What do you do when they fall?
Get a better bra! ;)
Okay okay, on to the tacos....
When the tomatoes fall before they are ready, you do what everyone does......fry them.
But then, from there, it is basically a blank canvas. You can just salt them and eat. Ain't nothing wrong with that, I even confess to doing that while making this dish! You can stack them with some fresh mozz, basil, and maybe some crispy proscuitto. Sounds pretty tasty, right? Or do a BLT, oh-so-goooood.
Or you can make tacos! Yup, definitely think if I had a taco contest to enter around these parts, I'd be bringing home a trophy fo' sure!
The dish just came together so perfectly. Crispy, tart fried tomatoes placed on crunchy cabbage, then topped with salty bacon and finished with a sweet balsamic glaze. Oh yeah, all that encased in a warmed taco shell.
Trophy awarded, yes?
Well, although there are no actual awards here, I will say eating these tacos is reward enough. And even though I am looking forward to my garden yielding delicious red ripened tomatoes soon, I now have absolutely zero problem with a few of them falling!
Enjoy.....
Fried Green Tomato Tacos
Serves: 2
Ingredients:
For the tomatoes:
2-3 green tomatoes, small to medium size preferably, sliced 1/4 thick
1 C panko breadcrumbs
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp fresh cracked pepper
1/2 tsp dried parsley
1 egg
2 TBS milk
canola oil, for frying
1 C self-rising flour
For Taco assembly:
1 C shredded red cabbage
1/2 C cherry or grape tomatoes, quarted
4 slices bacon, cooked well and chopped
Freshly grated Parmigianno cheese
Fresh basil, finely chopped or thinly sliced
6 small tortillas, small 6" fajita size
Preheat oven to 300 F.
Prepare frying assembly line- In a shallow bowl place flour. In another shallow bowl, whisk egg and milk. In another shallow bowl, mix panko, salt, pepper and parsley.
Fill deep sauté pan 1/4 way up with canola oil and heat over medium heat.
While the oil is heating (if it starts to smoke, lower it!), prepare your tomatoes for frying- dip each tomato into flour on all sides, shake off excess, then dip into egg completely, drip off excess, then generously coat each side with panko mixture. Place on a separate plate and repeat with all tomato slices.
When oil is ready it will bubble when you sprinkle in a dash of panko, so check it! Once ready, place all tomatoes in and fry on each side for about 3 minutes or until deep golden brown all around.
Remove fried tomatoes and place on a wire rack, immediately sprinkle with a pinch of kosher salt.
Place tortillas in oven for about 2 minutes to soften and heat through (you can wrap them foil if you don't want any crispiness), or if you have a griddle or griddle pan, heat over medium flame and cook tortillas on each side for about 2-3, until lightly browned and softened.
Assemble tacos (I recommend using a taco holder to help): place about 1-2 TBS red cabbage along bottom of taco, place 2-3 fried tomato slices inside, top with a few quarters of cherry or grape tomatoes, place bacon atop, sprinkle each generously with grated Parmigiano, then drizzle with balsamic glaze and add a few pieces of fresh basil to finish.
Devour and enjoy!
