Frying Up Some Heaven

Because Carrie loves me – she let me put her recipes here. You might even call her a CONTRIBUTOR. Sounds funny when it refers to this little neglected food blog. But not any more. There are some good eats comin’ your way. Carrie and her granny are gonna see to it that we share their Kansas home cookin’ with the world, baby.

Added bonus: She’s really hilarious.

Read on…

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I’m not much of a food blogger, but I’m all for making this blog as random as possible in spite of all the sage advice from “expert bloggers” that one’s blog should have a theme. Well, to them I say, “I have a theme. It’s wrangling. Mostly gremlins, but sometimes food needs wrangling.“

And speaking of wrangling food, what do you do when you are sick of homegrown tomatoes? It happens. Since I am not a die hard tomato lover, there comes a point in the growing season that I’ve had enough. Then I start to pawn them off on whoever will take them.

Then I remember that one recipe I get the pleasure of making once a year. Fried Green Tomatoes. You either love them or hate them. As a youngster, I hated them. Now? Oh my.

And I wanted to share that goodness with you. Just in case you love them. Or think you might. So if you have any tomatoes growing out in the yard, go grab some firm green ones. Or if you have a neighbor growing some, go take them. But wait until it’s dark because they might have a bow staff with your name on it.

Better yet, just ask permission. And let’s discover how to get this little piece of heaven to fry nice and golden in our skillets!

I’m going to assume you are literate, unless you’re my sister, Kristi and only come here to look at my pictures. (Hi Kristi) Just joking. She knows how to read, she just refuses to. Anyway, this recipe is super easy, so I won’t go into mind numbing detail on every step. Just take a peek at it and follow along. I used this one.

Besides green tomatoes, you’ll need some other random stuff. It’s on the recipe. And yes, you have to have colorful plates for each ingredient. A CD of bluegrass or Lynrd Skynrd is also helpful for that Southern mood while you cook.

If you’re in a hurry, remember that after you slice these, they need to be sprinkled with salt and pepper. Then they need to sit for 15 minutes. The purpose is so they can sweat. Mmmm, sweaty tomatoes.

While those are sweating to the oldies, I want to reveal my secret ingredient. It’s not on the recipe that I linked to. What goes better with tomatoes than bacon, I want to know? Genius.

Ok, now we’ve got some sweaty tomatoes. Don’t be grossed out by this. All that will fry out.

Then you’re going to take each slice through the steps per the recipe. Milk first.

Then flour.

Then eggs.

Then bread crumbs. Or corn meal. Whatever.

Then fry them. IN OLIVE OIL. If you want to eat a lot of these relatively guilt free, use olive oil. Not shortening or even vegetable oil. Olive oil is good for you! And while the first side fries, sprinkle your bacon bits on the top so that when the uncooked side gets kind of mushy, they will adhere to the breading.

Then when you flip them over, that whole side will be brown and bacony. Oh my goodness. Bacon!

When they’re done, they should look like this.

And you have to eat them right away! No reheating allowed or recommended. Let me know how it goes if you give this a try. But hurry. Green tomatoes are not around for much longer!

P.S. Did you like my food tutorial? I can do more. It was fun! Or should I just stick to wrangling gremlins? Be honest. I can take it. But watch your back.