Fried Green Tomato BLTs

Southern cuisine is famous for many things, among those things is fried green tomatoes.  Prior to living here, I'd never had them.  How sorry I was when I first tried them.  It was at restaurant in Alpharetta, called Milton's.  They are sort of known for their fried green tomato stack with goat cheese.  

A friend of mine made them one night for a party she had and I must have asked her 1,000 questions about how she made them.  But I never got around to making them.   What a shame.  Now that I know how simple they are, it will be a small miracle if we don't eat them all summer.     

I knew that I was going to make a BLT with my fried green tomatoes.  It had been in my head for over a year.  I started with the Lee Bros. fried green tomatoes, which seems to be a go to in the blogosphere.  I know Josie posted the Lee Bros.  on her blog, Pink Parsley.  But I was truly taken with the Buttermilk Lime dressing I saw on Ezra Pound Cake.    

  

I got to work on the fried green tomato aspect of my sandwich and decided I would use the buttermilk lime dressing to make a spread of sorts for the sandwich.  I ended up making the dressing and adding half of it to about 3/4 cup of yogurt to use for the sandwiches.  It was heavenly.  Having the left over dressing worked out well, too, because I had left over FGT's, which I paired with a light salad the next day at lunch.   I don't highly recommend left over fried foods.   No, they were not as crispy and crunchy as they were the day before.  But to eliminate any sogginess, I heated them in the oven to restore some of their crunch.   And they were good, but as a disclaimer, I will say: you need to eat these fresh out of the frying pan!  

They were most delicious tucked inside lightly toasted sour dough bread with some crisp romaine lettuce and lattice baked bacon (thank you pinterest!).  Topped with the tart buttermilk lime yogurt dressing, it was all a dangerous combination.  I could have eaten a lion's share. 

I have a long way to go before anyone will accuse me of being a tried and true southerner.  Beginning with the fact that this is the first and only Lee Bros. recipe I've ever made.  And I'm not even sure if the adaptations I've made are sacrilegious. (I sort of slipped on the fry dredge.  It was supposed to be 3 T of cornmeal, but I read the recipe wrong in my haste and used 1/2 cup.  I did not regret the error.) Purposeful and accidental changes notwithstanding, this was one tasty meal.  Y'all. 

Fried Green Tomatoes with Buttermilk Lime Dressing

adapted from Ezra Pound Cake, originally from Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook

4 medium green tomatoes

2 large eggs, beaten

3/4 cup whole milk

3 cups peanut oil

fry dredge (see below)

kosher salt

lemon juice

for the fry dredge

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup cornmeal

Cut the stem ends from the tomatoes and slice 1/4 thick rounds.  Season with a sprinkle of salt and lemon juice.  Whisk the eggs and milk together in a shallow dish.  

Pour the oil into a skillet and heat over medium high.  I did not use a thermometer.  But if you are, the temperature should read 365 degrees F. Heat the oven to 225 degrees F and prepare a baking sheet with a cooling rack on top.   

Spread the dredge in a shallow dish.   Press the tomatoes into the dredge on each side, shake loose any excess then transfer to the egg mixture, coating both sides in egg.  Transfer back to the dredge and coat both sides.  Shake off excess.  Repeat with remaining slices.  

Carefully transfer tomato slices to the oil.  Cook about 2-3 minutes, until golden brown, carefully flip them, then cook 2-3 minutes longer.   Transfer to the prepared baking sheet and keep warm in the oven.    Repeat with remaining slices. 

for the buttermilk lime dressing (not adapted at all)

3/4 cup buttermilk

5 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon honey

1/4 cup finely minced green onion

1/4 cup finely minced basil

14 cup finely minced parsley

salt and pepper to taste

In a small bowl, whisk together the ingredients until thoroughly combined.  Cover tightly and store up to 2 days in the refrigerator.  

for the BLT's

Combine half the buttermilk lime dressing with 1/2 cup of plain greek yogurt (or mayonnaise, if you prefer).  

Toast 4 slices of fresh sourdough bread.  Layer two slices of bread with romaine lettuce, crisp bacon and fried green tomatoes.  

Spread yogurt mixture on two remaining slices of toast and top the sandwiches.  

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