Green Fried Bliss

Summer is in full swing, and the tomatoes are ripening. There is nothing quite like the smell of a tomato plant. My husband is the gardener, and this time of year he starts to get a little protective about his garden, possibly counting the number of beefsteak tomatoes on each plant. You see, I spent a good deal of my young life in the south, where I was introduced to green fried tomatoes. Every summer it's the same: I watch the tomato plants for a lovely, large green tomato, and my husband knows I am going to take one and fry it up for lunch. But my Italian husband always allows me to take a few, even though he doesn't quite understand my love for green tomatoes. I tell him they rank pretty close to chocolate, but he doesn't quite understand that one either.

So here is a quick and easy recipe:

Before you slice your tomato, make sure to take one last inhale of its lovely smell.

Melt about half a stick of butter on medium high heat and dredge the tomato slices in flour. Place in hot butter. Keep the butter handy, because you might need more, and you can never have too much butter. And don't use anything but butter; it just won't taste right if you do.

When they turn a nice brown color, flip them and cook on the other side. Remove from the pan, or eat them straight from the pan if you can't wait, salt them and enjoy.

Now if you're like me, you won't make a big fuss over these in front of the kids because then they might like them, and you'd have to SHARE.

Sorry, kids; that last bite is mine!