my green heaven

Creole tomatoes are in their green state these days, which is fine with me.  For one thing, I know that the ripe red creoles are just weeks away; for another, I love fried green tomatoes.  Love them.

The use of green tomatoes on a BLT has been a bit of a lunch trend in the city--La Petite Grocery offered a BLT with green tomato jam last spring, for instance, which was outstanding.  The tarter, "greener" flavor of a green tomato plays well with smoky bacon, and just feels like spring, to me.  At last week's Saturday market, Paul found baby green creole tomatoes, about the size of limes.  They were so cute, and their slices so perfectly round, that they just seemed to be crying out for the starring role in a BLT.  So that's what we had--cocktail-sized fried-green-tomato BLTs.  Hooray!

For our mini-wiches, I used Pepperidge Farm ultra-thin sliced white bread; the slices are square and small, and look really cute when they're toasted.  Frying the tomatoes in butter gave them a little sweetness and richness, and the use of iceberg lettuce?  What can I say--I was brought up that way.

The recipe below is for normal-sized green tomatoes, but just leave the amount of breading ingredients and eggs the same if you've got babies.  Green tomato babies, I mean.

Fried Green Tomato BLTs

• 1 firm green tomato, cut into 4 slices
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 t. Creole seasoning (like Tony Chachere's)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 tablespoons butter
• for sandwiches: toasted bread, mayonnaise, crisply cooked bacon, lettuce (iceberg, romaine, or green leaf)

1. Combine cornmeal, flour, seasoning, and salt and pepper in a medium bowl.
2. Dip tomato slices in egg, then dredge in cornmeal mixture, pressing to help it adhere.
3. Melt butter in a medium nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Add tomato slices and cook, without moving them, for about 4 to 5 minutes, until light golden brown on the bottoms (lift up an edge to peek at them).  Turn them over and cook on the other side for another 4 minutes, until light golden brown.
4. Build your sammiches and enjoy!

Makes 2 to 4 sandwiches, depending on the number of slices of tomato on each.

In about a month, we'll have intensely red and juicy creoles to eat out of hand, like apples.  One of the best ways to celebrate the ripening is at the Creole Tomato Festival, held at the French Market June 11-13, which is combined with the Louisiana Seafood Festival and the Cajun & Zydeco Music Festival...it's a wonderful time to be in the Quarter.  

Blt Sandwich

my green heaven