Saturday, June 20, 2009

Sesame and Panko Crusted Fried Green Tomatoes With Wasabi Mayonnaise


Before the recipe, let me share a few food items I have recently discovered and am absolutely in love with.  

First up:


A couple of weeks ago, the POM Wonderful people sent me a case of their pomegranate juice.  In this economy, I was happy to get free food even though I'm a die hard orange juice gal.  I wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did.  All natural-no fructose corn syrup, dyes, or other questionable ingredients.  And when I read the literature they sent on all the health benefits, I was really, really impressed.  Got arterial plaque build up?  POM can help with that.  Erectile dysfunction or prostate problems? This is the juice for you.  Check it out here.


My second recent discovery is mayonnaise made with olive oil.  I’m on my second jar which is Kraft, but I think my first jar was Hellman’s.  You know how low-fat and fat-free mayo taste like they came from the devil?  This new mayonnaise made from olive oil doesn’t taste that way at all AND it has half the calories and fat of regular.  Oh joy!  And if the olive oil mayonnaise people will send me a case of it for free like the Pom Wonderful people did, I will be happy to link up to their site, too.  (Smile, wink.)


Lastly, my husband and I are loving this blueberry cluster cereal from Kashi.  It may not be “new” but it’s new to us and even though it’s a little on the expensive side, I’m splurging and keeping our pantry stocked.  Kashi has some wonderful products for the healthy-minded and also for middle-aged people who are going to be grandparents soon and want to embrace their youth and vigor.

This concludes the healthy section of this post.

Now for the fried stuff.

My husband usually plants tomatoes every year and this year is no exception.  What he does NOT like is for me to pick green ones from the vine before some ripe red ones appear.  After a few red ones appear, it’s okay for me to pick a couple of green ones to fry, but just a couple.  He doesn’t like fried green tomatoes so he really has no understanding of the hankerings I get.

But today, while he was napping on the couch, I sneaked out and picked a couple even though we haven’t had any ripe ones yet.   He never knew a thing though, because he slept through the entire frying, picture taking, and eating process.

He looks like he's reading, huh?  He's not.  He's asleep.  I'm glad he didn't wake up to see me taking a picture of the mayonnaise jar.  Anyway, if you like fried green tomatoes, I encourage you to cast your regular cornmeal-flour mixture to the wind (make sure it’s blowing away from you first) and try panko bread crumbs and sesame seed.  It is so worth it to keep these wonderful bread crumbs around because they add a fantastic crispy exterior to fried foods.  There’s really nothing like them.  Note to Waynesborians:  You're probably gonna have to go out of town to get panko.


Sesame and Panko Crusted Fried Green Tomatoes

With Wasabi Mayonnaise

Canola oil for frying

About 3/4 cup panko bread crumbs

About 1-1/2 tablespoons sesame seeds

2 medium green tomatoes, sliced about 1/4 inch thick

1 beaten egg

Salt and pepper to taste

About 1/2 cup mayonnaise

1-2 teaspoons wasabi paste

  1. Pour oil to a depth of about 1/2 inch in a medium skillet.  Heat over medium-high heat until very hot. 
  2. Stir together the panko and sesame seeds.  Dip the tomato slices in the egg, then coat in panko mixture.  Fry for 3-4 minutes, turning once, until golden brown.  Remove to paper towel lined platter and season with salt and pepper.
  3. To make the wasabi mayo, stir the mayonnaise and wasabi paste together.
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