Like any good Southerner, I love me some fried green tomatoes. And when I received a bounty of green tomatoes from Meg on one of my last days working at Brooklyn Homesteader as well as the two baby green zebras off of my own lazy tomato plants, (This is all they have managed to produce to date) they screamed “MAKE FRIED GREEN TOMATOES!!!!!!!” But I said “NO MA’AM! I will be healthy!” And hence, my new recipe for “fried” green tomato sauce was born, and I am in love.

Served atop a patty pan “pizza” ringed with pasta, this is definitely a recipe that will be in permanent rotation in my kitchen.

The more I learn about food and produce each year, the more it is proven to me that the ingredients really do make all the difference in the world. This is one of the best dishes I have ever made, and it wasn’t because I did anything differently than I usually would have when making a recipe like this, I just used the best of the best ingredient wise. I mean, just LOOK at those friggin’ tomatoes! Just picked out of a fabulous organic garden plot and warmed in the Brooklyn sun right down the street. Basil from my garden. Green Patty Pan squash from my CSA. Homemade ricotta cheese from my friend Bill at BK Swappers, where I also procured some dried garlic from one of my favorite new companies, Rockerbox Garlic. It is a beautiful, delicious world. And because of this, I decided to keep this recipe as simple and fresh as possible.

Makes – 4 servings

Nutrition – pretty damn good.

Sauce Ingredients –
6 large green tomatoes
10 baby green zebra tomatoes
a bunch of fresh basil
2 pinches garlic flakes
sea salt
fresh ground black pepper
fresh ground breadcrumbs
Parmesan to top

“Pizza” Ingredients –
2 medium sized patty pan squash, halved and with ends cut off so it can sit flat
olive oil (i use my mister)
1/2 block mozz cheese, sliced thin
1 cup ricotta
freshly grated parmesan
fresh ground black pepper

1/2 lb pasta of choice. I used shells to collect this awesome sauce.

Preheat oven to 400. Mist squash halves with olive oil and place insides down on a baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes, then scoop out the seeds, and continue baking for 15 minutes, or until fully cooked but not too soft. While that is baking, you can start your sauce. It is super easy. Just dice all the tomatoes and toss in to a sauce pan with some salt and pepper and let them cook down, then add in the garlic flakes, and then the basil when there’s about 5 minutes left on the squash and stir. I like to use my kitchen scissors and cut the basil leaves in to chunks straight in to the sauce. Let this simmer while you assemble your pizzas.

Patty pans are awesome because you can eat the skin, and cause they’re edible plates, and you can fill and top them with almost anything and it will be delicious.

Lay thin slices of mozz across the tops of the squash and pop back in the oven or broiler for 10 minutes, or until the cheese has browned.

Put a 1/4 cup scoop of fresh ricotta in the center and grind some pepper on top,

Sprinkle some parmesan on that baby,

Plop some of that pretty green sauce on there,

Plate it. Surround with pasta (optional) and douse with more sauce and more parm, and then cover in breadcrumbs. (if you wanna go all out and make it taste more fried, toss them in butter and toast them first.)

Devour. Bask in the genius that is your cooking. Pat yourself on the back for not eating anything fried. At least for today. ; )