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

Tilapia and Pesto - Easy Weeknight Meal

So, i forgot to take a picture of this. Here's a photo of what's left of the pesto i made:



I know, wow, that's not a great photo. It was a great dinner though! Although, i must admit i made it too spicy for my very-chapped-from-mouth-breathing-with-allergies lips. Tonight's dinner will be bland.

This dinner was easy to do and i did all the prep during commercial breaks of my still favorite show, House. The pesto was an experiment using the last of my Genovese basil and some shelled, raw pistacios. I simply blended the basil, pistacios - about a half cup to about 2 cups basil, salt and some olive oil. Wammo, and really interestingly tasty. I think i'll try more pestos with these flavorful and already green nuts - really adds another dimension to the pesto.


Tilapia with Pesto:

• 4 thawed tilapia filets
• 8 ice cubes or about 1 cup chicken broth
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1 large garlic clove, diced
• about 5 oz pesto
• 2 serranos, diced. 2 too many this time around. Ouch.

Lay out fish, stock, onions, garlic and peppers in a saute pan, lidded. Season with salt and pepper and spoon pesto in on top. Heat at medium until cooked through, flipping half way. I chopped in one commercial, turned on heat in another, flipped in another and all was ready to eat in about 45 minutes - would have been 20-30 if i'd been cooking higher with more attention paid. Served with brown rice and a side of peas.
Good, i tell ya. Real good and saucy. The rice absorbed the sauce and the peas swam around with whatever sauce was left and plates were licked clean!

Recipe: Tilapia with Sorrel and Nasturtium Leaves with Sauteed Onion Blooms

This would be best served with rice or noodles for a complete menu, but as i'm trying to wittle town a few post marital pounds, i was fine with just protein and greens. A few recent posts have mentioned blooming onions - so i decided to saute some as a side to this yummy, one pan fish dish.

All told, this took me about 15 minutes (pre Bones Thursday night tv viewing) to throw together.
Helpful hint: thaw frozen fish quickly and safely by placing fillets in cool water for 10 - 15 minutes before cooking.

For the fish and greens:

• 4 tilapia fillets
• Large bunch sorrel leaves
• 5- a dozen nasturtium leaves (mustardy tasting
• One small red onion, finely diced
• One - 3 garlic cloves, finely diced
• Dashes cumin, cayenne, smoked paprika, curry, turmeric, just about anything you want (sorrel is quite tangy, so pick herbs with more earthy flavors. Basil or oregano would also be nice here).
• Salt and pepper
• White wine

For the onion blooms:

• Clip the blooms close to the flower
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Place half sorrel/nasturtium mixture around edge of a large flat saute pan. Sprinkle onions and garlic in the center of the pan. Heat to high medium. Place fish into pan and season heavily on top side. Place remaining sorrel/nasturtiums on top of the fish and cover pan. Once bubbling, splash a quarter glass of white wine over the mixture and reduce heat to a lower medium.

Meanwhile, drizzle olive oil, salt, pepper in a smaller pan and rub onion blooms around in the mixture. Bring heat up to medium high and cover. Let one side sear a bit, then flip the blooms reduce heat to medium low and cover until blooms wilt to your liking. You can also add garlic salt/minced garlic, cayenne, whatever you like.

After about 5-7 minutes, flip fish over. Continue to cook until fish is cooked through, about 5 more minutes depending on stove heat.

Sorrel doesn't keep as nice a color as spinach or kale, and the texture is very soft. This would be yummy with some chopped spinach mixed in or with the addition of mushrooms. What's great about the sorrel is there's no need to add lemon to the fish, the sorrel already has a lemony taste.

We both found this to be a delicious meal, but i'll admit that i made the husband a toasted cheese sandwich with Belizean hot sauce as a second course - the man's gotta eat more than i do!

Happy Friday - have a great weekend!

Fish Tacos in Homemade Corn Tortillas

I got a new tortilla press for my birthday, and i am stoked to try it out!
Homemade corn tortillas sound super easy - but will they be plagued with the same "cracked in the middle when trying to fold, taco contents everywhere but in mouth" problem many store bought corn tortillas have?

Tortillas (makes 7-8):

• 1 cup masa
• 2/3 cups cold water
• 1/8 tsp salt
• optional flavorings, i added some chilly powder

(ratios of masa to water are generally found on the package of masa - can be increased or decreased per the amount of tortillas you desire)

Fish filling:

• Fillets tilapia, one per person
• Generous lathering of the following herbs/seasonings
• cumin, cardamom, salt, pepper, chilly powder (optional), lime juice, garlic powder

Optional filling ingredients/condiments:
Chopped cilantro, salsa, ranch dressing, habanero sauce,  coleslaw (without the mayo or miracle whip, plus more vinegar, some mirin, and green onions from my garden instead of a vidalia).

Mix the masa with the salt then the water, blending to form a dough. Let dough rest, covered for about 20 minutes. When ready, form into 1 1/2 inch balls, one at a time placing in tortilla press (sandwiched betwixed wax paper) and press flat. Carefully peel wax paper off of tortilla, not the other way around. If you accidentally break off a chunk of tortilla, just reform the ball and squish again. Heat two minutes per side in a hot pan on medium heat. Place in a tortilla warmer or lidded pan (off heat) until ready to use. Tortillas can also be frozen.

For the fish, simply slather the herbs on each side of the fish, stick them on a baking sheet and back about 15-20 minutes on 350. You want the fish to be sizzling, cooked through (firm to the touch) but not dried out. Can be kept on 'warm' or on top of the warm-from-cooking oven between taco construction/consumption.

Delicious! Pictured here with habanero sauce, diced cilantro and freshly made coleslaw (with a side of homemade mayo for the heck of it). The little tortillas ended up being about 65 calories a piece and scrumptious! AND: They folded well! No breakage! Yipee!
No picture of the folded taco,  (again i was anxious to EAT not photograph) but the husband agrees: "These fold great, very sturdy."

FYI: i skipped the 'let them rest' portion of the preparation: i simply mixed the dough, rolled into balls and covered with a moist towel while preparing the fish. As fish cooked, i pressed and cooked the tortillas. By the time all the tortillas were made the fish was perfectly cooked: couldn't be easier.
So, don't be afraid to make your own tortillas. The press was a whopping 17 dollars at my local feed store, a great investment for quick, delicious, bendable, homemade tortillas anytime you please.

Do you prefer corn or flour tortillas? Have you ever made your own?