And then Fall Blew In
Last Dance with Cherry, Plum . . .
How's This for Eye Candy?
. . . Pear, and all the rest. The tomatoes have been harvested. I never look forward to this process. This year it was a particularly sudden and upsetting affair, as a windstorm dismantled my temporary greenhouse. Rather than fight the elements for a few more days, in unpromising weather, I decided to take a hint and pull in the produce.
I’ve gotten pretty good at sorting out the promising tomato specimens for storage. When I first began storing green tomatoes, I gave them each a fighting chance. After a few years of checking their progress and watching a slightly perceptible speckled skin develop into a sickly freckled tomato, I’ve developed a keener eye and a harder heart.
One Mean Green Tomato
Or so I thought, until I got to my un-ripened Brandywines. One in particular had grown quite plump and promising. To toss it would be a shame. However my Brandywines had a propensity for cracking at the top (this is apparently due to our wetter than normal summer) and developing early blight around the stem, which would eventually spoil the fruit – here is a cool diagnostic website for tomato diseases. I decided to experiment and finally sample some Fried Green Tomatoes.
My recipe did not specify if I had to deep fry them or if I could just pan fry them. While I was investigating frying method – yeah, we don’t fry very often – I found out that oven frying is the healthiest option. Without the directions for oven-frying on hand, I ad-libbed and still managed to cook up some rather tasty appetizers.
I was so impressed I had to wonder why I hadn’t gotten up the nerve to try it before. If you have any green tomatoes on hand that you are sure could never ripen in storage, and you like to make use of what you have on hand, I advise you to give this recipe a try. Now I’ll have something to look forward to every year after cleaning, sorting, and storing my green tomatoes.
Oven Fried Green Tomatoes
2-3 green tomatoes
salt & pepper
1/3-1/2 cup milk
½ cup flour
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup crouton crumbs (use food processor to make croutons into crumbs)
Note: Be aware that the measurements are rough. I found I did not have enough crumbs to coat all of my tomato slices (Brandywines are fairly large) so I did not cook all of my 2 tomatoes. We still had plenty to eat.
Slice tomatoes into ½” thick slices. Sprinkle both sides with salt and fresh ground pepper (obviously you can only coat one side of the end slices). Dip slices in milk, then flour, then egg, then bread crumbs.
Lightly coat the inside of a cookie sheet with oil. Place tomatoes on sheet and then drizzle (or spritz) oil lightly on top and, if drizzling, then pat with a pastry brush.
I next broiled them on low until each side browned and then baked them in a 350° oven until the tomatoes had softened. Technically, to oven fry, you should put them in a 450° + oven for about 8-10 min per side.
Serving suggestion: In the future, I would serve them with a side of ranch dressing. They were great alone, but something creamy would make a nice addition.
In other news:
Adolescents Already
I harvested my pumpkins from my brother’s garden. I really have to properly thank him for the use of his garden this year, because it tided me over. In fall, in particular, I am enormously grateful to see the harvest come in. It is very fulfilling.
And speaking of filling, I baked a new apple pie recipe. It was piled to the brim with fresh organic granny smith apples -- $10 worth. The recipe intrigued me because it calls for the skins to be left on the apple slices, for the slices to be roasted, and for an oat and flour crust. It seemed temptingly rustic. And it is as good as you can imagine. The recipe is in this month’s Better Homes and Gardens magazine. I only bake pies every two or three years and I always struggle to get the crust right. This crust worked like a charm for me, to my amazement, and my husband proclaimed it a blue ribbon pie. LOL
More Eye Candy
Proof of the Blue Ribbon Pie
posted by Jade @ 12:42 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Oh its all eye candy indeed!! I never can get fried tomatoes done right, but then again I've always tried pan-fried so this looks promising.
How, with all your garden glory, can you only do pies every few years?? I would be a baking fool! ;)
www.omamamia.com
Panel Sees Problems in Ethanol Production
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By CORNELIA DEAN
Published: October 11, 2007
Greater cultivation of crops to produce ethanol could harm water quality and leave some regions of the country with water shortages, a panel of experts is reporting. And corn, the most widely grown fuel crop in the United States, might cause more damage per unit of energy than other plants, especially switchgrass and native grasses, the panel said.
The panel, convened by the National Research Council, said improved agricultural practices, water recycling and other steps might reduce possible problems. But it added that “fundamental knowledge gaps” made it difficult to predict what would happen as the nation’s embrace of biofuel crops expanded. Meanwhile, it said, it would be “prudent” to encourage the use of ethanol sources other than corn.
Production of ethanol from corn kernels is on the rise, the panel said, adding that President Bush has called for the annual production of 35 billion gallons of ethanol by 2017, an amount that would account for about 15 percent of liquid transportation fuels in the United States.
But increased production could greatly increase pressure on water supplies for drinking, industry, hydropower, fish habitat and recreation, the report said. Facilities that turn plants like corn into liquid fuel would add to the pressure on water supplies, though these bio-refineries are relatively modest water consumers compared with agriculture, the panel said.
The research council, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences, issued the report yesterday. It is available at the academy’s Web site, nas.edu. It was financed by the National Science Foundation, the Environmental Protection Agency and other agencies and foundations.
The report noted that additional use of fertilizers and pesticides could pollute water supplies and contribute to the overgrowth of aquatic plant life that produces “dead zones” like those in the Chesapeake Bay, the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere.
Hey o mama mia, unfortunately, my man does not like fruit pies. I usually end up eating most of the pies I make, which takes a lot of the fun out of it.
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