Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Vegan MoFo Day 29: Green Tomatoes


Heeding warnings of cold temperatures, we harvested all the remaining frost-vulnerable items from our little backyard garden, including a bunch of green tomatoes. When I was a kid, we would put all our green tomatoes in paper grocery sacks in the basement and they would slowly ripen. I am more likely to turn these into fried green tomatoes.



There are a number of different fried green tomoato philosophies. Lately, I have seen many FGTs that are completely encased in a cornmeal crust. Beyond the fact that these are likely to involve eggs (and thus be non-vegan), such a complete shell is contrary to the way I learned to make them. (I am equally opposed to encased okra.)



To make fried green tomatoes, my way, do this: Slice tomatoes, and toss with a mix of equal parts flour and cornmeal, with some salt and pepper. You can add other seasonings, and I often go for thyme and cayenne. Fry in a hot cast iron skillet with a thin layer of oil, until well-browned on each side.


I would be tempted to make a green tomato pie, but we have been very over-sugared of late (tester cookies and a delicious pear crisp from The Joy of Vegan Baking). If you are interested, most traditional green tomato pie recipes are easy to veganize, requiring only a substitution of vegan margarine or oil for butter - for example, this recipe looks very similar to that made by relatives of mine.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've never made anything sweet out of green tomatoes, but that pie sounds very intriguing!

For the Love of Guava said...

mmm... I'm jealous of your bounty! Those tomatoes are gorgeous!

Tami said...

I love fried green tomatoes, encased or not!

Anonymous said...

Garden envy here!

My folks grew zillions of tomatoes, but I never knew a green tomato, fried or otherwise. I suspect the farmer's markets up here usually don't stock them. This makes me want them even more!

Bex said...

I've never tried green tomato pie, green tomato anything. Fried green tomatoes are on the top of my list though. Tomorrow I think

Anonymous said...

I love your strong opinions about heretical barbecue sauce and improperly encased fried things

APLACEFORUS said...

I wanted to make fried green tomatoes, but they turned red before I found a recipe I liked! Better luck to you!