Fried Green Tomato Parmesan

This is a dish I’ve been wanting to prepare for a long time, mainly because I’ve wanted to add more vegetarian recipes to my repertoire, and I’m so glad to finally have the opportunity! Each summer, we are fortunate enough to have an abundance of tomatoes in our back porch garden, and I’m always trying to think of new and exciting recipes for tomatoes. Now, being a born and bred Southerner, I love a fried green tomato in just about any shape, form, or fashion, but I haven’t seen a fried green tomato parmesan, so I decided to try it. I am more than pleased with the results! If you’re tired of the usual chicken or eggplant variations, the brightness of the green tomatoes adds a scrumptious delightfulness to the dish!

As always, feel free to tweak or adjust anything you’d like. I don’t add a lot of additional seasoning to this recipe because the Italian style bread crumbs are already well seasoned, but you can certainly add whatever herbs or additional seasonings you would like. When I made this, I used a homemade tomato sauce that I prepared from scratch with more tomatoes from our garden, but by all means, if you don’t feel like cooking sauce from scratch, use your favorite store-bought variety! 

Fried Green Tomato Parmesan

2 large or 3 medium green tomatoes

1 tsp. salt

½ tsp. black pepper

½ cup grated parmesan cheese

2 eggs, beaten

2 cups Italian style bread crumbs

Canola oil

2 cups prepared marinara sauce

8 oz. mozzarella cheese

Slice the tomatoes between ½ inch and ¼ inch thickness. Season them with salt and pepper.

Place the grated parmesan, beaten eggs, and bread crumbs in three separate bowls. Dip each tomato slice in the egg, then in the parmesan, then in the egg again, and then in the bread crumbs. Make sure each tomato is evenly coated with the breading.

Heat the canola oil in a skillet until it reaches about 350 degrees. (If you don’t have a kitchen thermometer, drop a tiny bit of the bread crumbs in the oil. If they start to bubble and brown, then it’s ready.) The oil should be about 1 inch deep in the skillet. Gently place each tomato slice in the skillet and cook for about two to three minutes on each side or until they are evenly browned. Place the slices on a plate lined with paper towels to absorb the excess grease.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Add a few heaping spoonfuls of marinara sauce to the bottom of a baking dish, and spread the sauce around the bottom of the dish until it is coated. Layer the fried green tomatoes evenly over the sauce, and top with a few more heaping spoonfuls of sauce. (You may not use all two cups of sauce, and that’s OK!) Then, top the tomatoes with an even layer of mozzarella cheese. Bake for 20 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbly.

Allow to cool for five minutes, and serve with a salad or your favorite pasta. 

(Bubbly, cheesy, fried green tomato goodness!)

 

Enjoy! 

 

 

Doughnut Crème Brûlée

Yes, I know I haven’t updated my blog in quite a while, and for that, I apologize. This year has just been so busy and hectic, I simply haven’t had time to concoct very many new recipes that I felt were worth sharing with you. However, here is one that I hope you will really love!

As many of you may well know, today, a certain establishment specializing in delicious doughnuts is offering a super special birthday discount on some of their glazed fare, and I just had to partake. Being born and raised in the South, I’m pretty sure a substantial percentage of my blood is comprised of Krispy Kreme glaze. Having a rather insatiable sweet tooth, I’ve sampled many doughnuts far and wide, and I’ve enjoyed most of them, but when I get a hankering for doughnuts, Krispy Kreme is always the option that I find the most satisfying.

I’ve encountered many recipes over the years that use these legendary doughnuts as an ingredient, but one particular recipe especially caught my eye: Krispy Kreme Crème Brûlée. Now, I just happen to be a crème brûlée fanatic. As a matter of fact, one of my all-time favorite restaurant desserts is the Crème Brûlée Trio at Grille 29 in Birmingham, Alabama. Therefore, the idea of taking two of my favorite sweet treats and combining them into a singular decadent dessert is immensely appealing to me. The recipe I read looked quite delicious, but personally, I found it a little bit fussy, so I wanted to try to simplify it and give it a couple of my own personal touches. This recipe is the result, and I couldn’t be more pleased!

Doughnut Crème Brûlée

3 glazed doughnuts*

4 egg yolks

½ cup sugar + extra for the topping

½ cup heavy cream

½ cup milk

1/8 tsp. salt

¼ tsp. vanilla

*For this recipe, I recommend Krispy Kreme, but you can use your favorite glazed doughnuts!

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. In a blender or food processor, combine doughnuts, heavy cream, and milk, and puree until all ingredients are evenly blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar. Add the egg yolk and sugar mixture to the blender or food processor with salt and vanilla, and gently puree the mixture. It should have the consistency of a thin cake batter.

Evenly distribute the custard mixture among four ramekins. Gently place the ramekins in a deep pan, and fill the pan with water until it reaches about halfway up the ramekins. Gently place the pan in the preheated oven. (Tip: You may want to place the pan in the oven before adding the water to it in order to avoid spilling or splashing.)

Cook the custards for 60-75 minutes* or until the custard is firmly set with a slight wobble in the middle. (*Cooking times may vary for different ovens. I recommend checking the custards after they have cooked for 45 minutes. If they are not cooked, then continue to cook them, checking every 10 minutes or until they are set. The usual cooking time will be somewhere between 60 and 75 minutes.)

Once the custards have set, gently remove them from the pan and allow them to cool for at least 30 minutes. After they have cooled, top each custard with an even coating of about 1 tbs. of sugar. You can either brûlée the top with a kitchen torch, or you can set the custards under a broiler until the top is evenly crisp and caramelized.

Serve, and enjoy! 

 Beautiful Brûlée Goodness!

 Under the sugary crust is a rich, decadent, doughnutty custard!

 I should also thank my new lucky kitchen cat I got in Birmingham this week for helping my crème brûlées turn out deliciously! 

Enjoy!

New Year's Eve: Antipasti Tips & a Festive Cocktail

Happy New Year! It’s New Year’s Eve, and you know what that means: it’s time for hors d’oeuvres and cocktails!

By New Year’s Eve, everyone has been so busy with the holiday rush, I wanted to keep it simple this year, so instead of providing a recipe, I’m providing some helpful tips for a dish that requires minimal effort but promises maximum enjoyment!

If you’re not much of a cooking pro, or even if you are a cooking pro who needs a break, an antipasti platter is the perfect dish for any celebration. Antipasto (the singular form of the plural noun antipasti) is Italian for “before the meal,” and an antipasti platter traditionally consists of a variety of meats, cheeses, olives, and pickled vegetables and is served before a meal. There is no singular traditional antipasti platter, as antipasti vary by region in Italy. Therefore, you can do just about anything you want when building your own antipasti platter! The rules are absolutely flexible, but I have provided you with a few helpful tips for making a successful antipasti splash.

Antipasti Tips:

Meat is traditional but not required. However, if you do choose to serve meat, make sure to include at least two or three selections. (Recommended: Pepperoni, salami, smoked sausage)

Olives and pickled vegetables are a MUST. No self-respecting antipasti platter would dare be seen without an assortment of olives, pickled peppers, cornichons, or other vinegary accoutrements.

Cheese is also a MUST. Make sure to include at least two or three cheese selections on your platter, preferably a variety of hard and soft cheeses.

Condiments are good. Make sure to have a *good* extra virgin olive oil and a *good* balsamic vinegar on hand for guests to dress their antipasti selections. (For my fellow Southerners, having hot sauce and/or pepper sauce on hand might also be a good idea!)

Keep your serving platter large and simple but elegant. A large white platter or a large wooden cutting board is perfect for an antipasti platter; either selection is simple and stylish while letting the antipasti selections themselves be the eye-catching star of the show.

Don’t forget the carbs! Make sure to serve tasty crackers or crostini that guests can top with their antipasti selections. I like to make my own crostini by taking a slender baguette, cutting it into ½-inch thick slices, drizzling them with olive oil, and baking them at 350 for 5-10 minutes or until they are light and crispy. 

Our antipasti platter this year consists of smoked sausage, artichoke hearts, pickled okra, sliced tomatoes, olives, banana pepper rings, giardiniera, Vallagret cheese, cheddar cheese, and pepperoni.

 Now, of course, no New Year’s celebration would be complete without a fancy cocktail, and this one is my absolute favorite. Sweet, flowery, and bubbly, it’s the perfect celebratory beverage, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

The Fizzy Flower

2 parts sparkling wine

1 part Cathead honeysuckle vodka

1 part elderflower liqueur

Serve in chilled champagne glasses. May garnish with strawberries. 

Happy New Year!

 

Enjoy!