Tuesday, July 28, 2009

You Say Tomato, I Say To-not-o

Yep, If you are gardening in my area of NYC or have just heard it around your way ... this isn't the year for tomatoes. The rain up here has been around like the mailman most of the summer and while that makes me happy because I don't have to worry about the lettuce ... I still have to worry about the tomatoes. They aren't going so well, so last week after chatting on Martha Stewart's Sirius show about gardening and my new love of it, despite the bad tomato weather, I decided to harvest my tomatoes green. Why wait on them to ripen and turn red into a bland mush of nothing? So here's my first early harvest ...
Looks neon, huh? It's the flash, but it really is a bright and lively green. I took it a few times and I then decided it was breakfast time, not shutter time lol. I just chopped it into chunks, about 20 or so and then sauteed them in the pan I made my egg in. Used the residual fat in the pan from the pat of butter for the egg, then just some salt and pepper, got a good brown crust on them ... it was soooo good, I forgot to take a picture. I was like, wait ... oh well. Teeheehee ... Anyway, if you are like me and the tomatoes aren't lookin too good in your garden, harvest early and introduce yourself to the tangy-sweet world of green tomatoes! Next up on the list, dredging and frying them, gonna take a culinary-memory trip down South.

13 comments:

FoodNetworkFan said...

That is a wild looking tomato. I enjoyed seeing you on Next Food Network Star. Hated to see you cry, but I know it's just because you have a good heart. :)

Lisa said...

Using nuclear waste as fertilizer?
LOL

MMM.... fried green tomotoes

The Duo Dishes said...

Only green tomatoes we've had were fried. Bet it's healthier to leave the batter aside, but they're always so good.

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately my tomato harvest has been the pits this year for whatever reason as well. I don't know how to make fried green tomatoes right :( so I may have to give your little saute a try! Sounds delish!

BTW, I saw how touched you were during Melissa d'Arabian's demo on the NFNS on Sunday night. She's amazing isn't she?

Sunny Anderson said...

foodnetworkfan, i know, totally a day-go look thanks to my lighting conditions lol. now for the crying on nfns, i'm a softy ... especially when someone tells a good life story. i know what it is to step out on faith and change careers. i know how hard it is to believe in yourself before others do. it's a lonely world and a lonely journey sometimes and many times people don't want you to succeed because they've never had success themselves ... i dunno, the speech was edited, but out of all of them, she gave the most poignant. i saw several similarities btwn myself and her even though we have no surface similarities. wish her well!

mise en place, lol ... i know, it's soylent green lol. frying today i think!

the duo dishes, yeah the batter is calling meeeeee! but a quick saute with butter, salt and pepper is yummy. a light olive oil works too.

cooking mama, sowwy, join the to-not-o club teeheehee ... ok, so make fried green tomatoes like you would anything simply fried. i'd sprinkle salt on the 1/2" slices and leave on paper towels to drain. egg wash of egg, tad of water, salt, pepp, cayenne and then a 1 part cornstarch, 2 parts flour dredge. pan fry in 1" of oil. and ita on melissa, she's a gem. i was so annoyed i kept crying my makeup off lol, i didn't see anone else crying but my girl susie and that made me feel ok. i just know the struggle to switch careers mid-stream. love her spunk and i can't wait to see if she makes it all the way. i also like jeffrey because the words he uses to express the flavors of food are so colorful, i'm a word person ... too bad about debbie, at the time of taping we weren't privvy to the editing of the show and what occurred prior to us, but i can say her food was always pretty good. melissa's pastry was exceptional though, very exceptional.

Anonymous said...

Sunny, who do I get in contact with to do an interview with you for my Examiner.com column? I looked under your profile info but couldn't find anything there or on your website. Help! I wants me an interview, if you would be so inclined to grant my wish. :)

Sunny Anderson said...

cooking mama, well i love to talk, so an interview request will almost never get declined ... 'specially not from a blogger friend :-). gimme your email addy in comments and i'll send over the contact info to clear the interview. i start taping next week, so it may get pushed back until i wrap, but if you get the request in fast maybe we can do it before next week....

Mary | Deep South Dish said...

Gosh Sunny, hate to hear that about the 'maters!! I get NY news on satellite for CBS & NBC and heard about all the rain and the bad storms here lately. We got practically no rain in June and we're getting near daily storms in July down here too.

I put my tomatoes in way early, even for down here really, and got a nice crop of them harvested and put away already. But you know I plucked a few of those larger green ones and made fried green tomatoes for sure!! I've never just sauteed them like you did though.

There are more green toms out there now and lots of new blooms so I'm hoping that I'll get another round of tomatoes before blight sets in like it usually does. This year I did raised beds though, and it seems to be helping with the drainage so maybe I'll bypass the blight this year. We'll see what happens!!

Sunny Anderson said...

mary at my new 30, no worries about the 'maters :-). i love a challenge and next year if the weather gets bad, i'll turn those tomatoes into green victories again! the saute is pretty yummy alone or with a starch, last night i mixed them into some seasoned rice ... they are a nice tangy crunch and i'm a texture junky, so have fun with, although i love them fried!!! that's next. i could also see chunking them like i did and frying those with a tempura or light beer batter, they are versatile! i'll cross my finger in hope the blight passes you by :-)

Herb Gardener said...

I live in the Houston area and have a great vegetable garden this year. Your garden pictures look terrific. It is fun to go out and pick a basketful of vegetables and then prepare them for a great meal. Happy gardeneing!

Sunny Anderson said...

herb gardener, heyyyy! i had an almost-brush with houston back in the early 90s ... almost went to u of h, and then ended up in the air force. boy, do i miss texas :-(. i'm checkin your blog to see some flicks hopefully! thanks for checking in my fellow gardener!

Selenasking said...

Sunny, I have questions about using the Microwave. I have microwaved my food in plastic for years here because it is most convenient for me now. My mother (I live with my parents) just got information that microwaving in plastic is harmful so she doesn't want me to use plastic anymore. Lol, I like plastic because it's so much lighter than glass. I do see how the plastic deteriorates though and gets stained, etc. How harmful is it really? What do you say? Btw, it would be so nice to have my own place, lol!

Sunny Anderson said...

selenasking, i don't have the definitive answer on that, but i'd do a quick internet search and see. as a rule i don't usually zap plastic for long and usually only use my microwave to melt butter in a pyrex liquid measure. poor thing, it is a convection oven as well and i bet i could really make some magic in there, but usually stick to stovetop, grill or oven.