Fried tomatoes

Friend, first I want to give us a nice pat on the back for an excellent September of posting. Two Kitchens, One Recipe! Kind of rad! Wait until you see what I pick for October!

I'm off to New England this weekend for a wedding and am pretty excited about being somewhere where it did not hit 100º this week. I don't know if I'll have a lot of time to do wonderful fall things like eat cider donuts and bask in crispness, but it'll be nice anyway. The only thing I'm sad about is that I won't be eating these:

Do you ever discover that you can make something deliciously and then go through a phase where you don't want to eat anything else? Generally, I do this with music: if I get an album that I like I will listen to it incessantly, so non-stoppingly that it annoys even myself, but I just can't help it—if it were a haystack, I would roll around in it; if it were a perfume, I'd spray it all over until people crinkle their noses when I walk by; if it were a person, I'd want to take it behind the middle school and get it, or myself, pregnant (metaphorically). Do you see what I'm saying? When I find something new that I love, I want to envelop myself in it.

When my buddy Tim and I were eating our way through my last weekend in LA this summer, we found the S&W Country Diner in Culver City. And, because we're eating geniuses, we ordered the fried tomatoes as a side—and it was a revelation. Fantastic crispiness on the outside but not so much cooking that the tomatoes get mealy.

And this week I figured out how to do it myself. Now this is what I want to eat for every meal but, since I'm going to Vermont, I can't, so I'll post it, and now you can be my proxy.

Fried tomatoes

*Use good tomatoes. I made some this evening with mediocre ones and they came out mediocre—don't pity me, because something that's mediocre and fried is still pretty ok.

tomatoes, sliced

1/2 c. cornmeal

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp herbs—your choice, I used some Italian blend

canola oil (olive oil will probably burn because of the high heat)

Take your sliced tomatoes and get rid of their insides: the seeds and mucousy parts. Too wet!

Combine the cornmeal, salt, and herbs in a dish. Bread the tomatoes in this.

Get out your frying pan and put it on medium-high/high heat. Let the oil get hot enough and then fry your tomatoes. Put on papertowels when you're done to do a little soaking of oil.

The fried tomatoes on Night Number One of fried tomatoes, on top of a pretty great mixture of Israeli cous cous, zucchini, eggplant, wilted arugula, feta, and capers.