Fried Green Tomatoes

Not a Southerner that is living in the South? Need to impress someone with your ability to cook Southern Food? Try this recipe, its easy, tasty and will impress the locals and transplants alike!


First thing is first, the tomatoes must be green! This means they will be small because green tomatoes are not yet ripe therefore not grown up to their fullest size. You'll need to figure no more than 3 - 4 slices out of each tomato, so gauge your purchase accordingly.

Notice the flaws in my tomatoes?

Yup, I like the ones that DON'T look perfect. The fruits and vegetables that look too perfect have little flavor in my opinion. I purchased these at the local Farmer's Market this morning. Don't get any that have any signs of ripening (yellow, orange or reddish skin), they just wont taste as good.

Heat oil in a skillet (I always use cast iron to fry in) about 1" deep. The egg wash I use is 2 eggs, about 1 Tbsp. of milk and salt (I always salt my egg out of superstition). The batter I use is White Lily White Flour, King Arthur Whole Wheat Flour (sometimes I'll use Jiffy Mix Cornbread mix instead of corn meal, but I skipped this all together tonight and it didn't seem to make a difference) and some seasonings - I used a basic chicken seasoning tonight. So set your assembly line up like this...

I'm working from Right to left as that's the space allowance in my kitchen. The skillet is on the far left just out of the picture. So Tomato, egg wash, flour, skillet. Repeat until the skillet is full, but do not let them touch if you can help it.

Last bit of info, if you'll put a cake cooling rack on your plate between the plate and paper towel (that you'll have to drain the oil off of the tomatoes) you will drain better and have less oil and grease in your meal. This works for bacon and anything else that you might drain on a paper towel and keeps things ever so slightly on the healthier side.


And here is the finished product. About 21 - 26
Fried Green Tomatoes

And I don't know if this is Southern or just the way we got the kiddo to eat these, but they aren't too bad with katsup either...! ENJOY

Scrumptious Saturday

30 Minutes or Less - Steak, Steamed Fresh Vegetables and French Bread.

This will make a great dinner for Dad for Father's Day and he DOESN'T have to grill it. I do all the grilling myself!

Marinade the Steak, I make my own marinade with my own fresh herbs, Balsamic Vinegar & Worcestershire Sauce.

Here I've used Rosemary, Thyme, Marjoram, Greek Oregano and Basil. I chopped it all very fine in the mezzaluna (pictured above and below).

I pour balsamic vinegar and a touch of Worcestershire Sauce over the steaks, just enough to cover and sprinkle the herbs over.

You can salt and pepper if you like, but I prefer to avoid such common seasonings if I can get away with it. The IMPORTANT trick with the balsamic vinegar is to not let it marinade too long or it will pre-cook the meat! Also a note on balsamic vinegar, if you are cooking game meat such as Venison this is good to take the "game-y-ness" out of it.

Steamed Fresh Vegetables, I picked these up today at the local Farmer's Market. It's a shame that as green as we try to be, the farmers still prepackaged the vegetables in plastic. Well, not the carrots - those aren't in season yet locally those are from the grocery store. Even with your local vegetables, be sure to wash them. Cut the florets off of the broccoli and cauliflower stems, put in a steamer basket (in a pot) and add about 2" of water to the bottom - just enough for the water to be barely visible through the steamer basket. Cover with a lid and bring the water to a boil. Boil for about 5 minutes until the vegetables are bright in color. Steaming is the best way to keep the most nutrients in the vegetables.

French Bread was pre made (by someone at the Bakery) and all I'm doing here is slicing it, buttering it adding a bit of seasoning and toasting it. OK, I skipped the seasonings on the bread because it smelled so good without. And I was right, adding seasoning would have spoiled the taste of it.

As a testimony to this meal, my daughter, who usually wont eat steak at all, chose this dinner over her PB&J! The medium to medium rare cooking of the steak made it easier for her to chew and swallow. She ate all the broccoli and carrots and of course the bread, but wasn't too keen on the cauliflower. I'll introduce that one a few more times to see if she'll take to it.

Light & Easy

Boiled Artichokes and Bruschetta (my way)

This meal is one that has no meat, but once in a while its nice to have a meal that doesn't revolve around meat and potatoes. Surprisingly the artichokes are very filling, however for the first time you might want to add one other appetizer with it to be on the safe side. This meal is enough to easily fill us. I have lots of pictures so I'm going to try to be as thorough as I can.
For the Artichokes You'll need:
Whole artichokes (1 per person) garlic, olive oil, fresh herbs of choice
First thing is first, get your water started boiling. You'll need a pot large enough to allow your artichokes freedom of movement while boiling, so get that water started before anything else.

Cut the thorns off the artichokes! This is an important step and one you'll only forget once! They aren't called "chokes" by accident. Use scissors to cut the tip of each leaf off and then use a sharp knife to slice off all of the top portion at once.

Next cut off the bottoms so that they sit even as pictured below.


Once the water gets boiling, add olive oil, about 2 turns = 2 Tbsp. should do it add minced garlic, I've shown in pictures the best way to get the skin off the garlic, chop, then mince it. So here ya go:

Put the clove under the knife blade facing away from you and SMASH it.

Take the skin off and discard it as I've never found a use for the skin... yet.

Now that its smashed its much easier to chop, then take your blade and rock back and forth the opposite direction in which you chopped. Scrape it back into a pile and do this a few more times until the garlic is minced to your liking.

Put the minced garlic clove, minced herbs of choice (I used what I have growing - Rosemary, Thyme, Greek Oregano, and Sweet Marjoram)

a pinch of salt and the artichokes into the boiling water (chokes should be bottom side down). Put the lid on and let them boil for 30 minutes - then flip them over to boil bottom side up for another 15 minutes. Once they're done (45 minutes total boiling time) take them out to a colander to strain the water out.

While they're boiling make the Bruschetta and dipping sauces for the chokes.

Bruschetta, you'll need
Italian or French loaf bread (sliced to about 1" thick), garlic clove, olive oil, diced tomatoes (I use canned sometimes when they're not in season locally since I didn't can any myself last year), fresh basil (since I didn't grow Basil this year I chose the same minced herbs I used in the boiling water with the artichokes), and Parmesan cheese.

Toast Bread then rub with 1/2 clove of garlic (toasting it first is important for this step to work). Brush with Olive Oil, put diced tomatoes fresh herbs and Parmesan cheese on and broil for about 2 minutes.


For the dipping sauces I don't have pictures, but the directions are simple.

1st one, get about 2 Tbsp. of Mayo (or that Miracle Salad Dressing it doesn't really matter) and add about 1/2 Tbsp Olive Oil and herbs as you prefer, mix it all together.
2nd one, melt butter and add garlic, Parmesan cheese to taste.
Both are used to dip the artichoke leaves in, to eat the leaves you scrape the meaty underside against your bottom teeth and discard the fibrous top part of the leaf. The "heart" is really the soft bottom that once you peel all the leaves off will be fabulous to eat but DO NOT eat the "choke" which you should be able to tell what it is as it would undoubtedly choke you!

Bon Appetite!

Scrumptious Saturday, on Friday

Citrus Mahi Mahi Meal

This first one is one of our favorites. Citrus Mahi Mahi, served on a bed of Jasmine Rice with Steamed Broccoli and Strawberry Salad.

The Fish:
Mahi Mahi Fillets (or Halibut Steaks, about 1" thick if you use the Halibut)
1/4 cup butter or margarine (really folks, butter DOES taste better)
3 Tbsp. Chopped Onion (I prefer green onion, it adds a color dimension)
2 Tbsp. Chopped Fresh Parsley
6 oz. Frozen O.J. thawed (it comes in 8 oz. cans - just be sure its concentrated)
1 Lemon Sliced (for garnish)
2 pinches sea salt for seasoning
pepper to taste


Saute onion in butter until tender, stir in the o.j. and some of the salt and cook until heated through, then add the parsley (be careful not to heat the mixture to boil as it can scorch). Sprinkle the fish with salt and pepper, drizzle with the O.J. mixture. Broil for approximately 5 minutes or until the fish flakes easily with a fork. You can also cook this on the grill if the fish still has skin on it and when removing from the grill be sure to separate the fish from the skin (and don't forget to clean it off the grill when it cools).

Jasmine Rice:

Follow package directions, but here's the trick an old friend from Baton Rouge LA taught me. When you cook your rice, boil it for 5 minutes on high and then wrap a towel around the lid of the pot as pictured here (be sure to keep it out of the flame or off the burner, please no fires) and turn the temp on low for 15 minutes stirring maybe once or twice to keep it from sticking. This will give you a good sticky rice instead of fluffy (which is what I prefer, sticky rice).

Steamed Broccoli:
Well this is pretty simple. For those who might not have steamed their vegetables this is an excellent way to keep the most of the nutrients in the vegetable AND since its not mushy like boiling it the kids seem to like it a little better. Use fresh broccoli for best results, cut the stalk off as close to the "flower" as possible. Get a large pot and put only an inch or two of water in the bottom and put the vegetable (in this case broccoli) in a steamer basket (if you don't have a steamer basket they're pretty cheap and available at most grocery stores, invest in one). Put a lid on it and bring the water to a boil. Once the water is boiling, sprinkle a pinch or two of sea salt on the vegetables, put the lid back on and steam for about 5 minutes or until the color of the vegetable is as bright as you've ever seen it. Its done then!


The Salad:
I used the freshest ingredients in season locally at my Farmer's Market.
I was able to get:


Red Romain Lettuce, Fresh picked Strawberries (don't these look good?), Green Onions (same as used in Citrus Sauce), Mushrooms (the farm is in the next county so I'm pretty sure the grocery has the fresh ones), Almond Slivers (store bought, I didn't roast and slice my almonds), Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette Dressing added a nice touch of flavor.

This is one of those that you can really add what ever you want to it - I really like Strawberries in the spring time when the Tomatoes are not yet ripe locally. The local produce has much better flavor than anything shipped in and I always recommend it for supporting your local growers is another way of being GREEN too (but that info will be in a different Super Hero weekly Green update).


Presentation is everything, well it has to taste good too...



Bon Appetite!

We had vanilla yogurt with some of the sliced strawberries for desert.
This is an older post that I thought I'd bring back (slightly edited) for those who might have missed it a few years back. Its really easy and great and might make a nice Valentine's dinner for your special someone.