October 3, 2009 | Salads, Side Dishes

I’ve been waiting to make fried green tomatoes for most of the summer – while I certainly could have picked them green at any time during the growing season, I decided to wait until the frost forced me to pick all 30 pounds of them yesterday. Home alone for dinner last night, I made a meal of these babies!
My secret ingredient is the use of my Easy Ranch Dressing. I discovered I was out of eggs just when I got ready to cook, and instead of running to the store (I hate that, don’t you?!) decided to try use the ranch dressing as the glue for the bread crumbs. Sometimes things just go right in the kitchen, and this was one of those glorious moments!To make the breading stick to the tomatoes, you are best to use a traditional 3-step dipping process. First, into seasoned flour (just salt and pepper will do), then into the liquid – generally beaten eggs, but for me this was a slightly thinned out ranch dressing – and finally, into the bread crumbs (or cornmeal if you like). Make sure you have all of those bowls ready and your tomatoes sliced about 1/3 of an inch thick. See how the flour clings to the moist cut sides of the tomato? That flour will give the ranch dressing something to hold on to, and the dressing, of course, allows the breading to stick. I used a nonstick pan as I hate nothing more than all of the lovely browned coating on my fried green tomatoes getting stuck to the pan. I also started with about this much olive oil, but added more each batch I put into the pan. Heat the pan about mid-way between medium and medium high – you want the tomatoes to cook long enough to slightly soften and don’t want to burn the coating in the process. When they have a lovely golden color like this, turn with a thin spatula and brown on the other side. When you remove them, sprinkle with sea salt and eat them hot!