By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

In the summer I always like to have Family Movie Night.

We set up the projector and hang a sheet over the fence to create that drive-in movie feel.

The hotdogs are cooked on the grill, popcorn is popped, and the carbonated drinks are pasted around before and during the movie.

Sometimes we even stretch our taste buds and prepare a meal around the movie’s theme. These meal themes can be colors, animals, or countries that are mentioned in the movie. An example of how this theme works is when we showed Ice Age.

But as my kids got older I started having Adult Movie Night with our friends. Each movie that we showed had some type of theme. This theme was carried out into invitations where friends were encouraged to bring a dish that applied to the theme. Our first movie night my husband and I showed Fried Green Tomatoes. As one can expect the showcased dish was the southern delicacy fried green tomatoes.

So plan your own dinner and a movie night with your family and friends and use the recipes below to start your movie tradition.

Chef Steve’s Fried Green Tomatoes

4 servings

Ingredients

• 2 to 3 green tomatoes sliced ¼ inch thick Read the rest of this entry »

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 Read the rest of this entry »

My Michael Nolan

Like every Southern woman should, Aunt Ruby knew tomatoes.

The gardening wonder woman from Greeneville, Tennessee passed away in 1997 but not before leaving behind one of the best tomato legacies in the South.

The heirloom tomato bearing her name seems tailor made for my favorite Southern delicacy, with its beefsteak qualities and average size of about a pound each.

Of all the foods associated with Southern cooking, fried green tomatoes have to be at the top of the list – at least in my experience they have been. I can’t even remember the number of places Read the rest of this entry »

By Michael Nolan

It seems like a travesty that I live a mere 3-4 miles from the restaurant that inspired Fanny Flagg’s Fried Green Tomatoes and I have yet to even mention it here.

Go on, I know you all want to throw something . . . just make sure it isn’t tomatoes.

As a Southerner who adores just about any type of Southern cooking, and a man who has seen the film quite a few times over the years, it wasn’t until I moved back to Alabama in 2002 that I even realized I was so close to the famed Irondale Café, and made it a point to plan a visit. Read the rest of this entry »