The season’s first hard freeze occurred over the weekend. Ahead of it, went for Concords Friday; Saturday harvested as much as I could of the tomatoes at home. Unbelievable how many green ones still there, sorry to see the season end. Wore gloves for warmth on a day that was maybe in the low 40’s and plenty windy.
Sunday at the stove, steaming crabapples, cooking up a batch of Shiro jelly from August juice. Below 20° before sunrise, climbing to the low 40’s by late morning. Head down I nonetheless noticed the light shift…something brighter or reflected, was that fog drifting in? I finally looked up and took a moment to focus: it was snowing. Pouring down, a brief series of squalls, fine snowflakes catching the sunlight like a summer cloudburst might, with the added goldens of the trees to reflect.
Luckily did not wreak any havoc on the foliage, which is pretty flatout gorgeous. The cold snuck up on us it seems– is it time for that cold stuff again, yikes. But the foliage, it comes up like a warm blanket on a cool night. There it is, tuck it around you and the memory will provide warmth in the cold blue light of January.
A boatload of green tomatoes rescued from the frozen fingers of fall, what to do. Is that even a question. Before chow chow or chutney, fourth f of the title, fried green tomatoes of course. No recipe widget yet dammit but here you go because something this good (and gluten free to boot) must be shared. On a Monday when the thermometer here on the hill read– steady now– 14° pre-dawn, last bites of summer for supper xo
Sans Gluten Fried Green Tomatoes, Southern Style
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup white rice flour, divided
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3 medium-size green tomatoes, cut into 1/3-inch slices. Use the really firm very green guys with no ripening.
Vegetable oil (olive oil also good)
Salt to taste
Prep
Combine egg and buttermilk; set aside.
Combine 1/4 cup rice flour, cornmeal, 1 teaspoon salt, and pepper in a shallow bowl or pan.
Dredge tomato slices in remaining 1/4 cup flour; dip in egg mixture, and dredge in cornmeal mixture.
Pour oil to a depth of a generous 1/4 or scant 1/2 inch in a large cast-iron skillet; heat to hot (375°-ish). Drop tomatoes, in batches, into hot oil, and cook 2 minutes on each side or until golden. Drain on paper towels or a rack. Sprinkle hot tomatoes with salt if desired.
Eat hot and crisp, and if you can manage share with loved ones, including the dogs. But it is forgiven if you eat them all yourself.
Greetings! I’ve been following your website for a long time
now and finally got the bravery to go ahead and give you a shout out from Dallas Tx!
Just wanted to say keep up the fantastic job!
Felicia, so glad you wrote, brava!! And thank you for following…I have relatives in Dallas so that is especially cool.
Please, keep reading, and stay in touch.