The best fried green tomatoes I ever had were, bizarrely enough, at the now defunct cafe located in the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. When we lived there I went to look at art a couple of times a month, and very often treated myself to the cafe's BLT made with fried green tomatoes in lieu of ripe raw red ones.
I am working with a glut of green tomatoes these days, six pints of which I pickled yesterday for use this winter, and one large one today which seemed to be calling out to be battered and shallow fried until crisp. This recipe is untraditional since I use yogurt in place of flour and egg or buttermilk, but the end result is sublime.
I served this on a bed of undressed mixed greens with a sauce made of Greek yogurt cut with a little rice wine vinegar and the addition of the green tomato trimmings, diced, as well as chopped pickled pepper, Italian parsley and spring onion. I considered chopping up a hard-boiled egg and didn't. I will next time.
1 large green tomato, sliced into 1/2 inch slices, ends removed
2 Tbsps of plain full-fat Greek yogurt
2 Tbsps panko
1 Tbsp cornmeal
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
Salt to taste
Mix the panko and the cornmeal together in a shallow dish. Measure the yogurt into another one.
Salt the tomatoes on both sides. Roll them in the yogurt, coating them liberally on all sides, before rolling them in the panko picture, pressing down so that the crumbs adhere well to the yogurt.
Heat the oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. As soon as it shimmers, lower the heat and add the slices of green tomato to the pan, leaving room between the slices.
Cook over low heat for about 90 seconds on each side before draining on a paper towel lined plate.
Serve as described above, or as mentioned in the intro as part of a BLT, or served as below with an herbed mayo and bacon on toast.
