An acquired taste, fried green tomatoes are excellent when done right. There are a few tricks to getting them perfect. Like most simple recipes, the key is getting those simple details exact. One of these tricks is to get green tomatoes that are just starting to get a slight pink color. A tomato that is too ripe will become mushy, a green tomato with just a little bit a pinkness will have be slightly sweeter and less firm than a super green one.

Also, you need to slice to the right thickness. In general you’ll be better off with nice thin slices. They’ll fry up all crispy-like.

If you see in the above photo, I have wisely chosen a slightly pink green tomato, and I have sliced them consistently thin. Next is let us bread and fry these puppies. I use a 50/50 cornmeal / flour mix. Cornmeal is really important for the best texture. Since the tomato is already wet, you don’t need egg wash or milk. You can go straight to it.

Now we fry. Melt some butter in oil. Another little flavor trick here that’s important is that we salt and pepper each side, but we also add a little pinch of sugar as well.

Fry, season with salt/pepper, add a pinch of sugar. Flip, season the other side and another pinch of sugar. And…booom!

Voila!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 (or however many you want) slightly pink green tomato
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup cornmeal
• 3 TB vegetable oil
• 2 TB butter
• Salt
• Pepper
• Sugar

DIRECTIONS:

1. Slice tomato horizontally into thin (~1/4″) slices.
2. Combine flour and cornmeal.
3. Dredge tomato slices in flour/cornmeal mix.
4. Heat oil in frying pan or skillet on medium. Melt butter into oil.
5. When oil is hot, add as many slices as will fit. Do not overlap.
6. Season each tomato slice with salt and pepper. Add a pinch of sugar to each.
7. When bottom is golden brown, flip each slice.
8. Season again on fried side with salt and pepper. Add a pinch of sugar.
9. When golden brown on both sides, remove from oil and drain on paper towel lined plate. Add more salt to taste. Serve immediately.

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 Roma (plum) tomatoes, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, cut in half
• Black pepper to taste
• Salt to taste
• 10 medium fresh basil leaves, chopped
• 4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 8 slices crusty Italian bread
• Extra virgin olive oil (to drizzle)

DIRECTIONS:

1. COMBINE diced tomatoes and chopped garlic in a mixing bowl. Season with salt & pepper to taste. Add half of chopped basil and 4 Tbsp of extra virgin olive oil.
2. DRIZZLE both sides of bread slices with extra virgin olive oil. Grill bread lightly on both sides.
3. RUB grilled bread with cut half of garlic clove to infuse with flavor. Top each slice with tomato mixture.
4. GARNISH with remaining chopped basil and serve immediately.

On a work trip in Toluca, Mexico one of our locals took us to a hole in the wall restaurant the first night. I wanted to sample some real Mexican food. He recommended Pacifico beer and a dish he simply called “queso.” It was a pot of melted white cheese with chorizo sausage. It was super-hearty and majorly filling. For some reason I’ve been craving it lately. I grew up loving “Chili con queso” at Chile’s restaurant, but I’m not loving the ingredients for that dish these days, so here’s some research on the authentic cheese dip.

CHEESE. Asadero seems to be the correct one to use (if you only use one), but there are replacements. See table below. If you want to try two cheeses, you can go with, let’s say, 8 oz of asadero and 4 oz of panela…

CHEESE ALTERNATIVES:

Asadero – Chihuahua – Monterey Jack – Muenster – Manchego – Quesadilla – Supremo – Whole Milk Mozzarella – cheddars – colbys

Panela

INGREDIENTS

• 2 medium (about 6 ounces total) fresh poblano chiles
• 4 ounces (1/2 cup) Mexican chorizo sausage. store-bought (casing removed if there is one)
• 1 medium white onion, sliced
• Salt
• 12 corn tortillas, the fresher the better (store-bought are okay, but homemade will really shine here)
• 8 ounces Chihuahua or Other Mexican melting cheese, such as quesadilla or asadero (lacking Mexican cheese, queso fundido is delicious made with everything from Monterey Jack to mild cheddar), shredded (you’ll have about 2 cups)
• About 1 teaspoon or so of crumbled dried oregano, preferably Mexican

INSTRUCTIONS

1. ROASTING THE POBLANO CHILES. Roast the poblanos over an open flame or on a baking sheet 4 inches below a very hot broiler, turning regularly untiL the skin is evenly blistered and blackened, about 5 minutes for an open flame, about 10 minutes for the broiler. Be careful not to char the flesh, only the skin. Cover with a kitchen towel and let stand for 5 minutes. Rub off the blackened skin, then pull or cut out the stems and the seed pods. Tear the chiles open and quickly rinse to remove any stray seeds and bits of skin. Cut into 1/4-inch-wide strips about 2 inches long.
2. THE CHORIZO-POBLANO MIXTURE. Heat the oven to 350 F. In a medium skillet (preferably nonstick), cook the chorizo over medium heat, stirring to break up any clumps, until half-cooked, about 5 minutes. (As the chorizo heats, it should render enough fat to cook the meat; if the mixture seems dry, add a little oil.) Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until the onion is richly golden and the chorizo cooked through, about 10 minutes. (If the mixture looks very oily, drain it.) Stir in the poblano strips, taste and season with salt if you think the mixture needs some. Transfer the mixture to a 9- or 10-inch shallow baking dish, Mexican cazuela or pie plate.
3. FINISHING THE QUESO FUNDIDO. Very lightly dampen a clean kitchen towel. Check the tortillas to make sure none are stuck together. Wrap them in the towel, then in foil, sealing the edges tightly. Place in the oven and set the timer for 7 minutes. (Alternatively, follow the directions for heating tortillas in a microwave.) When the timer goes off, stir the cheese into the warm chorizo mixture. Set in the oven alongside the tortillas and bake until the cheese is just melted but has not begun to separate or look greasy, about 5 minutes more. Sprinkle with the crumbled oregano and serve without a moment’s hesitation, accompanied by the warm tortillas.
4. WORKING AHEAD: The chorizo-poblano mixture can be a day ahead, covered and refrigerated; warm it in your baking vessel before stirring in the cheese and baking. Queso fundido doesn’t hold well, so don’t put it in the oven until everyone is ready to make tacos.