Saturday 12 November 2011

Fried Green Tomatoes

One of my favourite breakfasts to make on a sunny Saturday morning is fried green tomatoes on toast. FGTs is a traditional American "soul food", usually prepared breaded and served as a side dish. I prefer them fried, however, in just a bit of olive oil, with no breading. Green tomatoes, when cooked, give off a sweet/sour taste - a taste that is not easily compared with another food. It's something you just have to try.

Green tomatoes can be hard to find in shops, and even difficult to find at fruit & veg markets. Two places that usually have them are Mecca Bros Grocery in Clifton Hill and the Richmond Gleadell Street Market - look for "Adelaide Tomatoes". The best tomatoes to use are the greenest ones - if there's even a hint of red on the outside of the tomato, it is too ripe, and will not taste as good nor have as good a texture when cooked. Hint: you may need to look towards the bottom of the pile, as people are more inclined to buy the red tomatoes and the shops usually hide the green ones!

Here is the recipe I use to serve 2-3:

Ingredients:

  • 3 medium green tomatoes
  • 2 tbsp olive oil (roughly)
  • salt
  • pepper
  • a few slices of really nice bread, thickly sliced is good
  • vegan mayonnaise (Kingland brand tastes best but the Praise stuff will do in an emergency)

First, slice the tomatoes into slices about the width of half of a letter key on your computer's keyboard. Heat up the olive oil in your pan then spread out tomato slices in a single layer in your pan- you may need to cook them in batches, depending on the size of your pan. Keep the heat on med-high.

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Grind some salt and pepper over your tomato slices and cook them for about seven minutes on each side. I usually flip them when the bottom side is a nice brown, salting and peppering the opposite side as well. They're done when both sides are brown and the tomatoes start to fall apart when moved with your flipping utensil (I use a fork).

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I like to toast my bread under the griller, so one side is toasted and one side is soft. Spread the mayo on the toasted side, and top with a layer of FGT. Enjoy with a long black coffee.

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15 comments:

  1. They look good! I had never had green tomatoes until the other day, when I was testing a new Terry Hope Romero recipe - Indian Fried Green Tomatoes. They were damn good, crunchy and crispy etc, but apparently very hard to buy! I assume they're available at the markets.. Where do you get yours?

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  2. I've never cooked them but I did try them when I last went to the US - lovely aren't they - hopefully I will have a bumper crop this year and will be able to enjoy these soon!

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  3. Thanks Matt, you should probably be able to find them at a market or nice greengrocer's. Look for "Adelaide tomatoes" - these are the green ones most commonly found in shops.

    Yes, Liz, I'm exited to see how my home-grown tomatoes do in this dish!

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  14. Had green tomatoes from the garden. I fried them in olive oil and salted and peppered like you suggested....half the bread mayo+FGT and only FGT on the other half...both sides were yummy! Thanks for the suggestion!

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  15. Thank you for posting this method of fried green tomatoes. I have always fried mine in butter, with salt and pepper. I have never tried the breaded deep fried kind as I find the tomatoes taste great without it. Thanks again for posting.

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