A quick dinner for Joe after a long walk… Reminiscing about old movies I loved while growing up. “Fried Green Tomatoes”: really struck a chord with me. As I got older and watched it again and again, I got from it more and more. We should all do that; revisit things now that we’re older that we cherished when we were younger. Music, movies… food.

People? Not always…

Granted, I’ve never had a fried green tomato much less a green tomato but, how bad could it be? Something is fried with my favorite salad: the grand sexy Caprese. Sounds amazing. Adding almonds and it’s a stunning salad. I stole one bite and wondered, why aren’t all restaurants offering this?

You will need:

• Large meaty tomatoes (either red or green)
• Sliced almonds
• Fresh mozzarella
• Fresh basil
• Olive oil
• Balsamic
• Salt and pepper
• Dried basil
• Grated parmesan
• Egg (I used one for three slices)
• Flour
• Panko

In the first dish put flour, second dish goes your egg (whisk with a splash of water) and finally the panko. In the panko, mix salt, pepper, grated parmesan and dried basil. The salt and pepper can be about a tea spoon with the grated parmesan and dried basil taking the lion’s share. This is where the flavoring really needs to come through so, do not be shy with the cheese and basil.

You will see in the photo, the slice of tomato resting in the egg. It has already gone once each side in the flour, it needs to rest just a bit on each side in the egg. The tomato isnt going to absorb the egg as easily as fish would, so just leave it there a bit before you flip it over and then set it in the panko.

Make sure the tomatoes are as covered as you can get them.

Heat your pan with some olive oil and then gently place them into the oil. You’re not dropping them completely in oil so, only the bottom of the pan needs to be coated, not too much. Set them there without moving them for about three minutes and check the underside. I had them on medium, just a bit medium high. I liked the way the underside looked when I flipped them so I kept them at three minutes for each side.

You can see the amber color with the flecks of basil coming through the melted cheese. Speaking of cheese, take this time to slice your mozzarella and your basil.

Plate the way you want; I wanted to use a round plate instead of my rectangular platter tonight for Joe just because it was easier. This would be better lined up on a long platter, however. After plating, take your balsamic and top the salad with drizzles of that as well as some more of the olive oil. Don’t forget the almonds!

As I wrote before, I had one bite. I had to… It smelled amazing. The sound of the fork cutting through the meaty crunchy tomato immediately made me salivate. I made sure to get a bit of everything in this one bite: the savory thick tomato, the smooth creamy mozzarella, the sweet basil and the shaved almond. It was fantastic.

Try this with any type of tomato and enjoy Towanda all over again!