Fried Green Tomato BLTs

This recipe was meant to be with me.  You see, I love everything about fried green tomatoes. Along with the Southern history of this dish, I love the 1991 Hollywood movie, and especially the way the crunchy fried topping melts into a sweet and tangy late season green tomato.

Fried green tomatoes aren’t just delicious, they are the BEST way besides green salsa to use up those pesky green tomatoes left on the vine when August is long over and Fall frost is around the corner. Up until last week we were pulling red and yellow tomatoes off the vine in my mother’s backyard to make everything from sauces, salsas, and sandwiches. But green tomatoes are one of my favorite parts of homegrown tomato-ing.

As you can see from the fried green tomatoes in the corner of this photo, we even had them at our wedding.

A few weeks back we sat down and enjoyed a truly magical batch of these delicious circles of wonder. After that, I couldn’t wait for the next frying, though my stomach needed a break! These babies are perfect on their own. I had no intention of changing them…not even dipping them in sauce.

Until…

While perusing menus of Nashville and Asheville restaurants for our moving-trip to Texas this weekend, I discovered a listing on a menu I could not stop thinking about.

Fried green tomato BLT.

 

Yep, it had happened. I found a way to have my tomatoes and eat them too. Get ready for one of the best sandwiches you've ever made at home. This is definitely an easy crowd pleaser.

We chose not to toast the bread as the tomatoes and bacon already added enough crunch and I feared toasting the bread would cause the sandwich to fall apart. If you chose to crisp your bread, try them grilled-cheese style, crisp in the pan. These sandwiches are plenty for a meal with all of the extra calories in my opinion. I felt full with one and a few extra fried tomatoes.

Note: these really don’t work well with red tomatoes as they are too soft for the breading and frying and will easily turn to mush. If you can’t get your hands on the green ones, try tomatillos instead and jazz up the aioli with some Mexican flavors like cumin and cayenne pepper.

At face value you may think, this is a bit gimmicky, just eat them on the side of your plate and have a BLT, but come on, there is always room for creativity. This recipe is pretty basic, soft chewy Italian bread, crisp thick cut bacon, herbed mayonnaise. Sounds like a good sandwich even without the fried green tomatoes, but trust me, it’s even better with them!


 

Fried Green Tomato BLTs

(Tomato recipe adapted from The Best of America’s Test Kitchen 2013)

Makes 5-6 sandwiches

Ingredients:

For tomatoes

6-7 medium green tomatoes, cored and sliced ¼ inch thick

2/3 cup fine cornmeal (we used instant polenta)
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup panko bread crumbs
1 ½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. chipotle chili powder
2/3 buttermilk
1 large egg            
2 cups bacon grease (taken from bacon) or vegetable or peanut oil

 For the Sandwiches

10 slices of hearty Italian bread

1 lb. thick cut bacon (turkey bacon also works)
10 pieces of romaine, butter lettuce
1 cup arugula

 Herb Aioli

1 cup Hellman’s mayonnaise

1 garlic clove, minced
4 basil leaves, chopped finely
2 tsp. shopped fresh oregano
1 tbsp. chopped chives
2 tsp. chopped thyme
1 tbsp. kalamata olive juice or red wine vinegar to taste
Sea salt and black pepper to taste

 (If using turkey bacon, you will need to use oil instead of bacon grease for the tomatoes)

 Directions:

Mix all ingredients for aioli together well and refrigerate until sandwiches need to be assembled.

Place tomato slices on a plate or cutting board lined with paper towels. Cover tomatoes with another sheet of paper towels and let sit for 20 minutes. Pat the tomatoes dry, use more paper towels if needed.

Combine all dry ingredients together in a bowl. In another bowl, beat egg with buttermilk.

Dip dried tomatoes in the buttermilk mixture, then dredge in dry mixture. Lay dipped tomatoes onto a clean plate or cutting board. Set aside.

In a large heavy frying pan, begin to cook bacon in batches over medium heat, rendering the fat and crisping bacon. Lay fried bacon on a paper towel-line plate. Do not clean pan.

Using the rendered bacon grease in the frying pan, begin to fry tomatoes in hot grease, leaving room between each tomato. Fry each tomato slice until golden brown on each side, for about 4-6 minutes.  With a spatula, carefully flip each tomato.

Once tomatoes fried, set them on paper towel lined plates.

To assemble sandwiches, spread equal amounts of aioli of bottom slice of bread. Top with fried green tomatoes, two-three slices of bacon, and desired lettuce/arugula. Keep each sandwich together with two toothpicks. Serve immediately while still hot.

Enjoy!

The Cuisiner

What is your favorite old-fashion recipe? How would you update it?