Recipe: Michael’s Fried Green Tomatoes (and Special Sauce)

By Michael Nolan

Okay all you Tomato Casual folk, your cries of injustice have been heard.

I know I have been away for a while and for that I sincerely apologize. Life happens, that’s about all I can say.

In order to pay my penance for such a long departure, I hereby offer you what you have waited for.

I know I have kept you all in suspense for far too long with the empty promise of my personal fried green tomato recipe, but no longer!

Here, without further ado is my long awaited super special and uber secret recipe for the perennial southern favorite – fried green tomatoes.

Here’s what you need:

• 2 medium-sized green tomatoes
• ¼ cup all purpose flour
• ¼ cup yellow cornmeal
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 cup vegetable oil (I use ½ cup of canola and ½ olive oil, to be honest)
• Garlic salt
• Sea Salt
• Ground Red Pepper
• Cayenne Pepper

And here’s what you need to do:

1. Slice the tomatoes into slices about ¼” thick.
2. Combine all of the dry ingredients (that is everything except for the buttermilk) in a shallow bowl, and pour the buttermilk into a second shallow bowl.
3. Heat the oil in a frying pan.
4. While the oil is heating, dip the green tomato slices in buttermilk and immediately coat both sides with the flour and cornmeal mixture.
5. Fry dredged tomato slices for between three and five minutes per side.

I always serve mine with two options:

• Homemade balsamic vinaigrette, reduced on the stove to thicken
• Hot Sauce

Don’t balk at the balsamic idea; it is actually incredible.

I also make a green tomato stack with three slices of fried green tomato, a slice of fresh mozzarella and a thick slice of country ham, put together like a sandwich and drizzled with vinaigrette.

There you have it, TC folk – my now not-so-secret fried green tomato recipe. It isn’t all that different from most of the others you are likely to find floating around the ‘net, but it is mine. Even my granny liked it better than her own!

4 Responses to “Recipe: Michael’s Fried Green Tomatoes (and Special Sauce)”

1. carolyngail Says:
   October 8th, 2008 at 9:23 am

   That green tomato stack sounds yummy, Ill have to try it. Being from Alabama, the land of the fried green tomato, it amazes me that a lot of people have never tasted this delicious dish.

   Thanks for posting your “secret” recipe.

2. Shibaguyz Says:
   October 10th, 2008 at 3:40 am

   First, welcome back Michael! We know what you mean about life happening… must have been a year for it.

   Second, thanks for the recipe. We are both from families where fried green tomatoes were common side dishes this time of year. As a matter of fact, Jason just made his own version tonight to go with our locally raised pork chops. The sharp, tart flavor goes so well with just about anything in the meat category that we’re going to have these as a staple for the next few weeks and your recipe with be a great variation from our own.

   Again, thanks for sharing your (now-not-so) secret recipe and welcome back.

3. Michael Nolan Says:
   October 11th, 2008 at 10:49 pm

   Thanks for the welcome-backs.

   Carolyn: I live in Hoover (just outside Birmingham).
   Shibaguyz: When do I get to visit your AMAZING backyard garden and steal your ideas?

4. Still Harvesting « Writing Every Day Says:
   October 30th, 2008 at 9:31 pm

   [...] eventually, and be at least as good as supermarket tomatoes, but it might be time to find out what fried green tomatoes are [...]

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