Fried Green Tomatoes With Remoulade

Fried Green Tomatoes are a southern specialty and yet one more way to use everything from the garden at the end of the season! Of course, if you can't wait until the end of the season, there's nothing wrong with picking a few along the way before they are ripe! Serving Fried Green Tomatoes with Remoulade Sauce is the perfect way to serve them as an appetizer, but they do double duty as a side dish too.

Unripe green tomatoes? Or can I use heirloom green tomatoes?

Nope, they absolutely are not ripe and you can't use heirloom green tomatoes that are still green when they are ripe. This dish certainly calls for regular unripe tomatoes. You know, the ones that are not yet red. Go ahead and pick them! You now have a use for them.

Make the Remoulade Sauce first

It's all in the sauce! Fried Green Tomatoes are just fine on their own (with plenty of salt!) and make a great side dish to any dinner. But if you want to make them a little more special and especially if you want to serve them as an appetizer, this remoulade sauce is amazing.

There are many remoulade recipes out there! Some call for boatloads of ingredients like horseradish, capers, Worcestershire sauce, and anchovies. I think all of those things are totally not necessary and personally, I keep it simple.

Remoulade is a mayonnaise based sauce. I add Dijon mustard, lemon juice, pickles, parsley, paprika, and garlic powder. And a little hot sauce! Just mix it all up and away you go.

A system for the breading

A friend mentioned that she tried to make Fried Green Tomatoes, but had not succeeded. She said that it looked like that I had a system.

I don't know how the legendary Whistle Stop Cafe made their Fried Green Tomatoes or if they served a Remoulade Sauce, but I do think it takes a bit of a system to get the coating or breading right on them. So here's my system:

Set up three platters for coating the green tomatoes

The first platter is the seasoned flour. I season with smoked paprika, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. You can use traditional all-purpose flour or a gluten-free 1:1 blend. OR you can use cassava flour! A lot of people like to use Wondra flour which is a fine powdery flour, but it is "enriched and bleached", two things that have no place in my kitchen. Cassava flour is made from the yucca root, has the same texture as Wondra, but has no gluten or grains. It works like a charm! You can also use garbanzo bean (chickpea) flour or a gluten-free 1:1 flour blend.

The second platter is buttermilk, egg, and a bit of hot sauce.

The last platter is homemade sourdough crumbs and fine ground cornmeal. You can use store-bought breadcrumbs or you can make them using old bread. Just put the slices in your food processor and process till they are small.

As for the cornmeal, you can use any grind that you want, but I find the medium to be just about right. I don't recommend corn flour because it is too fine.

How to fry Fried Green Tomatoes

I recommend a cast iron skillet. But of course, I do. I use my 12-inch one.

If you don't have one, don't sweat it too much, but use a heavy stainless steel one or ceramic coated one. Avoid non-stick.

Heat the oil to a medium or medium-high heat. And while it is heating ... do this:

Start with the seasoned flour platter. Put the tomato slices in the flour and coat on each side.

Then put them in the buttermilk egg mixture.

And finally, coat the tomato slices in the breadcrumbs and cornmeal mixture.

How to cook Fried Green Tomatoes with Remoulade

I have no photos of this process and for that I apologize. However, the process is that you heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-medium high heat. Carefully lay the coated green tomato slices into the heated oil. Fry on the first side 4-6 minutes until golden. Turn once only, and fry on the other side 4-6 minutes. If they are browning too quickly or if the oil starts to smoke, turn the temperature down. It should be about 350°F.

How to serve Fried Green Tomatoes with Remoulade

Serve with the remoulade sauce as an appetizer or as a side dish.