Fried Green Tomato Caprese Stacks

Fried Green Tomatoes alla Caprese

The end of summer is officially here and we’ve already started preparing our garden for fall. Over the next few weeks I will be stripping down our basil plants and making lots of homemade pesto to get us through the winter months. We’re also picking the very last of our tomatoes, some of which will continue to ripen indoors, but mostly we’re left with a bunch of tiny green ones. These aren’t quite nice enough to transform into my delicious Creole Fried Green Tomatoes, but will do just fine in this tasty side dish or appetizer that makes use of our last summer crops and herbs.

There are a lot of wonderful flavors going on here thanks to the fresh Buffalo mozzarella, basil leaves and tangy balsamic vinaigrette, so you don’t need to spend a whole lot of time dressing up those green tomatoes. You really don’t even need to fuss with a recipe. I just spoon a little bit of flour in one bowl, seasoned bread crumbs or Panko into a second bowl, one beaten egg into a third bowl and salt the tomatoes. You can add more bread crumbs as you go. As a general rule, anytime I am battering anything, I keep one hand clean to move the food along and the other hand does the messy battering. I keep Ken’s Steak House Balsamic Dressing with Honey on hand in case I don’t feel like making my own sauce to drizzle on this and other Caprese dishes. I love it because it has just the right amount of zing, sweetness and creaminess but not a whole lot of calories, as far as delicious store-bought dressings go.

Fried Green Tomato Caprese Stacks

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Fried Green Tomato Caprese Stacks

Ingredients

1 large Green Tomato (or several small ones), cut into thick slices

Sea Salt

1/4 cup Flour

Pinch Sugar

1 Egg

1/2 cup or more bread crumbs

1 large ripened Red Tomato, sliced thick and salted

Several thick slices of Buffalo Mozzarella

Fresh Basil Leaves

Balsamic Vinaigrette

Preparation

In a small bowl, flour, and sugar. Set aside.
In another small bowl, crack an egg and beat well with a fork or hand beater. Set aside.
In a third bowl, pour in about 1/2 cup of bread crumbs. Leave the container open in case you need more.

Salt the green tomato slices.

Use a fork to lift a tomato slice and dip into the flour mix. Coat both sides well.

Dip the flour dusted tomato into the egg and quickly turn over to coat both sides. Remove and dip into the bread crumbs, turning to coat well. Set aside on another plate. Repeat until all the tomatoes are coated with bread crumbs.

In a small frying pan, heat enough vegetable or canola oil to partially cover the tomato slices. Test the oil by dropping in a bread crumb. The bread crumb will sizzle when the oil is hot enough.
Carefully drop the tomato slices into the oil and fry for a few minutes. Turn over and fry the other side. Repeat until all the tomatoes are fried to a perfectly crisp golden brown. Set aside.
Assemble the tomato stacks on a platter in this order: salted red tomato slice, basil leaf, slice of mozzarella. Repeat. Drizzle balsamic vinaigrette over the tomato stacks and serve as an appetizer or side dish.