Guest Blog: Momma Fran, Green Tomato Sauce

To start off the week, I have a story and recipe from one of my favorite guest bloggers, my Mother. Last time, she left you with a recipe for simple Fried Green Tomatoes. She continues to give you something to do with the unripe tomatoes as she recalled this story and recipe one night.

If you would like to be a guest blogger on The Food Monster, email me at TheFoodMonsterBlog@gmail.com

Enjoy!

-The Food MonsterPhoto: Courtesy of ExploreAsheville.com


While eating my fried green tomatoes last night, another memory came to mind and since it involves green tomatoes, I thought it might be timely to share. My husband was definitely born a hundred years too late as he was of a pioneering persuasion. To fulfill a dream of his,
off we went to Alaska for one year, and ended up staying six. His ski patrol leader was a real estate agent who described the merits of owning a duplex in a less-than-booming town 13 miles outside of Anchorage.
Attached to one end of this one-story, three-bedroom, concrete block long rectangle, was a two-bedroom, mother-in-law apt; on the other end, a green house.

Since only one day that summer beckoned to us to swim, it was easy to understand why the tomatoes did not ripen. There they sat in the green house, a zillion little green tomatoes hanging on the vines.

Never wasteful with food, I picked them all, the night before the first frost, sometime in the first week in Sept., washed them, quartered them, then froze them. A short time later,
I put them in a very large soup pot and cooked them to make spaghetti sauce, with lots of chopped onions and garlic. I was flabbergasted!! It was the BEST tasting spaghetti sauce I had ever had! So good, that thirty years later I still remember it.

Recipe:
Quarter Green Tomatoes

In a cast iron skillet as the iron is added to one's diet, or non-stick pan if that
is what one uses, Saute:
Several large onions
Many cloves of garlic

Add sauteed onions and garlic to soup kettle along with quartered green tomatoes
and a small can of tomato paste and or tomato sauce

Cook until tomatoes are the consistency of a sauce

Add whatever spices you like in terms of chili powder or fresh chilies
1 TBS Old Bay Seasoning (always kicks any recipe up a notch, especially, turkey soup)

This is the basis of a basic tomato sauce to which one may add whatever
ingredients, protein-wise, one may like for spaghetti recipies, lasagne, chili, buritoes,
chicken, beef or seafood.



There you have it, another great recipe for Green Tomatoes. Thanks again Momma Fran!

Guest Blog: Momma Fran, Fried Green Tomatoes

I am going to interrupt my series on Asian night, to bring you a guest blog post by none other than my mother. Momma Fran as she is known to my peers, could always be heard at athletic events as the one concerned mother yelling, don't you push him Number #22, I have my eyes on you... Also, she has an infectious laugh that can be heard anywhere around Hendersonville. Theater productions seek her out for Dress Rehearsals to give the actors confidence before opening night. More importantly though, she has been a huge inspiration and supporter in my culinary exploits. I think it started with my blueberry muffin stand on the side of the road that my brother and I had, she of course made sure we never burned ourselves or the muffins. So, without further ado, I present to you, Momma Fran in her food blog debut.It is that time of year again--the end of the harvest season is fast approaching and what to do with those tomatoes that keep ripening and ripening?
Of course, pick them before they ripen! I visited a friend last night who has a very healthy garden because she is a worm farmer...but that is another story.
She sent me home with some beautiful green tomatoes when I exclaimed that I had all of the ripe tomatoes I could use without them spoiling.

Everytime I think of fixing fried green tomatoes, the movie version automatically comes to mind. So you might want to fix this recipie for dinner tonight, and watch the movie: FRIED GREEN TOMATOES!!

(The Food Monster: read as Fried Green Tomatoes!!! Mom, loves typing in all caps)

Recipe:
Quantity: one big tomato for each person or several medium-sized ones, having just the faintest blush of pink coloring, cut into 1/4" slices.

(The Food Monster requires several big tomatoes)

Add just enough Olive Oil to cover the bottom of a non-stick or cast iron frying pan. One does not need to use the most expensive Olive Oil for frying.

Plastic sandwich bag with flour --my first choice is whole wheat.

Coat the tomato slice in the flour bag.

Add the oil just prior to placing the flour-coated tomato slices into the pan
(If you prefer butter or a combination of the two, use just enough to keep the tomatoes from sticking, and to get the flavor from the butter, oil, or butter/oil)

(The Food Monster: As an aside, I use the butter/oil, combination when frying an egg, as I think the 100% oil is too overpowering of a flavor for a fried egg)

Gently fry for 3 mins. on each side, turning. Remove to a paper towel lined plate.

Salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.
Oh, summer tastes to savor!!



So, there you have it, one of the simpler ways to make Fried Green Tomatoes. I hope you enjoyed this guest blog and are beginning to appreciate where I get my personality from.
Here is a photo taken from my HS graduation, 6 years ago, the resemblance is striking I know. I guess I need to take a more recent photo of Mom and me.

Enjoy the Fried Green Tomatoes and let me know how they turned out!!!