American people from the South, especially the Deep South, are lucky. They know how to cook, their cuisine is varied and they eat vegetables. Yes it’s true, a lot of their food is fried and they are plagued with diabetes and heart disease, but the philosophy is “Eat hard, die happy.” Northerners are less likely to follow this philosphy and live longer, in a mean- spirited kind of way 😀
My “garden” here in Sens would be the perfect abode for one of those roundish gypsy trailers that you see in abandoned lots around France. When I have guests, I always close the drapes looking out on the garden. M. Parret always snatches the drapes open and criticizes, bragging about the perfection of his garden.
And it is perfect. He grows several varieties of tomatoes, potatoes, courgettes, peas, green beans, herbs, etc, organized in picturesque, country French garden rows. Daily, he putters around the garden, removing any weed or “petite bete” while terrorizing small sparrows who come to gaze in admiration. His garden is spotless!
Yesterday, I bought some small pots of rosemary, sarriette (summer savory) and fresh bay leaf and requested that he plant them in his garden for my future use.
M. Mean Jeans: Why don’t you plant them in your garden?
Moi: My garden is ugly
M. Mean Jeans: Oui, c’est vrai 😀 Americans don’t know how to garden.
Of course he planted them, but with a look of unforgivable superiority on his Gallic, septuagenarian, wine ruddied face. Sometimes I love him less, but he does share his garden and filled up my car with gas in a patronizing way 🙂
So I fried some of his garden green tomatoes to share and made a salsa for babies to accompany them. In the end, after tasting the salsa, I didn’t give him any because I accidently made salsa for American babies and/or adventurous, young French people; our M. Parret would not have “adored” it, but he did like the tomatoes.
Fried Green Tomatoes
4-5 green tomatoes, thickly sliced
Salt and pepper
Flour
2 eggs, beaten
Bread crumbs
Peanut oil for deep frying
Season both sides of the tomato slices with salt and pepper, then dust with flour, dip in beaten egg and coat with bread crumbs. Fry on both sides until golden.
Fresh Ripe Tomato Salsa
3 ripe tomatoes, seeded and chopped
2 red spring onion bulbs, finely chopped
1 large garlic clove, finely chopped
1 long, fresh, green chilli for babies (mild), seeded and chopped
1 handful cilantro leaves, chopped
1 tsp sugar
Juice from one lime
Salt and pepper
Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate until ready to use.
Cooking in Sens 
it looks absolutely delicious!
Thank you Camelia.
I love fried green tomatoes. And despite presently living in London, my heart resides in the American South. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
You are welcome chagrin. London also has good food, at least for the last 10 years 🙂
Quite a bit longer than that 😉
This is a lovely recipe. I have not worked very much with green tomatoes. Love the compilation of ripe and I ripe tomatoes – a great little dish, thanks for sharing
Thank you Sebby. My mom always cooked green tomatoes. We loved them!
I never had fried green tomatoes before. This year my garden is overflowing with tomatoes, so I will give them a try. Yours look yummy!
Thank you Sibella. Good luck with the tomatoes!
This is brilliant! My little guy will LOVE these. Thanks so much for sharing 🙂
Thank you Cristina. Give him some salsa 😀
Salsa for babies :). I’m laughing because that is how my husband likes his salsa!
Some men never grow up 😀
You are so funny, Rosemary! Truthful, but funny! 🙂 Yes, this is salsa for babies. Are you from the Deep South?
Thank you bits. Actually my parents were from Texas and Louisiana but I was raised in California.
So you have southern bones! 😉
Exactly 😉
Sounds like he sets the bar high for gardening! I absolutely love fried green tomatoes. So yummy.
Thank you. M. Parret just loves being French 🙂
🙂 He sounds like a wonderful character!
That he is Virginia 🙂
Cute story and great recipe. I wish I could get tomatoes to grown in my garden. The plants always look great but the blossoms turn yellow and drop due to the Texas heat. I get great green tomatoes in the fall but they never ripen. 😦 This year I gave up. We planted more chiles, instead. 🙂
Thank you Richard. Chillies are good!
I think we all need a M. Parret living next door 🙂
Absolutely necessary!
Ha! did you tell M. Parret that he wouldn’t have tomatoes if white men hadn’t wrested the Americas away from its indigenous populations? How do the French feel towards deep fried food? I am a northerner, and deep fried food is the one type of food that doesn’t agree with me. I like very spicy food though! Hopefully that redeems me.
The only thing I’ve seen deep fried is the ubiquitous french fries. I think they are more into sauteing, roasting, braising and baking. Deep fried food is unhealthy but so good! However, I never make french fries and only deep fry occasionally.
this looks amazing! I’ll have to give it a try 🙂
Thank you Girl.
I’ve seen some interesting southern gardens 😉
I guess so?
“Salsa for American babies and/or adventurous, young French people.” As Homer Simpson would say: It’s funny because it’s true.
Very 🙂
A very entertaining post. You have a great sense of humor.
Thank you Bassa.
I really would like to try fried green tomatoes, but it’ hard to find them in Portugal. Yours do look delicious!
Thank you. I didn’t see them in the market here either. You have to have a garden or know somebody who does 🙂
Being Yankees in the South, we often think Southern veggies are overcooked. But you can’t argue with fried green tomatoes. These look amazing!
Thank you Greg. Southern vegetables are over cooked but a ham hock conquers all 😀
Amen!
I am not sure whats with green tomatoes but it looks like its becoming a fad, see them now a lot this days. I got to try this one out and your recipe is the one that I’ll use 🙂
Fried green tomatoes have been a part of deep south U.S. cuisine at least since the time of slavery, maybe before. As common as hominy grits, you might be seeing Northerners finally discoverying this tasty take on tomatoes.
Aww! My dad’s side of the family is Southern and spread out between Memphis and Mississippi. Southerners definitely know how to eat!
They do indeed. Frying can be a good thing 😉