Fall Frost

Have you had to pull your summer vegetable plants? We pulled ours a couple weekends ago and were left with copious green tomatoes: While the tomatoes with even the slightest yellowing will ripen into red if given time, the fully green ones usually don't ever ripen. In the past, I've tossed most of them in our compost pile, but this year I tried something new and created a wonderful Harvest Muffin recipe that actually uses pureed green tomatoes. Tasting somewhere between a zucchini bread and spice cake, these muffins would never give themselves away as being largely made of green tomatoes. But my sentimental favorite way to use green tomatoes is the classic way, Fried Green Tomatoes. To try and make them a wee bit healthier, I did them in the oven this year. First, I sliced the tomatoes and lightly salted them, letting them stand in a colander for about 30 minutes: I mixed equal parts of breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese, along with some fresh ground pepper. I breaded the tomato slices with this mixture. Next, I preheated the oven to 425 and placed a foil-lined pan in the oven with about 1 tablespoon of oil brushed on top of the foil: I let the oil get hot in the oven for 5-7 minutes and then added the tomatoes. The oil was hot much like it would be in a saute pan and the tomatoes sizzled when I placed them on the hot oil. I baked the tomatoes for about 12 minutes and voila, "Fried" Green Tomatoes: The preheated oil gave the bottoms a nice browning, and the tops browned nicely too. So if some garden clearing is calling your name this weekend, save up those green tomatoes and bake up some kitchen creations. Have a great weekend All, SPC
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