fried not too green tomatoes

6 saltines (about 1/4 c crumbs)
10 full tostito corn chips (about 1/3 c crumbs)
1/4 c flour
1/2 tsp salt + more for a final sprinkle
1/4 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1 egg
1 small vidalia onion grated
1/2 tsp pepper sauce
1/2 tsp hot sauce
enough canola oil  to be 1/4 in. deep in a saute pan
6 roma tomatoes that are as hard as green tomatoes but have just begun to turn

in a small food processor, pulse saltines and corn chips.  on a plate, mix together the cracker and chip crumbs along with flour, salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper.  in a bowl, whisk the egg, grated onion, pepper sauce, and hot sauce.  cut the tomatoes into nice slices. dip the tomato slices into the egg wash.  place the dipped tomatoes on the crumbs.  cover tomatoes with crumbs and transfer to a sheet of wax paper.  heat oil and fry the tomatoes 40 seconds to 1 minute per side.  when fully cooked, transfer to a wire rack (that is on top of newspaper).  sprinkle with salt.  serve with ketchup, blue cheese dip, ranch, or pepper sauce.

the beginning of yum!

the breading station:
sliced tomatoes beside egg wash beside breading on top of wax paper

frying set up:
wax paper with tomatoes beside frying pan close to wire rack
(but news paper is well away from the flame)

frying the first side!

tomatoes cooling

ready to be eaten!

So I have two problems with fried green tomatoes.  First, the corn meal is slightly grainy in some recipes... And second, green tomatoes are not super tasty.  So I combat these with two problems with using corn chips and in place of corn meal.  The way I get around green tomatoes is using slightly ripened tomatoes.  These tomatoes are as hard as green tomatoes but are beginning to sweeten with the slight reddening.  I once tried fully ripe tomatoes, and they disintegrated in the oil.  Oh I love these!  Enjoy!!!