Fried "Green" Tomatoes

You might notice, both in the title and the picture, that there's something off with my "green" tomatoes. Well, problem is, it's really hard to find them in NYC! I'm not whining, (well not too much, anyway), but its a shame. A green tomato is a wonderful thing. In hindsight, I suppose I could have used tomatillos, but that wasn't really the point. The point was keeping it real... really American, that is.

I won't bemoan the tomato issue any longer though because these came out spectacularly. Instead of green, I found the hardest, most unripe tomatoes I could find. You might think this means a tasteless fruit, but that's not entirely true. A green tomato has a slightly lemony tinge to it. Also, the hardness of a green tomato makes it easy to fry, of course. So although neither truly ripe, nor truly green, the inbetweeners came out lovely. Slightly sweeter than green tomatoes and slightly more acidic than a ripe one. It was a perfectly acceptable replacement.

Fried "Green" Tomatoes
Green tomatoes (or as close to green as you can find)
Coarse cornmeal
Salt
Cayenne Pepper
Buttermilk
Oil, for frying

-In a heavy bottom pan, (preferably a cast iron pan), heat up oil. About 3-4 tbs worth at a time. You want to pan fry the tomatoes not deep fry them.
-Cut tomatoes into 1/4" thick slices.
-Combine cornmeal, salt, and cayenne. Be as generous as you want with the salt and as daring as you want with the cayenne.
-Dip tomato slices into buttermilk, then press into the cornmeal, shaking off excess.
-Pan fry in oil until deep golden brown, approximately 6-8 minutes per slice. Line your serving platter with brown paper bags and serve immediately. They're best right out of the oil, but they still taste damn good even room temperature.