I just have to say that I love the movie Fried Green Tomatoes. Have you seen it? If not, you totally should. I have never been a huge eater of the fried green tomato. But this? OMG! It is soooo good! And smoked Gouda is one of my all time favorite cheeses. Of course, I have never met a cheese I didn’t like. It’s true.
First you have to fry you up some bacon. Because bacon makes everything better, right? And how can you have a BLT without bacon?
Get your tomatoes ready. Slice them up. Throw on some salt. Aren’t they pretty?
Put a couple of tablespoons of yellow cornmeal, a couple of tablespoons of flour in a bowl and mix them up. Crack an egg into another bowl and mix that up. Take a slice of tomato and dip it into the egg then the cornmeal mix.
Meanwhile in your skillet heat up some vegatable oil. Get it hot. When hot start dropping in tomatoes. You want the oil to come up about half way. Let them brown then turn over and cook them until the other side is brown.
If you wanted to just make a fried green tomato side you could add some Parmesan to your breading mix. You could totally toss some on a salad with goat cheese too. That would be amazing!
When done, take out and drain like you would bacon.
Ok! Now you have all your stuff ready!
I used a loaf of homemade bread Chris happened to find in the freezer. You can use any kind of sturdy bread you like.
This sandwich is way too badass for Wonder Bread. Not that Wonder Bread isn’t delicious! I love me some white bread.
Take your bread and brush some melted butter on one side. Put buttered side down in a hot pan. Lay slices of smoked gouda on top. Then add fried green tomatoes. Then bacon. Then Arugula.
Brush some butter on the other piece of bread and put it on top.
I attempted to make it a panini by covering it with foil and doing this:
I saw Guy Fieri do it on the Food Network. I think it would have been ok with one skillet, but this was the result of using 2. Note: I do not possess a panini press.
It totally smashed it and made it really HUGE! The biggest panini I have ever seen in my life! It was delicious though.
For the second one I just cooked it like a grilled cheese with no panini action.
This one turned out a normal size and was equally delicious.
Now go make this and spend a couple of hours on the couch watching Fried Green Tomatoes. Towanda!!!!
Smoked Gouda Fried Green Tomato BLT
Ingredients:
4 – 6 pieces of bacon
1 green tomato
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons yellow cornmeal
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup or so of vegetable oil (depending on the size of the pan you use)
4-6 slices of smoked Gouda
1 cup of arugula
1-2 tablespoons of melted butter
Instructions:
Cook the bacon in a frying pan until crispy, drain on a paper towel and set aside. While the bacon is cooking, slice and salt the tomato. The slices should be about 1/4 of an inch thick or so.
Heat the oil on medium high — you want to have enough so that it comes almost halfway up the sides of the tomato slices.
Combine cornmeal and flour in one bowl and beat the egg in another. Coat the tomato in the egg and do the same in the cornmeal. When the oil is hot, carefully add the tomato slices. If you are making more than I did you will want to do them in batches as to not crowd the pan. Brown one side then the other — about 2-3 minutes on each side. Drain on a paper towel.
Heat another frying pan to medium.
Brush one side of two pieces of bread and lay in the pan buttered side down. Layer some Gouda slices on each piece of bread, top each with two fried green tomatoes, then bacon and arugula. Brush the other two pieces of bread with melted butter and put on top of the sandwich. When the first side is brown and golden, flip the sandwiches over and brown the other side (about 4 minutes on each side). Serve immediately.
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