GLUTEN FREE FRIED GREEN TOMATO BLT's
We all get stuck in food ruts with not knowing what we want to eat, or wanting something 'different' but no idea of what that might be. Then there is the "I don't know/care" responses you get from family members when you try to enlist their help with making up YOUR mind. Most of the time, those suggestions just add to the list of things you definitely know you do not want.
Sometimes, it is just best not to ask. ♥
I LOVE Fried Green Tomatoes....the way that I prepare them. I saw the idea for this dish while checking out epicurious.com . Epicurious.com is one of my all-time favorite websites. To say that it has gotten me out of more food ruts than I care to admit is an understatement. Even Chef's struggle with coming up with ideas of what to fix for dinner.
The way I use epicurious.com is by utilizing their advanced search menu application. You will find it right on the center of the homepage. The searchable database is amazing. I could not say enough good things about it. You can search for food ideas based on the ingredients you might have on hand, narrow it down by cuisine, and sort based on most popular recipes. It has endless possibilities.
Suppose you have chicken and asparagus on hand, and you want something Italian inspired. By typing in "chicken,asparagus" in the search bar, selecting "Italian" on the cuisine drop down menu, and then hitting SUBMIT, a list of possible matches will come up and you can scroll through until you see something that you think will hit the spot. Try it out. I bet you'll be book-marking it in no time.
So, for the something different for dinner last night, we had Fried Green Tomato BLT's. There is nothing better in all the world than a good BLT. My ex-husband called them "condiment sandwiches." Not a tomato lover, that guy. This is a creative twist on the classic. I loved that there was NO BREAD.
INGREDIENTS:
Green Tomatoes
1/4 cup Ian's Gluten Free Panko Bread Crumbs
1/4 cup Gluten Free Corn Meal
Salt and Pepper
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon Chipotle Chili Powder
Bacon
Greens
Avocado
Olive Oil
DIRECTIONS:
Cook your bacon. I used 1.5 pieces per sandwich. When cooking bacon, I only turn it once. Set aside on paper towels to drain.
While bacon is cooking, prepare your bread crumb, corn meal, salt and pepper, paprika, and chili powder mix to coat tomatoes. I generally use zip-lock plastic bags for this task. Slice your tomatoes about 3/8 inch thick. Place in ziplock bag and shake really well.
I'm not a big fan of cooking in bacon grease - however - I only cooked 6 slices of bacon which did not yield very much grease, so I used the drippings from the bacon to cook my tomatoes, and I also added olive oil as I wanted a nice coating on the bottom of my saute pan. While I wanted the pan bottom coated, when I put the tomato slices in, there were not COVERED in oil. Judge how much you need to use by the size of your pan.
Heat oil to med-high and then place tomatoes in pan. Cook until brown, flip and continue cooking the second side the same. Remove and place on paper towels to drain.
To assemble your sandwich, I placed on slice of tomato on the bottom, topped with bacon, added my greens, then placed sliced avocado, and finished with a crown of another tomato slice.
As you can see, we had this with corn-on-the-cob. It felt like summer, even if it isn't quite here yet.
Incidentally, "Fried Green Tomatoes" is one of my all-time favorite movies.
