I wish that the tomato season was year-round because I spend most of the year longing for them. I usually plant around Mother’s day and just start to see the trickle of fruit around mid to late July with grape tomatoes and the rest of the varieties in August when you feel like you are getting too many! On the North Fork we are blessed with many farms and this week we have tomatoes from Invincible Summer Farms in Southold. You can find them on Saturdays at the Greenport Farmers Market.
I was thinking about how much I always loved tomatillo sauce in Mexico and what a great soup it might make. I don’t grow tomatillos but alway have plenty of green tomatoes to pick in July long before they ripen and weigh down my vines and my schedule (what to do with them: can/freeze/make sauce/all very time-consuming).
This green tomato bisque with fried green tomato garnish (if these delicious crispy wedges make it to the garnish), is an ode to my two years living in Mexico City, D.F. in the neighborhood of Polanco with it’s famous restaurants. I also add a touch of Americana with the fried green tomatoes. I hope you try it.
Recipe
1lb of green, unripened tomatoes, freshly picked
1/2 cup of vidalia onions
2 to 3 cups of garden stock
1/4 cup of EVOO
“Rancho” dressing
Small container of crema fresca or creme fraiche
1 fire roasted jalapeño or Serrano chile, peeled and de-veined
White vinager
pinch of Salt
EVOO
Blend in food processor and set aside.
The soup
Rough chop the tomatoes and onions
Sauté tomatoes and onion in the oil
Add salt
Set aside to cool until ready to puree
Blending station
You will need a blender, a laddle and a large bowl to deposit the blended soup. Do not blend all together. Must be done in batches or it won’t be smooth.
Set the blended soup aside until ready to serve.
Next, make the fried green tomatoes. I always intend this to be a garnish for the soup but often they are so delicious that they often don’t make it to the soup.
Dredge the sliced tomatoes (slice in halves) in egg (or soy milk), then dredge in cornmeal (much better than breadcrumbs) with a pinch of salt and your favorite seasoning like Old Bay.
Heat a large pan with 2 tablespoons of Canola oil and fry on both sides until golden brown.
Set on cooling tray or cookie sheet with paper towels. This should be done the day you plan to serve them as they don’t reheat very well.
When ready to serve, heat soup (jor serve chilled) and add a bit of cream or of half and half (unsweetened soy milk is fine as well)
Laddle the soup into the bowls
Add a dollop of Rancho dressing to the middle of the soup bowl
Drop two slices of the fried green tomatoes on top of the dollop
Sprinkle with chopped cilantro and serve
This would be a great opener to one of your favorite Mexican entree recipes for a dinner party or a special Sunday dinner). Tee up some Margaritas and make it a fiesta no matter what part of the world you find yourself in.
