Fried Green Tomatoes Recipe

A charming restaurant in historic Crabapple, Georgia north of Atlanta, Milton's Cuisine and Cocktails calls itself a "seed to fork" experience. And rightly so. The restaurant, helmed by talented, adventurous chef Derek Dollar sits in a 158-year-old farmhouse where local boy Ted Turner is said to be a frequent diner. An on-site one-acre farm provides a bevy of fresh produce for the table: heirloom tomatoes, squash, beets, turnips, collards, cucumbers, shallots, all of which end up in Dollar's produce-driven recipes. In high season the restaurant hosts beautifully atmospheric dinners in the garden, where guests can sit among the verdant produce that will wind up on their plates.

A spin on a Southern classic, Dollar's recipe for friend green tomatoes elevates this homespun recipe to foodie status, filling the deep fried disks of tomato with chive-speckled goat cheese and laying these beauties on pools of pepper coulis, basil oil and balsamic syrup. This is one of those rare instances where food tastes as delicious as it looks, making Dollar's Fried Green Tomatoes a can't-miss way to impress your guests.

Milton's Fried Green Tomatoes

Ingredients

• 3 sliced green tomatoes
• 5 ounces chive-spiked goat cheese (incorporate a good sprinkle of chives into your favorite goat cheese)
  
• 4 ounces seasoned flour
• 4 ounces egg wash
• 6 ounces panko breadcrumbs with parsley
• 2 ounces piquillo pepper coulis (recipe below)*
  
• 1 ounce balsamic syrup
• 1 ounce basil oil

Press the goat cheese onto the green tomato. 

Dredge in flour, drop in egg wash, and press into the panko. 

Place in a 350 degree fryer and cook until golden brown, then cut in half. 

In a zig-zag pattern, squirt the piquillo pepper coulis, then repeat with the balsamic syrup and basil oil.

Red Pepper Coulis

• 2 cups piquillo peppers
• 2 ounces simple syrup
• 1/2 cup roasted garlic cloves
• 1/2 ounce garlic, minced
• 1 cup water

Combine all ingredients in the blender, except the water. Blend well, about 60 seconds. Next, slowly emulsify the water. Season with salt, white pepper and Cholula hot sauce.