Fried Green Tomato BLTs

Fried Green Tomato BLTs

Malandro Farms is bringing the most beautiful green tomatoes to Market that I’ve ever seen – deep green around the stem, lighter and lighter green toward the bottom. Romero Farms and Santa Cruz Farm’s green tomatoes are beautiful, too, and I enjoy them as well.

Slice into these green tomatoes, and you find that they are crisp and juicy. I’ve been frying them and eating them with grits and chorizo and sautéed greens. And I’ve also been making green tomatoes BLTs based on a Food and Wine recipe from the September, 2010 issue.

There’s lots of gorgeous arugula in the market – I take turns buying from Bodhi Farms, Green Tractor, and La Otra Banda.

For bacon, I always go to Red Mesa Meats, which usually, but not always, has bacon. It’s great bacon, and I like to buy a couple or three pounds at a time and keep my surplus frozen to have on hand.

For bread, I love Cloud Cliff. The native loaf makes fabulous sandwich bread.

The Recipe

Ingredients

• 4 slices of bacon
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 large egg beaten with 1 tablespoon of water
• 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 pound unripe green tomatoes or large tomatillos, cut into 1/2-inch slices
• Canola oil
• 8 thick-cut slices of whole wheat or multigrain bread, toasted
• Low-fat mayonnaise and baby arugula, for assembling

PREPARATION

1. Preheat the oven to 400° and line a rimmed baking sheet with foil. Arrange the bacon on the foil and bake for about 15 minutes, until crispy. Drain the bacon and cut in half.
2. Meanwhile, put the flour, egg mixture and cornmeal in 3 shallow bowls. Season the cornmeal generously with salt and pepper. Dip the tomato slices in the flour, then in the egg and finally in the cornmeal, pressing to help it adhere. Transfer the slices to a wax paper–lined platter.
3. In a very large skillet, heat 1/4 inch of canola oil until shimmering. Add the tomatoes and cook over moderately high heat, turning once, until golden and crisp, 5 minutes. Drain the tomatoes on paper towels.
4. Lay 4 slices of toast on a work surface and lightly spread with mayonnaise. Top with the green tomatoes, bacon and arugula. Close the sandwiches, cut in half and serve.

This locally inspired recipe is brought to you by Pam Walker. Pam is an avid home cook, writer, and local farm and food activist who is also a board member of the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Institute. Thank you, Pam, for helping inspire us to use locally sourced ingredients!