Recipes: Red tomatoes, green tomatoes, dead tomatoes, doh...

Last Sunday, the NY Times Magazine had two recipes highlighting tomatoes.  One is a chilled Moroccan soup, the other is a tomato drink with a salad and goat cheese slathered on toast.

But experts are warning that the tomato disease known as late blight could make the cost of surviving tomatoes skyrocket.  Here's one opinion that appeared in the NY Times: “Locally grown tomatoes normally get $15 to $20 a box” at wholesale, said John Mishanec, a pest management specialist at Cornell who has been visiting farms and organizing emergency growers’ meetings across upstate New York. “Some growers are talking about $40 boxes already.” 

Plus, if your homegrown plants are affected, then experts say you should kill your plants, seal them up in a plastic bag, and toss them in the garbage.

So I question the relevance of these red tomato recipes this year.  In a panic a few weeks ago, I killed one of my tomato plants that looked affected, but luckily I could salvage a few unblemished green tomatoes before throwing the plant away.  I didn't do anything terribly creative with them, just fried them up.  I hear, though, that green tomatoes can make great tart jelly or pickles.  I'll have to try those ideas next time.

Fried Green Tomatoes

Slice up some green tomatoes.

Prepare three bowls, one with flour, one with egg, and one with bread crumbs.  If you want, put a little cayenne in the bread crumbs for a kick.

Dredge each slice of tomato through the flour (shake off excess), then egg, then bread crumbs.

Then, fry the tomatoes in a skillet of hot vegetable oil until golden .

Finally, put the tomatoes on a baking sheet and cook them in the oven for about 10 minutes.