Secret Recipe Club: Fried Green Tomato BLT Salad

It's Secret Recipe Club week again. You know the deal. Everyone picks a fellow member's blog. They pick a recipe (in secret) and everyone posts their blogs on the same day. It's a fun game, and everyone loves seeing someone else's take on their recipe.

This month, I was assigned Kate's Kitchen. Kate is a financial planner from Indianapolis, Indiana who loves to cook almost as much as she loves to eat. Her blog is full of great everyday foods you can easily cook at home like her Egyptian Cucumber Salad (basically chunky tzatziki, what's not to love?)

Today I opted to make her Fried Green Tomato BLT. Her BLT was stacked with aioli in between every layer like a real sandwich, but we opted for a composed salad for our dinner. It was delicious! My finance and I were both so happy with this. The aioli was luscious and the tart green tomatoes went perfectly with the salty bacon. Once you paired it with a slice of crusty bread, there was really nothing better.

 I changed a couple things about her recipe but not much. I made the aioli by hand instead of dirtying the food processor (the trick to aioli is confidence, nothing more). We didn't use the tomato coulis but it didn't seem to impact our salad. I also opted for arugula instead of bibb lettuce or field greens because I like the peppery taste and wilted arugula would actually be nice with the warm tomatoes. Other than that, the bones of this recipe are all Kate's and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Fried Green Tomato BLT

Ingredients for aioli (you will have leftovers)

• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 5 cloves garlic, roasted and finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp dijon mustard
• 1/2 cup olive oil (not extra virgin)
• salt/pepper/smoked paprika to taste

Ingredients for Salad

• 8 slices of green tomato (about 2 whole tomatoes)
• 4 or 5 slices of bacon
• All purpose flour
• Whole wheat flour
• Cornmeal
• 2 eggs
• splash of milk
• Canola oil for frying
• Arugula or preferred lettuce
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Crushed red pepper, Parmesan cheese and lemon to garnish
• Crusty bread for serving

Directions for aioli

1. Toss the garlic with a little olive oil and roast in a 300 degree oven until fragrant and soft. Mash with the back of your knife and finely chop.
2. Put garlic, lemon, mustard and egg yolk in a coffee cup. SLOWLY pour in olive oil while vigorously whisking until the egg and oil emulsify.
3. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add a little more lemon if desired.

Directions for salad

1. Cook bacon until crispy. Cut into smaller pieces and set aside
2. Prepare three bowls/plates for dredging the tomatoes. In the first plate, pour all purpose flour with kosher salt and black pepper to season. In the second bowl, whisk the eggs and milk. In the third plate, use equal parts of whole wheat flour and cornmeal.
3. Slice the tomatoes and dredge in the flour, eggs and cornmeal. Set aside until ready to fry.
4. Heat a quarter to half inch of oil in a cast iron skillet on medium high. Place tomatoes in the oil and fry until golden brown on both sides.
5. Toss the arugula with lemon juice, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper and a little Parmesan cheese. You can also add julienned, de-seeded tomatoes or shaved fennel to the salad if desired.
6. Place aioli across the plate and lay the arugula perpendicular to the aoili. Lay the tomatoes on top of the arugula, saving some arugula to place in between the tomato slices. Top tomatoes with bacon and a little cheese before serving.
7. Eat immediately with crusty bread.

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