Buttermilk Fried Green Tomatoes with Basil + Garlic Scape Corn Salad

My inaugural post on this blog will not bore you with the details of why and how and when I decided a blog was a good idea, but I WILL tell you that I totally thought Fried Green Tomatoes (FGTs) were Southern. I then thought about explaining culturally-appropriated recipes, but I'll get to that a little later since it doesn't really apply here. Apparently, I was wrong about the Southern part, so instead, here's some interesting food history:

fried green tomatoes may have been as unusual in the South before 1991 as they were everywhere else. In fact, according to Robert F. Moss, a food historian and writer in South Carolina, "they entered the American culinary scene in the Northeast and Midwest, perhaps with a link to Jewish immigrants, and from there moved onto the menu of the home-economics school of cooking teachers who flourished in the United States in the early-to-mid 20th century.

Read more from the Smithsonian Magazine.

Well, alright then, let's get to it.

Buttermilk Fried Green Tomatoes with Basil Corn Salad

Yield: No idea, but I ate all of the tomatoes all by myself. The corn salad makes probably enough for 4 people as a hefty appetizer or side.

Ingredients

For the FGTs

4 medium sized green tomatoes

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup milk + 1 tablespoon acid (vinegar/lemon juice) that has been mixed and then sat for 5 minutes or actual buttermilk if you have your shit together (I didn't when I made these, shocker!)

1 egg

4 tablespoons jerk-style seasoning (a mix of thyme, cumin, paprika, chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, allspice, brown sugar, salt, and a bunch of other shit ... you know what just fuckin buy some, okay? But not Goya. Try this recipe if you want to make your own)

2 cups neutral oil (vegetable, canola, etc)

For the corn salad

1 bell pepper (any color, farmers markets have some cool purple ones!), diced the same size as the corn kernels

10 garlic scapes, sliced thin

1 onion, diced kernel-size

3 cups corn (I used frozen for this recipe because it isn't ready yet)

1/2 cup mayo either made from scratch or your favorite jarred one

1 cup sour cream

1 tablespoon jerk seasoning

1 generous bunch of strong summer basil

Freshly ground black pepper and salt to taste

Directions

Make the corn salad first so that it has a chance to chill before you fry your 'maters.

1. After you've diced your 1 bell pepper, 1 onion, and sliced your 10 garlic scapes, sweat them (fry just until veggies are cooked but do not have any browning) until they are soft in a medium sized pan with a little bit of neutral oil or butter. 

2. Add your 3 cups of corn. Toss with cooked veggies and set aside to cool in the fridge for 10 minutes. 

3. After mixture is cool, very finely slice your bunch of basil and toss in with the veg mix along with 1/2 cup mayo and 1 cup sour cream. Add 1 tablespoon jerk seasoning. Taste and season with salt and fresh pepper. Store in fridge until ready to eat.

Fry your tomatoes

1. Slice your green tomatoes about 1/4" thick.

2. Combine 4 tablespoons jerk seasoning with 2 cups flour. Taste mixture and add salt if necessary.

3. Whisk 1 egg with 1 cup buttermilk and add 1 teaspoon salt.

4. Heat oil in a WIDE heavy skillet or sauce pan on medium high heat.

5. This is the fun part: you can decide how thick you want your crust on your tomatoes to be by first dipping them in flour, then the egg/milk mixture, then flour mixture and back and forth until either it falls off or you're satisfied with the thickness. I did mine 3x because I like a nice crust on my tomatoes. You go for it, grasshopper, light or heavy, it's up to you!

6. Gently lay each tomato into the oil (AWAY FROM YOUR DIRECTION SO YOU DON'T BURN YOURSELF). If your oil is smoking, it's too hot. 

7. This is key: do not rush the tomatoes. It is better to let them simmer and fry in the oil longer to break down the insides than it is to pull them out of the oil before they have had a chance to soak up some of the salt in the batter and soften to a jam-like consistency on the inside. This is entirely my own opinion, but I fry the hell out of my tomatoes because I enjoy the crust to envelop the soft juicy, tangy tomato flesh when it has nearly broken down. Try to get all of the tomatoes in the pan in the first batch. Once you have contaminated the hot oil with the flour mixture, it will only continue to burn and you'll have to start over with new oil. It's worth it, but a pain in the ass.

Fry your tomatoes until they are nice and golden brown on both sides

8. Plate the hot tomatoes with chilled corn salad on top. DEVOUR. I basically topped each tomato with a spoon of salad and ate it with my bare hands. No regerts.

(9. If you want to be bougie like the photo up top, leave the leftover browned flour mixture in the pan with the oil, and add a handful of FRESH red cherry tomatoes to the pan. Soften them slightly and then throw the whole thing in the blender. Return it to the pan, add a few tablespoons of apple cider vinegar, and simmer until the sauce is thickened. Season with salt.)

Note: I like the mixture of hot and cold items eaten together. If you don't enjoy this, leave the corn salad off to the side or give it 30 min to come to room temp before you eat it. 

Variation: Add avocado, cilantro, lime, and cojita cheese for Mexican street corn salad. Instead of jerk-style seasoning, add only cumin, coriander, and hot chili pepper.