Saturday, September 26, 2009

Fried Green Tomato Eggs Benedict with Tangy Mayonnaise

Do you like Eggs Benedict? Do you love fried green tomatoes? Are you trying to reduce gluten? Well hold on to your hats, because you're going to love this. The recipe looks long, but don't fret, it comes together more quickly than you'd think. I conjured up this recipe for an emergency cupboard-is-bare lunch and made it in less than half an hour. The method for frying the green tomatoes is based on a Bon Appetit recipe for Fried Green Tomato BLTs.

Ingredients:

2 - 4 green tomatoes, depending on size
1 cup flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
pinch of baking soda
big pinch of salt
1 egg, beaten
oil to generously cover frying pan
-
4 slices Canadian bacon
-
4 eggs
tad of butter
teaspoon or so of water
-
1/4 cup light mayonnaise (or whatever you prefer)
juice of 1/2 to 1 lemon
1/2 to 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
another pinch of salt

Method:

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees. Put half the flour in one wide mouth bowl, half in another. To one, add the cornmeal, baking soda and big pinch of salt. Have the beaten egg ready in another bowl. Start heating your oil to a medium/medium high heat. Slice the tomatoes about 1/4" thick. Dredge in the plain flour, then the egg, then the cornmeal mixture. Test one slice of tomato to see if the oil is at the right temperature. The goal is a medium brown green tomato with a crisp exterior, softish interior, and no greasiness. Once the oil's at the right stage, start frying up the tomatoes four slices or so at a time. Don't crowd them! I recommend tongs for flipping. Put finished tomatoes in the 200 degree oven on a paper towel lined baking sheet.

Meanwhile...
Heat the Canadian bacon. The microwave works fine for this; pan fry if you prefer. (Canadian bacon comes fully cooked so taking the chill off is the only issue.)

Also meanwhile...
Cook those eggs. I like to fry them sunny side up. My technique is to melt a little butter over a lowish medium heat in a non-stick skillet, add the eggs, wait for them to start setting, add a bit of water, cover them, and peek/poke at them occasionally until they seem done to my liking.

And furthermore...
Make the tangy mayo. Stir together the mayonnaise, lemon juice, Dijon mustard and pinch of salt.

Finally...
Serve how you see fit. Arrange like Eggs Benedict, put it on platters on the table, whatever suits your fancy.

1 comment: