Baked Green Tomatoes

Baked Green Tomatoes

August 30, 2012 by ·

Have you been outside recently? It’s super hot here! With that said, what better time than to tell my recipe for fried green tomatoes- BAKED! I absolutely love fried green tomatoes. The sharp flavor covered by a crispy crust. These little guys are only available in a fine window though because within a few days of picking them, they will begin to ripen and turn red. Not that red tomatoes aren’t wonderful, I’ve posted plenty of recipes with wonderful red tomatoes. Green tomatoes are the best for “fried” tomatoes though. There’s nothing like sitting down on a hot summer day to a glass of iced tea and a plate of green tomatoes.

The breading for these is where the action is. You can put it on just about anything! J even made chicken strips the other night with the leftover breading, and loved them. That should tell you something. While I love a good breading, the truth is, you can’t just have flour or bread crumbs. There’s an art to the stoichiometry. (sorry, I’m a scientist) A good breading takes spices to flavor it, enough crust to add crunch, but not so much that all you’re eating is breading. Yes, yes. There’s an art to breading and it must be perfect! While I won’t claim that mine is the only way, I think it’s a pretty good way! J and I like it at least, and that’s why I’m sharing.

Fried Green Tomato Breading

  • 1/2 cup breadcrumbs finely crumbled (I used sourdough)
  • 1/2 cup of all purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon FRESHLY ground black pepper
  • 1/2 tablespoon chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon paprika

Cut your tomatoes thinly, this will help to make sure they cook and become soft. Mix all your breading ingredients together. I take extra special care to make sure all the spices are mixed. Lay a tomato slice in your bowl of breading and then flip so the other side is laying down. This allows the tomato to lightly soak up the breading and become covered in it. There should just be a super thin layer of breading. There’s no reason to cake it, the tomatoes are full of flavor, we’re just enhancing! I lined a baking pan with aluminum foil, but there’s no reason to use oil what so ever!! Cook at 350F for 15-20 minutes each side. You’ll notice the face laying on the pan is where these babies brown so don’t think they’re not cooking.

As I said, the best way to enjoy these are to go outside on a nice summer day and drink some iced tea! 

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Easy Eggplant Panini

Easy Eggplant Panini

August 27, 2012 by ·

J and I are notorious for getting home late at night and wanting to go climbing, but needing to eat first. Oh, and did I mention, we’re super bad at making dinner plans ahead of time. Thus, a panini is a go to meal for us. This recipe isn’t all that hard if you’re use to working with eggplants, but if you’re not, it will teach you what you need to get started. Eggplants are a vegetable that’s “meaty” as in it’s filling and hearty. They’re cheap, especially this time of year, and soak up flavor easily!

The smaller the eggplant (japanese or thai for example), the sweeter tasting. They lack the bitterness of large eggplants, however they also lack the hearty texture. I love these eggplants because no salting is required. For a panini though, they aren’t quite what I look for. The smaller of the larger eggplants are the best. That sounds kinda funny. The most midget giant, that’s the one!!  Thus, I will try again. If you look for the larger size eggplants (what you’re more use to seeing in the states) and pick a smaller eggplant from them, you will have the perfect choice.  (That was way too difficult) The toughness of super large eggplants makes them difficult to use unless you are cooking them for hours. I did mention J and I are often at binds of needing to eat quickly, right? We can’t wait hours for the jumbo eggplants to cook.

Salting eggplants is an intimidating task for a lot of people. I’m not sure why either, I believe it’s fairly easy. I like to slice my eggplant into vertical slices about a half centimeter thick. Sea salt chunks work great because they pull the water out of the eggplant, but are large enough to see when you’re rinsing. Sprinkle the sea salt over the eggplant and walk away for 20 minutes or so. When you come back, you’ll notice little sweat beads on the eggplant. You have just pulled out all the yucky, bitter taste in them. Rinse with water to remove the salt and bitter liquid and now you’re ready to cook.

For paninis I roast them in a super light drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and lots of chopped up basil. Add some cheese (I love munster) and roasted red peppers between two slices of bread. Drizzle olive oil on the bread outsides and place in your panini press, indoor grill, or skillet. If you use a skillet, grab a plate and place it and a few heavy cans on top of the sandwich. This will help make sure it stays pressed down and all the inside goodies meld together.

Do you like eggplant or does it intimidate you?

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Frittata

Frittata

August 26, 2012 by ·

I love Frittatas! They’re easy, simple, yummy, full of protein, full of veggies, quick on a weeknight, look fancy…..can you tell? I love eggs and love to make them full, rounded meals. If I could eat quiche and frittatas every day, I certainly would. However, quiches take a lot of time…and have a lot of calories. Thus, I make frittatas.

To make the right frittata, you need one thing. A pan that goes on the stove top and in the oven. I use to use a cast iron  pan to do this. It heats up quickly and makes wonderful deep dish frittatas. However, now that we have a flat top range, I’m afraid my cast iron will scratch the surface. I made this frittata with a stainless steel pan that had no plastic or “combustable” material on it.

Now for veggies in your frittata. You can seriously put whatever your heart desires! Left overs work great, especially grilled vegetables. One thing you need to know though, for it to work, the vegetables must be marinated in some type of sauce and cooked previously till tender. Veggies without a marinade will be disappointing, trust me! There’s no need for an elaborate marinade, just something full of punch.

Since I don’t have any grilled veggies around, I roasted my tomatoes and asparagus in the oven after tossing them in balsamic vinegar and sprinkling them with garlic and multi-color pepper corns.

Frittata

  • Cooked and marinated vegetables (I used 8 oz of cherry tomatoes and one bunch of asparagus)
  • 12 large, hormone free eggs
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil, extra virgin
  • 1/4 cup milk 
Turn on oven to 350F and let warm up before starting recipe.
Heat olive oil in oven safe pan. Combine milk and eggs and whip with a fork or egg beater until light and airy.
Once the oil and pan are warm, add the egg mixture to the pan. 
Slowly add the marinated vegetables, making careful care to spread them out throughout the pot.
Take a spatula and move the egg mixture around slightly. The egg should be starting to cook. Make sure to mix the egg around though so the cooked part is not only at the bottom of the pan.
When a third of the egg is cooked, place in oven to cook the remainder for 10-15 minutes. The time will vary depending on the amount of vegetables added.
When done, remove from oven and top with more vegetables, sour cream, cheese, or any other desired toppings. I used feta cheese to keep with the Mediterranean style.
 

Do you like eggs for dinner? Or breakfast foods in general for lunch or dinner? 

 
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