Cornmeal Fried Green Tomato Fritatta with Maple Chipotle Goat Cheese

Here in the Hudson Valley, weather works its way into most conversations. I feel like we’re always saying things like “what a strange day, week, month, year”…It’s always something; too much rain, not enough rain, some freak snow-storm in October, t-shirt days in February. Mother Nature suure has a sense of humor. I always feel that the weather mimics my mood or vice versa. Each year, certain crops ripen, and explode with fruition and flavor blowing us all way and making us exclaim how we “can’t remember a better nectarine” in our lives. In turn, other crops are destroyed by weather conditions or maybe just gave their all the year prior and need a little lie-down (Northern Spy apple trees only fruit every other year). This year, that crop was tomatoes. I kept waiting for them to really come into season; meaty pink Brandywines, Sunset-colored Nebraska Wedding, sweet mild Green Zebras. While we definitely had some eventually, I wasn’t blown away. I enjoyed only a few BLTs, made just one single killer batch of gazpacho, and broke balls of burrata over fresh torn basil and tomatoes maybe twice. By the time I was excited enough about the tomatoes, the temperatures dropped and their chameleon qualities vanished, freezing the green tomatoes in time. My heart-break turned to excitement with a few introductions.

Anytime a customer asked me for green tomatoes in August, I gasped a little bit. I’ve had fried green tomatoes before and LOVED them, but why eat a firm unripe tomato when you can have a sweet, juicy, ripe one I wondered?  I flipped through Debra Madison’s book “Vegetable Literacy” (I know it’s a fruit. Does she?) and found this recipe for a fried green tomato frittata with sweet corn relish. I decided I was going to make it.  The next day Kevin West, a preservationist and author of the blog Saving the Season stopped by the market. I received a copy of his INCREDIBLE book and stumbled upon the section on green tomatoes. Depending on my mood and level of sanguinity, I can be a sucker for “signs”. Feeling markedly UP and OPEN lately, I took this as one to make the frittata. Since sweet corn season is over for us, I omitted the relish part but decided cornmeal crusted fried green tomatoes were just crying out for a smoky flavor so I switched out the parmesan cheese she called for with some maple chipotle goat cheese. 

Kevin points out that green tomatoes are “harbingers of a new season-fall. Tomato vines will put on more fruit than the waning sun will ripen.” The days are shorter, there is less sunlight, and “vine-ripened tomatoes” becomes a past-time. This is when green tomatoes are meant to shine. Kevin points out “in their immaturity, green tomatoes are zingy and firm. They’re good for chutneys, pickles, and relishes.”  I fully intend to try his recipes for “green tomato chutney”, “canned green tomatoes”, “Mrs. Dorsey Brown’s green tomato pickle”, and “chow-chow”; as should you. For now, here is what I did with Deborah Madison’s recipe for a FRIED GREEN TOMATO FRITATTA:

2 large green tomatoes, sliced 1/3 inch thick

½ cup fine corn meal with salt and pepper

3-4 T olive oil

6 eggs

2 T chopped parsley

4 oz maple chipotle goat cheese (feta, smoked gouda, smoked cheddar, parmesan would all be good)

2 T chives, chopped

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 

2. Dip the tomatoes in the seasoned cornmeal. Fry them in an oven-proof skillet in 2 T olive oil over medium-high heat on both sides until golden but not mushy. Set them on apper towels, wipe out pan, and then add remaining oil. Return the skillet to the stove.

3. Whisk together the eggs, herbs, and cheese and season with a few pinches of salt and pepper. Pour the eggs onto the skillet, lower heat, and set the tomatoes on top. Shake the pan gently to settle the eggs, then cook on stove-top until set.

4. Set the frittata on a middle rack in the oven until brown, about 15-20 minutes.