This blog serves to offer insight and (hopefully) a bit of wisdom while we all cook together. You’ll find delightful recipes (such as this Fried Green Tomato Grilled Cheese Sandwich!) and a handful of growing-up lessons as I (try to) learn them. It’s time for a blog that is accessible, without quite as many paragraphs of backstory for a simple recipe, so buckle up and enjoy!
Blessing Seeds
Life is full of blessings served up with silver spoons, silver linings, and simple pleasures. The most decadent blessing, though, is pulled up from the earth by its roots, clumps of dirt falling off like stars. It comes from your garden, grown from seeds you planted when you were a different version of you full of the hope that one day, one of your countless incarnations would eat with big bites and revelry bent over the kitchen sink because it looked too good to make it to the table.
I pray you have the wisdom to both plant your blessing seeds today and then enjoy their fruit with the focused appreciation of watching the sunset.
Today’s Lunch
‘Make Your Nan Proud’ Fried Green Tomato Grilled Cheese Sandwich
Active Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes
Servings: 2 (plus all the bonus Fried Green Tomatoes you can eat)
For Fried Green Tomatoes
2 giant green tomatoes
Coconut oil or preferred vegetable oil for frying
For flour coating
1 cup or so of regular flour
About half a cup of almond flour (or cornmeal)
Half cup of panko breadcrumbs (might feel weird to add breadcrumbs to your flour mix but TRUST me, this is the crispiness secret!)
Salt, black pepper, Old Bay, cayenne pepper to taste (it says “to taste” but don’t eat raw flour! Just add a good amount of each. Your flour mix should have some color to it from the Old Bay/cayenne pepper)
For egg mixture
Two eggs
About half a cup of milk of choice
Salt, pepper!
For breadcrumb finisher
3/4 cup of panko breadcrumbs
Salt, black pepper, Old Bay, cayenne pepper to taste!
For Grilled Cheese Sandwich
4 slices of your favorite bread (I used Italian bread from the bakery section)
Enough Butter to bless each piece of bread
4 slices (minimum) of sharp cheddar cheese
4 slices (minimum) of gouda
Salt and black pepper to taste!
~ Optional ~
Great additions to grilled cheese:
Crispy Bacon
Pickled Red Onion
Pulled Pork
Great sides:
Fresh Salad with Ceasar Dressing
Fresh Salad without Ceasar Dressing
French Fries
Directions
Slice green tomatoes into 1/4 inch thick beauties, then lay them all out on a cutting board and salt generously. Let them rest for 5-10 minutes then pat dry. Patting them dry helps the flour coating not get mushy and makes the whole thing that much crispier.
While the tomatoes are resting, mix everything for flour coating on a big plate. Don’t actually taste to check your spice mix but make sure you add a good amount of salt and pepper and enough Old Bay/cayenne pepper to turn the color of your flour mix slightly pink. You’re not going to have a lot of this flour mixture on each tomato, so don’t be afraid to really spice it up. Next, beat the eggs in a shallow bowl or Tupperware container and add milk and salt and pepper. Mix the ingredients for the breadcrumb finisher on another big plate. It’s important to season every step of the process so we get good flavor throughout the fried tomato. Heat
Once the green tomatoes are patted dry and the oil is hot, it’s time to coat them. First, coat the tomato slices in the flour mixture, then dunk in the eggs. From the eggs, go back into the flour mixture and pat the flour into all sides. Shake off any excess, then finally go into the breadcrumb finisher to maximize the crunchiness.
Fry the tomatoes in batches of 4 or 5, however many can fit in your pan. Make sure they don’t touch in the pan to ensure even cooking. Fry for about 2 minutes on each side or until the breading is crispy and golden brown and you’ve made your Southern Grandmother proud (if you don’t have a Southern Grandmother at home, store bought is fine). Salt immediately after pulling out of the oil for the perfect finisher. Repeat this process until all green tomato slices are fried and all Southern Grandmothers are pleased.
Slice cheese and butter the bread. We’re going to use an open-faced method to help speed up the process and minimize the mess of cooking grilled cheese. Place two slices of bread butter-side-down into a hot skillet and top each piece with half the cheese for the sandwich. Set one perfectly-fried green tomato slice on one of the pieces. Place a lid over the pan and let the grilled cheese do its Thing until the cheese is melted, about 2 minutes. Now close the sandwich by putting the half without the green tomato on top of the half with the green tomato. Cook for an additional minute on each side to finish melting and melding the cheese. Repeat for all sandwiches.
Let your sandwich REST for about 5 minutes after it’s finished cooking to allow cheese to firm up a bit and all the flavors to come together, then cut in half diagonally and enjoy!
