Ah, the tomatoes in the backyard are starting to hit their stride. If I do things right (and the weather does its thing), we’ll have tomatoes into the middle of October, at least. It’s nice. And of course, it’s got me thinking everything tomato: what to make with them, who we’ll share our little bounty with, what we’ve had all tomatoey great, and tomato art, even.
Before we even talk about cooking or picking, let’s start with the greatest tomato sign ever (I’m Jewish, but still. What a great sign!). Found it in a downtown Mississippi window. There’s also a Kate Campbell song with this name.
BTW my kids have never seen this movie but they absolutely know what it means to Towanda, or be Towanda-ed in a parking lot
It was Fannie Flagg’s family that owned the Irondale Cafe just outside Birmingham, which she based the Whistlestop Cafe after. Sure enough, trains go right by the restaurant and when Shugie was little and really into them, we’d go to the platform there and watch them go by, covering our ears as they’d whistle and pass along. And yes, the Irondale Cafe serves fried green tomatoes — tourists come in and they’ll bring out a green tomato and make a picture for them…make a big deal out of their visit. They’re super nice people.
No matter what, this summer, make sure tomato pie makes it into your oven
pimento cheese tomato stack (no recipe req’d — so easy and everybody loves)
Passover fried green tomatoes — the trick is to use the Jeff Nathan gluten free panko for the coating. Perfect.
The Swatch tomato watch, 2015:
Vicksburg tomato sandwiches from an event at the BB Club:
Walton’s Southern Table in Huntsville:
Tomato Pie at Cohen’s in Savannah:
Goat cheese & tomato bisque at Apolline, New Orleans:
Loveless Cafe pc & fgt biscuit, Nashville:
FGBLT at Real & Rosemary, Homewood / Bham:
Smokehouse, Birmingham:
Tomato pie at GrateFull Soul, Hattiesburg:
Arnold’s Country Kitchen, Nashville:
Niki’s West, Birmingham:
Aspic at The Colonnade, Atlanta:
Aspic at Walnut Hills in Vicksburg:
Aspic at Gilchrist in Mtn Brook / Birmingham:
Green tomato chutney at Purloo, New Orleans:
Old Town Stock House, Guntersville:
Mrs B’s, Montgomery:
fruit stand / fair / farm / arrow sign love:
Tomato Table by Craig Nutt, at the Columbus Museum in Columbus GA
and lastly, I love love love love love Kati Ozanic-Lemberger‘s “Madonna and Child with Homegrown Tomatoes” that may be viewed here.
Tomorrow, I’m walking into the back yard, taking a sharp knife, a jar of Duke’s and a soft piece of bread, and will snap a bright-red tomato off the vine. You know what’s next. Maybe it’ll be juicy enough I’ll wish I’d remembered a napkin.
Hope so.
Happy, tomato-filled summer, friends! xoxo!