No AI was utilized to edit this, so apologies for the lack of depth and proper grammar provided by ChatGPT.
I’ve noticed recently on many different platforms…social media, other blogs, etc that there is a certain cadence that is somewhat unfamiliar which I can only attribute to the use of AI to edit and/or supplement. I’ve tried it before on some of my so-called food musings and have noticed a few things that I liked and others that made the writing sound perfunctory or out of sync with my normal slightly off beat style of writing. It makes me ponder what literature will be like in the future for my son and daughter and whether there will be a loss of individuality in texts.
I also wonder what AI will do to recipes? Will it replace the household cookbook? Or the food blog? Or will it just augment our home kitchens perhaps in a way that it is unexpectedly more efficient by providing us with a concise shopping list that it automatically sends to Instacart to arrive at the doorstep just in time for prep time for dinner? Or maybe I will ask ChatGPT to “translate” Thomas Keller’s The French Laundry Cookbook into steps that even a home cook like myself could mimic?
In the meantime, I’m going to enjoy sipping a glass of Pinot Grigio and listening to The Dave Brubeck Quartet while frying green tomatoes to douse with lump crab meat and goat cheese.
Fried Green Tomatoes with Goat Cheese
- Total Time: 1 hour
Description
A fried green tomato in the South is nothing short of perfection. I would have never paired goat cheese with this Southern classic had it not been for the now shuttered Julep restaurant in Highland Village. I hope you enjoy this unexpected pairing as much as I do. 
Ingredients
- Three green tomatoes, sliced about ¼ inch thick
- Three eggs
- One cup buttermilk
- 1 ½ cups Panko
- 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
- 5 tablespoons butter + 3 Tbs butter
- One large shallot, diced (about ¼ cup)
- 1/3 cup white wine
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 3 tablespoons of butter
- One cup lump crab meat
- 4 ounces crumbled goat cheese
- Vegetable oil for frying
- Salt, to taste
- Ground black pepper, to taste
- A few sprigs of parsley, chopped for garnish
Instructions
- In a bowl, whisk the three eggs. Add the buttermilk as well as salt and pepper to taste.
- In a separate bowl, mix the Panko and flour.
- In a frying pan, heat enough vegetable oil to fry the tomatoes. I usually try to have enough oil so that the tomatoes are submerged in oil.
- Submerge the tomato in the egg/buttermilk mix. Then drop the tomato into the panko/flour mixture and ensure the tomato is coated before dropping into the oil.
- Fry a few minutes on one side and then flip. Once the breading is golden brown, remove from the oil and lay in a sheet pan lined with paper towels (to absorb excess oil).
- While the tomatoes are cooling, make the sauce. In a pan, melt 5 Tbs of butter. Add the shallot and sauté for 3-4 minutes or until slightly golden brown.
- Add the white wine (feel free to also pour yourself a glass). Sauté for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add the thyme, lemon juice, and additional 3 Tbs of butter and stir well to combine. Add the lump crab meat and stir well. Cook for an additional 1-2 minutes until the crab meat is warm.
- Finally, place one fried tomato on a plate. Top with crumbled lump crab meat and a spoonful of crab mixture. Repeat. Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with parsley for garnish.
Notes
Serving size: about six with two tomatoes per serving
- Prep Time: 30 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins