It is Tomato Festival time in my town this weekend. A little bit of rural fair fun close to the city. And there is a little bit of history behind it too. Down the street from where they set up the festival every year is where Alexander W Livingston grew the first hybrid tomatoes through hand selecting which plants to cross pollinate to encourage beneficial traits. He would select plants based on their disease tolerance, fruit flavor, shape, and color to create the "perfect" tomato plant. Bees have been cross pollinating flowers since the beginning of time, but this was the first time humans involved themselves in the process. Just like how some siblings can have a trait, like blue eyes, while the other siblings do not... it took many attempts to get the desirable traits from multiple plants to come through in one plant.
So, as we celebrate tomatoes in the "birthplace" of the commercial hybrid tomato, our tradition is getting fried green tomatoes at the festival (which we did today!). But some times you have some green tomatoes at home, especially right before the first frost, and it is very simple to fry them up at home too. If you have some meaty ripe tomatoes, those will fry up just as well.
couple tomatoes, sliced
1 cup flour
1 tbsp paprika
.25 cup beer or water
salt and pepper
4 tbsp oil (I used truffle oil, but olive oil or butter work well too)
1. Heat pan to medium heat. Slice tomatoes. Combine flour, paprika, salt, and pepper. Whisk in beer or water until batter is smooth.
2. Heat oil in pan. Dip each tomato slice into the batter, removing any excess batter. Add to the pan and cook for about two minutes. Flip to cook the other side for about two minutes as well. Serve with some parm cheese or ranch dressing.
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