Southern Boy Dishes

Cook Eat Dish

Fried Green Tomatoes with Crabmeat and Chipotle Tartar Sauce

・12 Comments

Fried Green Tomatoes

It’s been fun watching everyday food that I grew up with become chic over the last several years. Southern food has become mainstream in restaurants across the country where top chefs have given traditional southern fare a fresh makeover.

When I was growing up in Mississippi, my grandfather tended a large garden during the summer months and every morning he dropped off a basket of whatever was ripe for picking. Fried green tomatoes made it to our dinner table on a regular basis during growing season. My mom simply dipped them in cornmeal and fried them in vegetable oil. Those no-frills tomatoes usually shared the table with fried okra and other traditional southern vegetables.

For this post, I wanted to try a slightly updated version of fried green tomatoes from those of my childhood. I introduced a layer of goat cheese under the breading which adds a slightly creamy and tart element to the tomatoes. Traditional fried green tomatoes are breaded with corn meal, but I wanted more of a crunchy texture so I opted for panko bread crumbs. I finished the tomatoes with a chipotle tartar sauce and fresh lump crabmeat. The combination resulted in a delicious twist on an old southern classic.

If you’re preparing these tomatoes as an appetizer for a dinner party, make the sauce hours ahead of time and store in the refrigerator. Bread the tomatoes an hour or so before frying. I kept them on a baking rack until I was ready to cook them.

Local tomatoes are almost in season, so give this recipe a try and let me know what you think.

Print
Fried Green Tomatoes with Crabmeat and Chipotle Tartar Sauce

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Yield: 6 servings

Serving Size: 2 tomato slices

Fried Green Tomatoes with Crabmeat and Chipotle Tartar Sauce

Ingredients

For the tartar sauce:

1 cup mayonnaise

1 tablespoon chopped chipotle pepper in adobo sauce (use additional for more heat)

2 tablespoons minced sweet pickles

1 tablespoon minced scallions, green part only

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning

1/2 teaspoon anchovy paste

1 teaspoon whole grain mustard

For the tomatoes:

1 cup unbleached flour

2 large eggs, beaten

2 cups panko bread crumbs

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspooon black pepper

3 medium green tomatoes, cut into 4 slices

4 ounces goat cheese

Vegetable oil

8 ounces lump crabmeat

Fresh parsley leaves (for garnish)

Instructions

For the tartar sauce:

In the bowl of a food processor, pulse mayonnaise and chipotle peppers until well combined. Transfer to a bowl and mix with pickles, scallions, Worcestershire, lemon juice, Old Bay, anchovy paste, and mustard. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

For the tomatoes:

1. Place flour and bread crumb in two shallow dishes. Create an assembly line with the flour, egg, and bread crumbs. Mix salt and pepper into bread crumbs.

2. Spread a thin layer of goat cheese on each tomato slice. Toss a tomato slice in flour, dip in egg, and coat with bread crumbs. Place on a baking sheet. Repeat with remaining tomato slices.

3. Place 1/2 inch of oil in a large heavy skillet. Heat oil to 350 degrees. Drop tomato slices in oil in batches and cook for 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Do not overcrowd skillet. Remove and drain on paper towel Repeat with remaining tomatoes.

4. Top each tomato slice with a dollop of tartar sauce and crabmeat. Garnish with a parsley leaf. Serve immediately.

https://southernboydishes.com/2014/06/03/fried-green-tomatoes-with-crabmeat-and-chipotle-tartar-sauce/

You may also like:

Bill Harris

I grew up in small town Mississippi eating traditional southern fare.A lifelong foodie, I started cooking and experimenting with food at a very young age. I started Southern Boy Dishes as a creative outlet and a way to share my love of food.

Latest posts by Bill Harris (see all)

Comments

  1. Sounds terrific. You never mention cooking the crabmeat, so I assume you’re referring to meat you’ve picked from steamed crabs, rather than fresh (uncooked) crabmeat.

    Reply

  3. WOW! Talk about taking fried green tomatoes up a notch or two. Fried green tomatoes are one of those treats that I allow myself a couple of times a years, right there along with fried catfish. Sometimes I’ll fry them both up at the same time; therefore, I can see how crab would be a great topping and a very clever idea I might add. Love everything about these Bill!

    Reply

  4. Bill! These looks AMAZING and remind me of my childhood growing up in the South Carolina. I too had a gardening grandfather and I can almost remember that tang and crunch of fried green tomatoes. I’ll definitely give your updated version a try. 🙂

    Reply

  7. I’ve never been a fan of fried green tomatoes – hey, I live in Seattle – we don’t know, what we don’t know! But these little beauties…with the goat cheese and chipotle? Oh yeah, these I could learn to love!
    Kathi

    Reply

  8. I love the idea of goat cheese in fried green tomatoes! I wish I had thought of that. Definitely going to steal the idea. Love the chipotle tartar sauce, too. I do make something similar sometimes — but I like chipotle in anything!

    Reply

  10. Green tomatoes are one of the very few things I can’t get my hands on here in So Cal. Occasionally the farmers market will have them. But usually not before September. Sigh. GREG

    Reply

  12. I absolutely adore fried green tomatoes. I can’t get enough of them in the summer. But this version? Woah. They are unlike any other I’ve seen and I just want to eat them all in one sitting.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.