty) water while i prepared the rest of the ingredients, and tasty they were indeed! Plenty of flavor, in both the fruit and the coating, not greasy feeling, and well paired with the sauces i whipped up and some turkey bacon wrapped serrano peppers stuffed with garlic cloves. Yum.

For the batter:

• One bowl with 2 eggs beaten with a splash of milk and garlic puree (the stuff you buy in a jar)
• One bowl masa
• One plate with crumbs (combine ingredients in a coffee mill or blender to get a very fine mix):
• Polenta/Grits/Corn meal, blended finely with:
• 1 piece wheat toast
• Salt
• Pepper
• Smoked paprika
• Dried kaffir lime leaf
• Chilly powder

For the sauces:
Green sauce

• Spoonful mayonaise
• Homemade hot sauce
• Vinegar
• Serranos
• Seasonings (Sssh, it's a secret)
• Sauteed onions

Red sauce

• Spoonful mayonaise
• Homemade ketchup

Yeah, this was not a healthy meal, but it was tasty! I fried up some tilapia to round out the protein portion and supped from a plate full of steaming fried deliciousness! The tomatoes and fish were prepared in the same fashion:

• Dip tomato slice in flour to coat both sides, tap excess off
• Dip slice in egg batter to coat both sides
• Place eggy slice onto plate of crumbs and coat both sides and edges
• Heat oil in a pan until test droplet of batter sizzles when dropped in. I used olive oil thinly coating my pan: you really didn't need much
• Cook one side until browned and flip. You may need to reduce the heat as you go along.
• Repeat in batches, setting the finished tomatoes aside in a warming oven on a plate lined with paper towels. A lot of the oil will drain off and the tomatoes will continue to soften just a touch in the warm oven

Give your 'maters plenty of room so that they don't touch and watch how brown they get. My first few were much lighter than the last, but all were tasty. I think i preferred the lighter done ones just a bit.  The sauces really hit the spot, but were almost unnecessary. The key for super delicious FGTs is in seasoning the crumb mixture and not overcooking the tomatoes. I think pan frying these in a very thin layer of oil helped prevent the over sogging that deep frying would be prone to.

Cold weather encouraged me to harvest all my green tomatoes, so i may just have to make these again. Perhaps i'll invite guests over to help with the consumption, though.
This post can also be seen at YardFarmAustin.com

Chilly Loaf (Turkey Meatloaf with Peppers)

This was scrumptious. Did not take any pictures, but did write down the recipe. I'd like to make it again, so i'll post it despite no pictures.

It's hot pepper season around here, so i've been trying to use my surplus in new and unusual ways. I made a delicious thai curry with homemade yogurt last week, lack tomatoes during the heatwave so no salsa, and made chilly last week also. This time, i'll skip the soup and just make a loaf 'o chilly. You could probably use any meat with this recipe, but don't skimp on the peppers: Firey kick is good for that heart!

• 1 pound meat, i used ground turkey
• 1 heaping cup diced red ripe jalapenos with seeds, plus one habanero with seeds removed
• Tsp smoked paprika
• Drizzle olive oil (the turkey meat has no fat)
• Several splashes worchestershire sauce
• 2 beaten eggs
• 1/2 cup finely diced jicama
• 1/4 cup frozen corn
• Pinches chilly powder and cumin
• Salt and pepper
• Tomato paste - 2 spoonfulls plus enough to coat the top of the loaf

Mush it all together and bake in a greased loaf pan at 350 for an hour- covered for the first 45 minutes.
The loaf was delicious and spicy, but i was almost more excited about the side dish i made: mashed potatoes.

I'm normally not very good at making mashed potatoes, but i gave it a shot and they turned out AMAZING.

• 2 red potatoes, diced into even chunks
• 1 LARGE garlic clove
• Homemade yogurt - thin and not super duper tangy
• Pinch dill
• Salt and Pepper

Boil the potatoes with the garlic clove. When potatoes are soft and just shy of falling apart, drain well. With a potato masher smush up the potatoes with the dill, salt, pepper and perhaps a pat of butter. Add yogurt last so as not to cook the beneficial bacterias. I probably used about 1/2 cup at the most, probably more like 1/4 cup. The resultant spuds were creamy, soft, and super delicious! Not scary yogurty like some yogurt mashed potatoes i've had. The yogurt complimented while not overpowering.

PS - For leftovers the next night, i took the leftover meat loaf, chopped it up and mixed it with some of the leftover crushed tomatoes i used as i was out of tomato paste, brought to a simmer, served on soft buns: sloppy joes!

This post also found at Simple Lives Thursday.

The Resilience and Ingenuity of Plants.

I spoke the other day of how my garden as a whole amazes me. Its growth spurts and seasonal changes are beautiful and exciting..... but what about each plant on its own? Amongst the 'garden' is a series of challenges, victories, and failures: each plant is fighting for its own survival, and depending on the care i provide, the weather, and potential predators, each plant will fail or succeed in its own right.

Take this little Serrano pepper, for example. Poor thing was purchased the morning after a cold snap. Leaves wilty, soil soggy from garden staff attempting to revive it. Then i brought it home, gave it some tasty kelp, buds and blooms, compost and more water. Then what happens to this poor little plant already down on its luck?

Snail Attack!

I hate the snails! i scatter sluggo weekly, it seems. They still menace my little plant babies. But look at this little pepper. Despite being frozen, nibbled on, and placed in not the sunniest of locations, it's springing back! Its stem may be nearly severred, but it's little face is still searching for the sun.
I worked at a nursery last spring and was fortunate to bring home many 'wounded soldiers' from the veggie house - some of those plants that were stressed early on grew up to become the strongest plants in the garden. So much so that i've considered 'wounding' plants on purpose (pinching off new growth to encourage a little more thought on becoming sturdy as a whole and not leaping and bounding to produce fruit right away).

So that's the resilience, what about ingenuity?
My friend, Foy was blogging about wild onions the other day. My garden is full of them. The area behind my house is known as 'Onion Creek' for a reason. I had foolishly harvested most of the onions when i first moved here, only to dislike the very gamey taste of them and toss them all in the compost. They're finally making a come back, and you can see why:

It just amazes me how this plant has developed a way of 'migrating' through evolution. The plant's bulb may be stuck in the soil - but low and behold it blooms, the blooms turn into bulbs that send out more shoots, bloom, and bulb and voila - said stuck onion has no not only reproduced, it has travelled nearly a foot to a more desireable location.
Fascinating.

So please, don't miss a tree in a forest, and don't overlook each little plant in your garden - it's the individuals that make the beautiful/productive/satisfying whole. Give them love (or abuse!), but most of all appreciation.