Fried Green Tomatoes

but not at the Whistle-Stop Cafe.

As I mentioned in my last post I spotted the recipe for these in my new cookbook, the Riverford Farm recipe book. And how could I resist the recipe when I have a vegetable patch completely taken over by monster tomato plants covered in not-yet-ripe tomatoes?



Another lure of the recipe was the opportunity to finally crack open my bag of polenta; an ingredient I have never used.

So I picked tomatoes, dipped them in egg then polenta. Fried some streaky bacon, then fried the tomatoes in the bacon fat. DONE (as Mr Ramsay would say).



They would make an excellent side dish, or part of a tapas selection. The same method would probably be nice with ripe tomatoes too, and a hint of paprika or chilli in the polenta could be good.

We had the tomatoes with new potatoes baked in parchment paper - the recipe came from the same book. I'd never thought to bake new potatoes before, but you just toss a handful of new potatoes in olive oil, herbs, salt and pepper. Parcel them up with a couple of cloves of garlice inside some baking parchment and bake for about 40 minutes. Simples.



So the verdict on the new cook book is a resounding thumbs up so far. The verdict on the tomato growing probably should be deferred until we see if they survive until they're ripe, but at least we've had one meal from the plants, and they were pretty good.